“Until I was 13, I thought my name was “Shut Up!”
– Joe Namath
This one goes back about six years, but bear with me…this week’s theme is “listening…”
When Wyatt (the Middle of The Three) was 4 1/2, one night at bedtime, he asked, “Daddy, when am I going to be 7?” He was frustrated, because wise, old, Kate (age 7 at the time) got to stay up until 8:30, half an hour past his bed time.
It had been one of those days. I was tired. I was tempted to say what my dad said to me in such situations, “Don’t wish your life away!” I was tempted to offer some other pithy “dad-admonishment” but for some reason, I just said, “Why, Wyatt?”
“Because when you’re seven, Dad, you get to watch a TV show for a long, long time after your brother goes to bed.” So, on a roll, and armed with this valuable information, I said, “Why else?” We made it through about five equally compelling reasons that being seven is much better than being four-and-a-half, until he yawned really big and said, “Thanks, Dad.”
“Thanks for what, Wyatt?”
“Thanks for letting me tell you why it’s no fair being littler than Kate.”
Ever wonder what our customers would tell us if we asked them “Why?” more often? Ever wonder how much easier the job would be if we asked and listened, instead of anticipated and “told?”
How much of a difference would that make?
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