I can empathize with garage managers, having been one myself. I began in parking, 20 years ago, as an Operations Manager and steadily worked my way up the ranks to VP of Operations, overseeing more than 50 facilities and several hundred employees. I’ve experienced virtually every type of parking there is. Thus, I understand how a manager gets stretched and pulled in all directions. It’s a demanding job.
Read More
One of the most profound moments in my professional career hit me like a brick wall when I was shopping by myself in Target. No one to lead, I wasn’t standing in the middle of a crazy flurry directing traffic or calming tension, as was common in my job. Rather, I was simply shopping and being intentional about smiling, which is all it took! That one trip finally helped me see what people had been trying to tell me for over 20 years – that energy IS a boomerang and the consistent energy you feel in others is a reflection of the energy they see in you. Period, the end, no ifs, ands or buts about it.
Read More
I spend a lot of time thinking (and worrying) about ways to build and maintain a great culture at Parker Technology. As I sought my next “hook” to launch this LI article, I was fortunate enough to catch a vignette on NPR by Anya Kamenetz, Cory Turner and Chloee Weiner, entitled “Kindness Can Be Taught. Here’s How.” The story explored research about how to raise awesome children; however, as I listened and then later read the story online, I became positively “giddy!”
Read More
The other day I was on a train with my family, and as the next group of passengers embarked, I nudged my teenage son to move so that a kind woman, “much older” than him, could take a seat. The woman smiled and shared that she had just recently encouraged her daughter to do the same thing. With an exasperated expression, she shared that in that moment, her daughter failed to comply and said “Why? I’m never going to see them again.” Interesting. It took 24 hours before I could connect the dots. Then it hit me.
Read MoreEach of us have different experiences that impact our perception of events as they unfold. I found that my past experience with a person, or group of people, was one of the biggest limiting factors to my ability to broaden my circle of influence, to be included on the growth of an initiative or to […]
Read More
Self-service automation is taking over. You can’t go to a grocery store, an airport or a restaurant without interacting with a machine where a human once stood. The automated machines in parking garages known as PARCS equipment are no different. The parking industry led the way when operators started replacing cashiers with automated payment kiosks more than 15 years ago. And while it’s true that automation is becoming the norm, human failure in front of that automation is happening much more than you realize.
Read More
Skip to main content