Not many Chicagoans expect much from the Chicago Transit Authority.  The CTA is known for delayed and interrupted service, constantly increasing fares, and poor customer service.  In general, the CTA is the butt of all the jokes around town.

The CTA doesn't seem to care.  They consistently blame third parties and situations outside their control. And every day, millions of pissed off commuters ride their buses and trains.  They just deal with the terror that is the Chicago Transit Authority.

Do your customers "just deal" with you every day?  Do they expect your company to perform like crap?

Jiffy Lube changes the oil in your car. Pretty standard procedure that everyone needs done every few months.

It's hard to stand out from your competition when it comes to changing oil. After all, what's the difference really other than price and quality of work?

Jiffy Lube is different. After they've rung you up and checked you out, a technician holds the office door open for you as you exit. They then walk you to your car and open your car door for you as you get into your car. They thank you for visiting them and wish you a good day.

No matter who you are, you feel like a rockstar when someone opens your car door for you as you get into it. Simple touches like that are memorable and every bit as important as your price and quality of work.

Will you find this service in Jiffy Lube's ads? No. It's just part of their everyday service.

The best things aren't advertised.

The old saying "actions are louder than words" has never been more important than today. In a world where authenticity is the new professional, saying one thing and doing another isn't going to lead anywhere good.

Your actions reflect your beliefs and values. Your words reinforce that. Saying your company is dedicated to helping the environment through eco-friendly ways of doing business is one thing. Simply buying carbon credits and taking the easy way out is not the same.

People don't like liars and never will. People aren't as dumb as you may think. They'll realize that what you're saying you're doing and what you're actually doing are two vastly different worlds. And that's that. You've lost their business, their recommendation, their trust.

What are you saying?

What are you doing?

Two very important questions with very important answers.

Professional used to be authentic.  When you wanted the real news, you tuned into the professionally produced evening newscast.  Or you picked up a copy of your local professional newspaper.

Such is not the case these days.  Professional and authentic have parted ways.

Professional means you're being marketed to.  Television commercials, radio commercials, billboards on the expressway, magazines at the grocery store: they're professional.  They broadcast a one-way message to you.

Authentic means you're getting the real story from real people. Blog comments, YouTube videos, forum posts, podcasts, Tweets, emails from friends: they're authentic.  They encourage conversation.

Companies are more likely to want a viral YouTube video created than a 30 second TV spot.  They're more likely to pitch stories to bloggers than traditional paper reporters.

So what'll it be...professional or authentic?

Consistency (not to be confused with monotony) is important.  Customer expectations are often times created due to your consistency.

For example, it's fairly common knowledge in Chicago that all Walgreens have Chase ATMs inside.  For Chase customers such as myself, this is extremely convenient.  It's also expected.  You can imagine my disappointment this past weekend when I ventured into a Walgreens that had First American ATMs.  The consistency was broken and my expectations were changed.

My newly gained knowledge that there are Walgreens without Chase ATMs inside have changed my expectations of Walgreens.  I won't assume that when I need cash, all I need is a Walgreens.

Be great consistently.  Once your customers know that you're always great, they will expect it.

Information overload is everywhere and book covers are no exception it seems. As I walked the aisles of Borders this weekend, I was bombarded with  a plethora of text and images cluttered together on each cover.

There's a lot of books at Borders and other bookstores.  As customers navigate the various aisles, their first look at the cover of a book is their first impression.  My first impression was confusion.  I'm guessing that is the opposite of what the authors want.

Are you throwing so much information at your customers at once that they just end up confused?

The old numbers game dictates that negative reviews of your company/service/product are a bad thing. The old numbers game demands that you hide these negative reviews forever.

The people game is different.  The people game asks you to acknowledge all of your customers as people with opinions, regardless of what that opinion might be.

If you happen across a negative review of your company/service/product, engage the reviewer.  Find out what sparked the review and what you can do to improve.

Negative feedback is not a bad thing.  It is a better thing.  You can learn more from your mistakes than from your successes.

The programmer probably figured limiting people to a specific browser and operating system would make his job easier.  Or maybe his boss instructed him to do so.  They didn't mind sacrificing the possible customers who use other popular browsers and operating systems.

If making your job easier means making your custommer's experience more frustrating or difficult, something's wrong.

Are you making things easier for you or for your customers?  There's a very big difference and it matters a lot.

There's always a few pistachios in the bowl that have no shell.  These are usually the most desired as they require no shell removal and are easiest to find.

But there's a few pistachios in the bowl hidden inside closely wrapped shells that have the most pure, satisfying taste of them all.

If it's easy to find and requires little work to obtain, it's not necessarily the most satisfying or worthwhile.

Think of your favorite band in the whole word that still produces music today.  Do you think their next song is guaranteed to be a global hit?  You probably can't answer this question.  It's not a simple yes or no.  There's many variables involved in the popularity of songs.

The concepts that underly social media are often thought of as a simple yes or no.  Cheap and easy techniques that produce black and white results.  Companies think that making a video viral is as easy as snapping your fingers and watching the success unfold.

