Look!

The hardest thing to do is get yourself into someone else’s place. That’s true whether we’re talking about social issues or business. I’m always fascinated by how people “with” criticize the desires of people “without” because what often comes through loud and clear is a total inability to see the world through other eyes. Yeah, I might be thinking of the health care discussion, but I might also be thinking of the customer service person who just wants to get the caller off the phone or the boss who can’t understand why an employee who can’t play their bills feels resentful when the boss gets a bonus and they don’t.
There are all kinds of success but the one about which most of us should care deeply is our success as people.  It’s not measured by numbers on a W2 or lines on a P&L. Frankly I don’t know how it’s measured but think we’ll all know it when we see it. One indicator is the number of close friends someone has. How many people show up at someone’s funeral and of those how many do it out of a sense of loss rather than a sense of obligation? The most successful people often have touched hundreds of others while never having much of what is glamorized as success.  To an individual, these people seem to have touched a lot of hearts by standing in someone else’s shoes.

Like many of you, I try to see all sides (and there are usually a few more than just two) of an issue.  The key when making business decisions (OK, maybe life and political decisions too) is how well you can defend you choice in the context of all those sides and key in that process is understanding what’s going on in the other person’s head.  You want to have great customer service?  Solve the problem – THEIR problem or explain why you can’t from their perspective.   Try that on political issues too.  You see, I don’t think customers and salespeople are all that different after they remove their badges.  Same thing with political parties.  We’re all just trying to find happiness.  Hey – maybe that’s the success thing!

Whose eyes did you look through today?