|
The very best thing you can give someone is what they want ...
|
Maybe easier said than done. Discovering what someone wants, well, as all of us know, can be tricky. But if success is dependent on determining what someone wants and then giving it to them, we need to learn what that, 'something' is.What I am going to share with you, is going to be difficult for many to accept. It will seem 'squishy', simple and incomplete. It will feel weak. It won't mesh with business books and jargon, so it will appear out of sync. It will be easy to dismiss.
But really, you will just be afraid of it.For the answer to what people want, we turn to math and the beautiful simplicity of division. You will remember from your study of division, the term, least common denominator. For me, learning about the LCD was great because finding it both simplified and focused the answer. The LCD was the one right answer that worked for every problem within the set. In this set, the least common denominator, that which everyone wants, is kindness. But that's still not quite it. Because, 'being kind' might mean something different to you than it does to me. We've got to break that action down to it's least common denominator. We've got to find a definition from which we can all agree to start. It turns out that the LCD for kindness is awareness. That state where we are conscious of events and able to perceive and to feel. All of us want to know that we exist in the minds of others. To exist to someone, starts with their awareness of us. To express this in another way, think of the phrase we've all used at one time or another, "They don't even know I exist!" or, "They act like I'm not even there."
It's important to point out that awareness is not the same as 'seeing'. We each go through our day, 'seeing' things. However for the most part we see things without conscious awareness. Make note. Awareness doesn't mean that you agree or even understand another person. Awareness only requires inclusion into our perception. But it is inclusion in another's reality that is the kindness we seek.
Let's put it into marketing terms. Advertising studies are showing that people buy not because of exposure to a brand or product, but because of a feeling they develop for the product. It's not repetition of an ad that creates purchase it is a positive emotional link that activates the buying response.
You are a product. Your ability to share genuine kindness elicits in others a positive feeling. That positive feeling becomes linked to you.
Maybe you believe as I do that we reap what we sow. If that is true, this year why not determine that you will give others more of what they want.
Set as your resolution to be kinder to people in 2013. By choosing to be more aware of the people you interact with, I guarantee that you too will get more of what you want this year.
|
 Tenderness and kindness are not signs of weakness and despair, but manifestations of strength and resolution |
