Being great at what you do is about more than being a competent professional or a skilled craftsman. It’s not enough to deliver a great product or service. It is about the total customer experience, from the first encounter until the last—and everything in between.

Perhaps you’ve noticed: customer service has deteriorated noticeably since the recession began. Fewer waiters in restaurants. Slower room service in hotels. Longer wait times for support. This is hardly surprising. With significant layoffs in almost every industry, fewer people are available to provide the level of service you have come to expect. Here are four strategies for responding to poor customer service.

I have heard the blogging experts talk about all kinds of things, from blogging platforms to SEO. But I rarely hear them talk about the one thing that is essential: content. All of these other items are interesting, but none of them will help you if you don’t write great—or at least, pretty good—blog posts.

Most people believe that somehow, if they can just find the right system, they can get everything done. I think this is a myth bordering on an outright lie. You can’t do it all. Time is a limited resource. In my experience, the key to work/life balance begins by getting crystal clear on your priorities.

or several years now, I have profited from using a “Master Task List.” This is a way to group your work-related activities so that you do what you were hired to do and keep from getting side-tracked by “trivial pursuits.” It is something you should develop before you start throwing together a to-do list.

Everything important requires work. Hard work. And sometimes there is a long arc between the dream and it’s realization. That’s when we want to quit, but that is also where the work and the transformation occur.

You wouldn’t want to attempt to climb Mount Everest, get half way up the mountain, and then discover that this is your guide’s first climb. Neither do you want to follow the advice of someone who is (as they say in Texas) “all hat and no cattle.” Reading a few books and articles on social media is not the same as building a successful social media platform.

In summary, the greatest obstacle you face could be your greatest opportunity. It really comes down to your response to it.

The one thing that will keep you from settling is courage. This is the only thing that gives life to the dream once the initial magic wears off. In my experience, there are six ways to find the courage you need to swim against the tide and stand for wow.

Our interaction with the Web and the expectations it creates have shaped what we expect from our leaders. Therefore, if leaders are going to be effective with the current generation of Internet-savvy followers, they must adapt their leadership style. I call this Leadership 2.0.