I love this time of the year. Holiday music is everywhere .. the food seems to be better. Sure, there are the year end pressures but there is also opportunity at every turn to find something fantastic. How can you not find yourself smiling?

I found myself wondering about that question at a recent lunch. I was early and observed a smiling rep and his Blackberry carrying, email sending, frowning manager. The customer arrived and the rep engaged but the manager/executive never broke the frown. Had I been his client, I would have simply expedited the lunch to get out of there. It looked painful. I felt like walking up to him and saying ‘Smile, it is the holidays and this is your customer!”

I remember when I first moved to the UK, I had someone comment that they thought it was odd that I smiled so much. We control our mental state … so why not smile? Especially at this time of year.

Smile.