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What would you say are the core principles of customer service? Okay, there’s two ways to answer that. One is to get right into, you know, What are the principles, as in the tools to apply, the analytic frameworks that can help, you know, the ways of looking at it. But I think there’s another one that’s more fundamental. When I started working in the field and the country said, “We want to become known as outstanding in service.”, my first question was, what do you mean by service? And you could ask 100 people and get 100 slightly different answers. In fact, if you don’t mind, let me ask you, what is service? It’s a good question. Right. And you’re somebody who’s a specialist in the field. It literally took me a few years. And then I realized, okay, I’ve got to be able to explain this to a layperson. It’s kind of like, how do you explain a brand-new sport to somebody? You better make it simple. And so here’s the definition I wrote. Service is taking action. That makes sense, right? You got to do something. Service is taking action to create value for someone else. Okay. Alright. You know, the moment you hear it, you go, “Yeah, that makes sense.” And it makes sense for the external customer service, but it also makes sense for all the internal service from I.T., from finance, from admin, from HR, from security, etc.. It also makes sense that the front line and the supervisor and the manager and the leader all the way up to the boardroom, taking action to create value for someone else. Yeah. So simple. So simple, you know? Now, more recently, I’ve been digging into, “Wait a minute. What do we mean by value?” Ooh. Value is an assessment. Values is someone’s interpretation. Right. And generally something is valuable when it contributes to someone’s well-being. Mm-hmm. Because also, you could say that it’s, value is convenient, for example. And I could say value is a pleasant experience, for example. It could be completely different for both of us. Or it could be food when you’re hungry, or it could be a blanket when you’re cold, or could be an explanation when you’re confused, or it could be a recommendation when you have a need, etc. Right? So, service is taking action to create value for someone. Now, just to show you how deep this goes, very few people understand where did the word customer come from? I don’t. Come on, you’re a specialist. Come on. Oh, you’re making me look bad here. Well, let me, let me fill in the blank. And it’s surprising because the word “customer” originally came from “tax collector”. What? Well, think about it. When you cross a border, you go through customs. And customs are the people who extract value from the trader who’s bringing something across the border. Okay? Now, think about that. A customer is the person who gets the value. That makes perfect sense. Service is taking action to create value for, well let’s call it the customer. It’s a perfect fit. Right. Amazing, isn’t it? I never thought about it like that. Wow. And by the way, the world is changing. And, you know, we’re all dealing with ecological issues and political issues and social issues, etc. so I’ve been putting a lot more effort recently, past four years or so, into the phenomenon of care. And so what is care? That’s really a commitment to someone’s well-being. Right. A concern and a commitment like when you care about. But how do you take good care? Oh, well, you have to take some action. Oh, so service is taking action to create value. Value is what contributes to someone’s well-being. Care is the commitment to the well-being. These two things fit like that. And so when you ask me, what are the fundamental principles? Those are the fundamental principles.