When you think of corporate leadership, many people think of guys that are so rich and powerful (picture the bankers' pen from the WaMu commercial) that they don't care about the little guy--you and me, the customers that actually support their business, the people who made them as rich as they are. Yes, there are the Dan Gilberts and Bill Emersons of the world who really listen to each and every one of us "little people," but those types of leaders are somewhat rare, in my humble opinion. So it surprised me when I read this story about a guy who had a really crappy customer experience trying to get his Mac laptop fixed by Apple. He got so fed up, he wrote an e-mail to their CEO, Steve Jobs himself. To the customer's surprise, he received a response THE VERY NEXT DAY from his personal assistant promising that he'd get a new laptop (which he received only the day after the assistant e-mailed him) as well as his old one back (so he could transfer his data from one to the other). Now THAT'S service! They may have fallen down to begin with, but at least they made it right. AWESOME!

From the customer's e-mail:

This is not the best way to deal with a support headache, but I have to admit that Steve actually seems to care about my business. Dude got [stuff] *done*.

Read the full story here: http://consumerist.com/consumer/apple/get-your-defective-laptop-replaced-by-sending-well+written-emails-to-steve-jobs-256931.php

Have you ever created a public disturbance? I have...twice. I’m not talking about some loud, crazy or even drunken event where I got arrested or anything like that. These “disturbances” were merely a mild, three-minute or so musical interruption in other people’s lives.

The first time it happened was when I was in 4th grade. We were on a school trip in Toledo, Ohio somewhere.

This story was passed on to me by our illustrious CEO Bill Emerson. It's an inspiring story about a young man who works as a bagger at a grocery store that chose to make a difference. How? By giving each customer he bagged for his Thought of the Day. It's become so popular that his cashier's line is three times longer than anyone else's. And no one minds the wait! I mean, this is what the DIFF is all about...giving people something to remember you by--something that makes even a small difference in their lives, brightens their day and gives them a reason to come back.

Watch Johnny's story here:  http://www.stservicemovie.com and tell us...will you be a "Johnny" today?

By Scott Struzik

I took a look at my online account today at my bank.  I noticed the very first line item in my Savings account:

EXCESS TRANSACTION FEE = $5.00

So naturally I called my local banker who I found out no longer works there and got someone else instead.

Banker:  You wrote too many checks from that account

Me:  I have never wrote ANY checks from that account, that's what my checking account is for.

Banker: Please hold.

When you think about what the DIFF is, you have to think of people like Matt Harding. Here’s a guy who basically quit his job as a video game programmer (because he wasn’t happy with his job) and decided to travel around the world. His shtick is that he films a short clip of himself dancing in all these exotic and incredible places just because it’s something he loves to do. Now, when I saw this, I started thinking, “What a stupid thing to be doing! The guy isn’t even a good dancer.” But as I let the video play on further, I really started to see the charm and the allure in what he was doing, so by the time the video ended (it’s about four minutes long), I became completely endeared to Matt and thought, “How amazing is that to be traveling around the world like that just to film yourself dancing?” By the end of the video, I even thought his goofy little jig was cool! Now, he’s been sponsored by Stride gum and he’s got an entire following of people--including folks imitating his video and doing their own versions of his dance. At the time of this entry, his video has nearly 6.5 million views!

I encourage you to watch his video, visit his Web site (www.wherethehellismatt.com) and then come back here and tell us: if you could do or be anything in the world, what would that be?

Watch Matt's video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNF_P281Uu4