…Sometimes it’s the simple things that really differentiate who we are and what we can add to the world.
What our hero, Bicycle Repair Man, shows is that it doesn’t matter if we’re surrounded by awesomely powerful individuals. Our job is to dig down and discover what truly makes each of us unique and what skills we have that we can use in our own distinct way.
So what about you…how do you relate to our hero here?
If you’re anything like me, you probably deal with clutter in your life. Even though I try to stay organized, I often find my home office in some state of mess. Oh, and my garage, my truck, my storage shed…you get the picture. And what about our minds? Any crap cluttering up our thoughts like anxiety about tomorrow or worries about past mistakes? Perhaps lingering bitterness around a relationship gone bad or a job that’s gone downhill? Personally, I was hanging on to some regrets about my past and the decision to work in the nonprofit sector (more on that below).
But you know what? Keeping all the clutter around doesn’t do us one damn bit of good. It just takes up valuable mindspace and heartspace that could hold the greatest stuff in our lives. So, let’s do this instead:
Let’s think of all the crap that’s cluttering our lives and tell it to get the hell out of here! When we do that, we create a vacuum in which we can replace it all with joy, passion, appreciation, and perhaps most importantly, hope.
If we have a client that’s just not working out for us, let them go. When we do, it means we now have space to bring in clients who will bring out our best and pay us fully what we’re worth.
If we’re feeling anxious about what tomorrow holds for us, for our family, or for our career, let this anxiety go. Yep, I know it’s hard, but what’s that feeling getting us besides headaches and ulcers? What would happen if we replace that anxiety with hope and a firm belief in our ability to be prosperous?
If we’re living in regret for a decision we made in the past, it’s definitely time to let it go. When I got out of college, I bounced briefly around minor jobs until I landed in nonprofit membership management. Nearly all of my 12 years of professional experience has involved nonprofit work, which is fine except it can be considered a liability when you want to move on to the corporate world of multinational brands. Just last week, I even cursed my youthful ignorance for not having the sense to work for a Fortune 500 company at the start of my career. But that’s not only holding on to crap, it’s denying all the good I’ve ever done in my career and all the good I can now do as a professional. It ignores the fact that I learned fundamental principles and developed successful programs for creating remarkable customer experiences from my work in the nonprofit sector – the same programs and strategies that any Fortune 500 will benefit from.
So, let’s take some time today to think about all the crap cluttering our life. Then, tell it to get out. Make room for the good stuff in our head and heart. We might just find that once we create a vacuum from where all the crap used to live, we can hold way more good than we ever knew possible.
Last week, Reuters published an article called Americans more loyal to brands, country than company. For employers, it poses a wake-up call. But what I found most interesting was this statement at the end:
When asked how companies could improve loyalty the top answers included offering cash awards to consumers, replacing automatic answering machines with real people, making good products and not raising prices.
I think this shows why consumer opinion and sentiment shouldn’t always be taken at immediate face value. The way we think about things is complex and requires us to go exploring for more specific answers. This is were doing more qualitative work is an important complement to the quantitative work of surveys and polls.
Thinking about the snippet above from the Reuters article…What does making good products mean? How about not raising prices? Before you go thinking you know exactly what the answers are, take a step back and consider how many different possible answers are possible here. A good product can have a multitude of meanings in the mind of the customer. Now amplify it by hundreds or thousands of customers. And the desire to not raise prices may be contradicted if there is the possibility of adding more value to the product.
As an anthropologist, we’re trained to not just look at what’s said, but also look for what’s not said. Interestingly, what’s omitted here is listening. Well, sort of. We might be able to extract listening from the desire to talk to real people instead of answering machines. But…
What would happen if our companies set up experiences that encouraged customers to talk, to share ideas, to voice frustrations?
What would happen if we genuinely listened to what was said and not said?
What would happen if we took all of those opinions and sentiments and put them to action so our customers would feel heard?
Can you imagine how powerful that might be? Forget short-term buzz. Think long-term customer movements.
photo credit: abrinsky (via Flickr)
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