I was unnaturally attached to Commerce Bank (TD predecessor) and would start conversations with friends about banking just to plug the bank. It was the first bank in New York to open 7 days a week and have long hours. They gave out dog biscuits and offer dog water bowls in the lobby. They didn’t have giant walls of Plexiglas separating me from the tellers (in my mind I live in a small town—but unfortunately they’ve been held up more than any other bank in NY). They had Penny Lane!—a free way to turn loose change into cash bills...

I don’t get to play with too many enormous touch screen displays, so the NYC official tourist office grabbed my attention as I walked by on 7th Ave the other day (between 52nd and 53rd). A typical tourism office has walls of brochures. (Fun!) But this tourist office brings the city’s options to life with a fun process that starts with grabbing a hockey puck (a little orange disk) and ends with a video display of your selected spots to visit in NYC. I can’t assess the utility of the service precisely—I’m not really the ...

As I sort through recipes on Epicurious.com for the millionth time, trying to sort out a delicious, seasonal meal for a friend’s birthday celebration (I’m on my laptop, while watching the World Series, and am trying to keep my eyes on the game, not on my screen) I’m struck by what I think is a novel idea. First, the problem: In short, it takes me too long to scroll through the recipes in the search result list, then Cmd (or Ctrl on a PC)+click on the titles to open each one I’m interested in in a new tab, then find the ...

Creating great experiences is tough. It’s easy to identify them (especially when they’re happening to you), but so much goes into the delightful and effective experience. A typical company is a wasp’s nest of competing personalities, departmental politics, twisted organizational dynamics and lack of coordination and proper incentive and reward systems. It’s a miracle that even mediocre experiences are planned and released into the general population. But great ones? Tough. Hats off to those who deliver. With this blog, I...