“You know what, I’ve been given all the credit I need. I don’t need any more credit for things. Credit? Nah, I’m good from here on out. Everyone else, you take it.”
I’ve never heard anyone say that.
We want the credit. Desperately. And a little more certainly wouldn’t be uncalled for.
We have a strange relationship with credit. At least the entertainment world around me does.
We all want a lot of credit for doing the least amount possible.
The music industry is the worst.
We’re willing to make a phone call for someone if the phone call is easy.
If it might be an awkward phone call, we’re out.
We’re willing to pass along an email address if the mail-search on our phone works quickly.
If the email address someone needs from us isn’t easily found…sorry we just can’t make it happen.
We’re willing to give a little time and energy today, if we can spare it.
If we sense it’s going to bleed into tomorrow, we won’t even sign up to begin with.
We might be willing to try one time, but following up couldn’t be further from our minds.
If it’s easy, we’ll help, and if it works we’d like a lot of credit…for working really hard.
Are we willing to change this?
Instead could we start working harder than expected? Be more generous with our follow through? Be insistent on someone else’s dreams coming true? And give away more credit?
At this point in the year its more for reflection…no sense in cramming. Those “every day” goals are impossible now that we’re eleven months into 2015.
But some areas are bright…some have barely been lit this year.
For me, I love completion. I love doing it right. I love consistency.
My brain tends to long for the black and whiteness of success/fail, either I did it or I didn’t do it.
But maybe goals don’t have to be all or nothing all the time.
And maybe that’s a good thing.
If the goal is to write everyday….then the truth is writing everyday is better than writing most days. And writing sometimes is much better than writing no times.
So if the goal is to write everyday and instead you write most days, you didn’t fulfill your goal. But you’re a lot better off than if you never committed to the goal in the first place.
The silver lining isn’t meant to let you or me off the hook, it’s more a matter of recognizing progress for what it is and where it came from, and embracing its value.
I want you (and me) to complete goals 100%, all the way.
But if we don’t, we often times still grow, we still learn, there’s still purpose and meaning.
I learned how to use Adobe Photoshop a bunch of years ago when I got really sick and had to be on the couch for about a month straight.
It was on the heels of the MySpace days and I needed some new banners and…umm…skins.
You used to simply be able to download Photoshop, but now its a month to month subscription deal.
So they can make more/consistent money off of their great products. Respect.
However…
Doing customer service the old way is stupid.
And Adobe does customer service the old way. Stupid.
Trying to eek out every dollar from your customers on the basis of something deep in the fine print, or some new policy…you might be right, but everyone hates you. And if everyone hates you, everyone else will hate you too.
What happened to the customer always being right?
Because we are.
You’re telling me we have vehicles on mars and I can video chat with China, but you just can’t refund me my few dollars after I politely explain my situation?
It’s not about if you CAN help me, its all about if you are WILLING to help me. Because you and I both know you have the ability.
You have the choice…
Is it better to screw the customer, make some short term money and have them writing a blog like this about you…
Or to satisfy the customer, letting them walk away with a good story about your company so they’ll sing your praises on down the road?
Adobe, your products are cutting edge, your customer relations is prehistoric.
Trade short term dollars for long term cheerleaders.
Roughly 24 hours past Thanksgiving. Do we remember anything from yesterday? What or who we’re thankful for? More importantly, what or who we’re thankful to?
Appreciation and respect for the world around you, your band, your team, your business go a long way.
In fact, in most studies that have been done, money ranks at about 5 or 6 for what people value most in what they want in a job.
So maybe you’re short on cash. Maybe you’re currently a small operation and can’t yet compensate your people the way you (and they) wish you could.
Don’t worry, all the other things on the list for what people want most in a company/business/team/BAND are absolutely free to start working on.
1. Recognition for good work 2. A positive environment 3. Work that has greater purpose than the work itself 4. Responsibility 5. Accountability for responsibilities 6. Adequate compensation
I have this strange feeling that if you focus on the first five long enough, number six will become a reality sooner than later.
Both elements were important back in elementary school, weren’t they?
If you forgot your toy, you had nothing. You couldn’t just tell. It had to be show AND tell. If you forgot your toy, you were doomed. You need the THING to show in order to have the opportunity to tell about it.
Also, you couldn’t just show something. You couldn’t just set your baseball card, doll, painting, Pearl Jam cassette on the teachers stool at the front of the room and walk away, you had to tell.
The telling magnifies the impact of the showing.
Too many shows and gigs are all show but no tell. So it’s like you’ve brought your bestest most awesomest toy, but just plopped it in the front of the room and walked away. Glad you have a cool toy, bummed you didn’t serve the situation better.
Too many interactions online and everywhere else are all tell and nothing to show. So it’s like you get up in the front of the class and tell them what an incredible, mind blowing, life changing toy you have…but you forgot it at home. But you swear it’s great!! Bummer. Now everyone thinks you’re a liar.
Show (the thing, the thing comes first) AND tell (the glue, the staying power, the connection and belief).
p.s. Even Steve Jobs had to both show and tell…and his art/product is simple yet mind blowing. If he has to do both in order to grow a company/empire, there’s a good chance you do too.
