Listenting is the Key

In Becoming a Person of Influence John Maxwell expresses that; "Good companies have a reputation for listening to their people...Chili's restaurants, one of the nations best-run food service chains according to Restaurants and Institutions magazine...almost 80% of its menu has come from suggestions made by unit managers."

That being said restaurants have the distinct advantage of real time feedback. In the apartment business as we all know, feedback is sparse and limited to those who have a less than famous experience.

Enter Web 2.0 and or social media. The medium, if adopted, will give consumers the forum to express any idea they feel like. They are doing it anyway ApartmentRatings, why don't we have the courage to give them the forum ourselves.

And, if you are going to do it, don't do it half way. What I mean by that is don't keep the information limited to your Intra-net but rather open it up for the world to see and comment further on.

3M is not one of the worlds top innovators because they have all the ideas but more importantly they have the lion's share of innovation because they open themselves up to the criticisms of employees and customers.