Most of us lack anything but self-interest and that is way American customer service lacks consistency and vitality. The typical employee serves to get, that is, serves because you’ll pay me to do it. That’s it. What’s in it for me trumps a customer’s or client’s need. Though many on the help desk have become astute at pretending otherwise, particularly in high tech venues. “I know more than you do” appears to be the techie’s most satisfying moment; in service terms, however, that moment should be when I have helped you accomplish or learn the solution to your, the customer’s, need.

1. Webmasters truncate designs and distort videos in the name of “I know best” so that the design looks “horsey” and the video looks like a chopped up version of ultra fast forward.
2. The huge telecommunication companies tout “touchy, feely” personalization that becomes downright falsehood when a consumer trys to get an answer for a down phone line, cell phone interference, internet sluggishness, incorrect billing, or anything.

The list of offenses is endless and, certainly, there are great customer service moments, too. As human beings, however, only the bad and ulgy tend to make the headlines. Yeah, that may be a sign of our sick culture but didn’t we start all this when we decided, for example, that high school kids first need was high test scores and only “if time permits” did each need relationship savvy?

Every time I talk to a “geek” I want to cry at their lack of human understanding. Life is more than how much knowledge one has. As Albert Einstein said: “Any fool can know; the point is to understand.” When I get a tech person on the phone or in person who is also “a real human being,” I cry, too, but this time for joy and because it is so rare.

Solution: What are you doing to mentor the next generation of highly astute whiz kids to also have a heart and soul they choose to show freely alongside fine-tuned academic skills? Are you willing to leave a legacy of “highly skilled barbarians” as Dr. Steven Mueller, Pres. of Johns Hopkins University stated (US News and World Report, 11/1980)? Come on, find out how to be a StrengthBank® Mentor.

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