Someone you serve by any other name: customers, clients, or patrons May 23, 2007
Posted by Jeff in Bias, Communication, Conversation, Decision-Making, Highest and Best Use.1 comment so far
Adam, raised in important question about what term you use to identify the folks you serve.
The ensuing conversation completely reframed the way I view people who come in and out of my business. Isn’t it just semantics? Hardly.
The way we orient to an idea will shape how we view it, the identity we give it, and the actions we take in relationship to it.
Adam goes on to share the common definitions/usage of customer, client, and patron. The point he makes is well worth heading. The language you use strongly influences how you relate.
But I felt compelled to raise the following concern.
There are two sources of orientation
One source is yours.
The other source is your . . . well . . . the folks you serve.
In both cases, there is not only the “dictionary” definition, but also personal orientation. Let me give you an example of how much weight personal orientation can have.
My wife and I have this running argument (completely in jest, I assure you, it’s one of the games we play 
). We argue over how many uncles I have. As far as my wife is concerned I have none. My dad is an only child. My mom has one sister who has been divorced for many years. What I have, according to my wife, are great uncles. The male siblings or in-laws of my grandparents.
My parents are short on siblings. My wife’s family is different. Her mom has two sisters. Her dad has two brothers and two sisters. My wife needs to make the distinction because the room at Thanksgiving is crawling with all manner of relative. For me, the distinction is completely unnecessary.
As another example, when I hear the word, “patron.” I hear the Spanish word for boss, “patrón,” from my days managing a multi-cultural staff that included many Mexican natives.
Whichever term you choose, customer, client, patron, I think you have to go a step further than just use a term that best suits your feelings for the folks you serve.
Tell your story
Declare to the folks you serve why you choose the term you use.
Help your . . . folks you serve . . . reframe the value of the term that communicates your orientation to them (whatever you want to call them).
If it is important enough to you to choose how you refer to the “folks you serve” with great care, it should be just as important to communicate this orientation in a meaningful, integrated, reinforced way.
Fire Don Imus: The perils of emotive decision-making April 12, 2007
Posted by Jeff in Bias, Decision-Making.2 comments
If you haven’t heard of talk radio host, Don Imus, before, there is a pretty good chance you have heard of him now. For nearly 40 years, Imus has been an unapologetic equal opportunity offender. His crass, racist comments about the predominantly black Women’s Basketball team at Rutgers University have set off a firestorm of controversy.
The Rutgers team had an improbable run in the Women’s Collegiate Basketball Championship before losing in the Final game. Rather than basking in their accomplishment, they have been subjected to comments, that as a father, I would never want to hear about my daughter.
What I find notable, are the calls for Imus’ dismissal from Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, Democratic candidate for president, Barack Obama, and others. So, let’s consider the message being sent if Imus is fired.
Make a racist comment = Suffer the consequences (as in lose your livelihood).
Is this really the best course of action? Isn’t merely sanctioning words just a bit short-sighted? Do the consequences amount to little more than censorship?
How is the cause of confronting racism and bias best served?
By addressing the words OR addressing the thinking?
Does the end of bias come more readily from exercising the thought process?
Seems to me that an exercised mind is an open mind.
An open mind sees the character of a person, rather than the race or lifestyle. (bias exorcised)
Don Imus should pay a price. But his firing might send the wrong message.
What does this mean for you and your clients?
Think through your decisions.
Carefully consider your desired outcome.
Take the long view.
Don’t decide out of emotion.