Such is not the case. You have as much of a chance guaranteeing your video becoming viral as you do your next book becoming a bestseller.  Unless you're Oprah or along the lines of her popularity, you don't know for sure.  Social media extends beyond predictability and quantifiable measurement.

You can use tools that encourage content to become viral, but these tools cannot guarantee your content becoming viral.  The best you can do is remember that content is king.  The content is what becomes viral.

We've all had the teacher in school that wanted a 15 page paper.  They didn't care that you could write a solid paper full of amazing content in 11 pages.  If you didn't write 15 pages, you failed.

Emphasizing quantity over quality has never made sense to me.  My dad used to always tell me to study for an hour or a half hour.  He didn't seem to be concerned with how much I was learning in that hour or half hour.  Instead, he was concerned with the amount of time I spent studying.

The number of Twitter followers you have is irrelevant.  The number of blog subscribers you have is irrelevant.  The number of site visitors you have is irrelevant.

Who are you Twitter followers?  What sort of content do they produce? Are they just following you to spam you?

Who are your blog subscribers?  Do they enjoy your content? Do they join the conversation? Have they ever become customers of yours?

This used to be a numbers game.  It's about people now.  Are you worried about numbers or people?

The LAPD of the 1920s was a corrupt organization more concerned with its reputation than the well being of the citizens it was supposed to protect.

The son of Christine Collins disappeared in 1928. The LAPD proclaimed they had found her son and upon reuniting with the boy they found, Collins insisted the boy was not her son.

Rather than listen to what she had to say, the LAPD demanded Mrs. Collins take the boy home as her own. The captain refused to listen to Mrs. Collin's continued protests and insisted time and time again she was wrong. The captain believed there was no way the LAPD could have made such a mistake.

Have you ever insisted that your customer was the wrong one? Have you ever insisted that you couldn't possibly have made a mistake?

Getting caught up in your own glory helps no one. People appreciate those who listen much more than those who lead a one way conversation.

The secret's out. We know you're human.

You're just like us. You aren't right 100% of the time. You don't know all the answers. You sometimes forget things.

So don't lie to us. When you make a mistake, don't be afraid to admit it. We may be a little disappointed or angry initially. But we'll get over it.

If you try to brush that mistake under the rug or try to convince us that you didn't make a mistake, we may get pretty pissed. We may even hold a grudge. And trust us, you don't want that. There's nothing we hate more than liars. We don't want to be friends with people who think they never make mistakes.

We all need to ask for directions from time to time. Just be man enough to admit that's what you need.

Success is such a vague word. Greedy corporate CEOs define success as having the most money and the most expensive cars. Joe the Plumber wants to buy his plumbing business one day. Many Americans equate owning a house with being successful.

Many companies believe success is making as much money as possible while doing the least amount of work possible. Success doesn't have to be so meaningless.

The Chase branch down the street from my place is the friendliest branch I know of. They also seem to have more tellers open at a time than any branch I've encountered. That's success.

Waiting in line at NYC Bagel Deli is fun. Ringing the bell on the way out to proclaim your love for the bagels is even more fun. I enjoy not only their food but the overall atmosphere and vibe from the workers. That's success.

What about you? What's success for you?

Through seven key principles, Steve Pavlina encourages you to grow consciously in his new book "Personal Development for Smart People". In a nutshell, the book is definitely worth reading. While you may not agree with everything Steve has to say, there's more than a few gems that may make a big difference in your personal growth. I'll touch upon a few here.

1. Truth - Steve's first key principle is truth and within truth, he discusses prediction. The best piece of advice I took from this section is to tackle fresh challenges constantly and expose yourself to new ideas. Repeating the same experiences over and over won't help you in any capacity.

2. Love - One of the most important sides of love Steve talks about is connection. He explains how we often prevent ourselves from growing by blocking ourselves from connecting with anyone or anything. To grow, you need to connect with what you want and disconnect with what you don't want.

3. Power - Rounding out the core three principles is power. The inclusion of power in the book actually surprised me when I first came upon this chapter. After reading further though, it actually made perfect sense. Steve mentions how you need to exercise power at crossroads in life and make real choices.

4. Oneness - This is the most intriguing principle Steve discusses. Oneness is about being connected to everyone already. Steve says that meeting someone knowing you're already connected on a different level changes the way you interact with that person. A great chapter!

5. Authority - Another great chapter. Two great key points Steve makes: 1) Don't be afraid to make decisions that might fail; 2) Failure and success aren't opposites. Rather, failure is a necessary (and unavoidable) part of success.

6. Courage - The most important message of the whole book is in this chapter: Follow the path with a heart. If your path doesn't have a heart, you're on the wrong path. The courage comes in when you realize you're on the wrong path but don't know what the right one is. You need courage to get off the wrong path to start.

7. Intelligence - Throughout the book, Steve explains how the seven principles all relate to one another. One of the aspects of intelligence Steve talks about is authenticity. He exclaims that there's no point in keeping up relationships that cause you to be someone other than your true self.

Steve intertwines all seven principles throughout the book and ensures that you understand how and why they all relate to each other. He doesn't demand that you agree with his ideas but instead ensures that you're exposed to them. For that very reason, I think it's worth your while to give Steve's book a read.