Hard to believe it, but school is here, and kids are back.  Thank you for doing your best to make every student, parent and all your colleagues feel welcome.  It takes us a few weeks to get everyone's schedule sorted out, so we appreciate your extra patience and flexibility the first few weeks.  For a successful, productive year of learning and growing, routines are key.  We'll get there, and we should be doing all we can now to make sure the kids are learning the ropes.  

There are a couple of brands and places that stand out in my mind when I think of being welcoming.  Danny Meyer, founder of one of NYC's Union Square Hospitality Group (one of the most successful and famous groups), wrote a great book about this called Setting the Table: the Transformational Power of Hospitality in Business.  We experienced this first hand visiting many of his restaurants over the almost 10 year period our daughter was a chef in the group.  I noticed this right away on my first visit to Gramercy Tavern, but what really got me was the next visit to another restaurant in the group.  When I arrived and we were seated the waiter asked, "Mr. Sims would you like an Old Fashioned?"  I chuckled and said, "yes, of course, it's my favorite drink."  And she said, "with rye, right?"  After a few more visits over the next year or two, it came to be that whenenever I visited one of the restaurants in the group, reservation or not, when I was taken to a table or counter, the table was set and there would be a fresh old fashioned with rye waiting for me.  Come on, now. That's excellent hospitality marked by true caring.   

There are too many pointers for this update, but you can imagine what prepping for dinner guests entails, and how that applies to wlecoming students, parents and colleagues.  I always admired a couple of other places for setting the table- Disney, Chick-Fil-A (except for the Decatur location) and my alma mater, the Eastman School of Music. 

I was stunned at Disney when the gardener picking up trash around a plant island saw us struggling with the map and sketching out our next few rides.  He heard us debating and chimed in.  He gave us a some good advice from the insider point of view and then pointed udsin the right direction.  Above and beyond. 

I had similar ipressions of Chick-Fil-A over the years, so I was surprised when I got eye rolls and sighing when I asked to exchange a box of soggy cold fries at that location by city hall.  As for college, I was mesmerized by the audition, interview experience.  There were solo and small ensembles tucked in every corner of the campus.  The harpist crammed in one of the small, old elevators taking requests was unforgetably lovely.  She and every one else we encountered made a simple point of saying something kind to every nervous kid and parent, something like, "good luck," or "don't sweat it, you'd going to be great," or "just be the best you you can."  It was calming and reassuring to have people acknowledge our nerve and to remind us to enjoy the experience and to stay focused.                   

A couple of practical points or action items

• Safety first.  Always.
• Please greet everyone you meet
• Diana is the go to for schedule questions
• If something is off, seems odd or iffy, please or needs admin attention, please speak up

We love our CMC team.  We're looking forward to fun and hard work with all of you.  LEt's be our best selves-- welcoming, encouraging, honest and helpful.  

-Phil