Below is an Autogenerated Transcript

What is the connection between serving someone and caring about someone? And they’re not exactly the same thing. So when I started working in the field of service, I asked people, what is service? And I got very shallow answers like “Make the customer happy.” Well, sometimes in a medical situation, you’re going to make them unhappy for a while so that they’ll be better off later on. Or “Give the customers whatever they want.” That’s terrible advice sometimes. Or you’d hear really shallow things like “The customer’s always right,” which we know is not true. Or “The customer is king.” So you’re a slave. That doesn’t help. You know, we really need to elevate this to a better definition. And there wasn’t one. So I wrote one, and the one that I wrote goes like this, “Service is taking action.” You have to do something. So the action could be over the phone, it could be over the counter, it could be over the Internet. It could be at the beginning answering questions, making a sale. It could be in the middle, doing an installation, doing a, you know, turning something on. It could be later on, answering a question, providing an upgrade, providing training. “Service is taking action to create value,” to create value for someone. Now, if it’s self-service, you take action to create value for yourself. If it’s internal service, you take action to create value for a colleague. If it’s external service, you take action to create value for a customer or a client. Now, what makes it valuable is when it contributes in some way to someone’s well-being. In other words, the person whose well-being gets better, they’re the ones who say “That was valuable.” And sometimes the value can be quantified. For example, “You saved me money.” “You helped me get value for money.” “You helped me make more money.” “You improved my blood count.” “You delivered something in a faster period of time.” I can measure all that. It’s quantifiable. But sometimes the value is emotional. “You made me feel good.” “You made me feel less confused.” “Oh, I have peace of mind.” Sometimes it’s relational. “You know, you make me feel like I belong. Like I’m a member. Like you recognize me, like you really appreciate me.” Or it could even be ecological or existential. “You actually make me feel like I’m living a better life. Like I’m more connected to the community where I live.” Wow. That’s delivering a lot of value contributing to someone’s well-being. Okay, then what is care? Well, care is another one of those questions. I went around, “What is care?” “What is care?” And doctors couldn’t even tell me the clear answer to that. Philosophers couldn’t tell me. So I wrote a definition. And it goes like this. “Care is concern.” In other words, I’m paying attention and I have an intention. So it’s not just mindful, oh, I’m paying attention. It means, I want to do something. “Care is concern for someone’s well-being.” Not just in this moment. Like right now you’re getting what you need, but also into the future. “Care is concern for future well-being.” So if you care about your children, you care about their future. If you care about your parents, you care that they’re well, if you care about your colleagues, you care about their success and their career. If you care about your customers, then you’re not just serving them now to fulfill the conditions of satisfaction in the deal that is this project, you’re actually concerned for their future.