I wrote a post, Being Observant and Sympathetic: Darwin's Keys to Service, on Charles Darwin on the necessity of service. He remains one who greatly inspires me.
Recently, I came across this quote which reminds me of the necessity of adapting to change, an appropriate slogan for our particular time in American history.
"It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is most adaptable to change."
--Charles Darwin
Showing posts with label Charles Darwin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Charles Darwin. Show all posts
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Being Observant and Sympathetic: Darwin's Keys to Service
Reading The Autobiography of Charles Darwin recently got me to thinking about a lot of different things and its amazing how all things converge. It is also amazing how our understanding of a person or thing is often colored by our sense of self and not necessarily the other. In order to be observant and sympathetic we have to step outside of ourselves.
I was wonderfully surprised to read, though I should not have been, that Darwin was not dogmatic in his principles at all, though many of his followers are. Great scientists, thinkers, inventors and entrepreneurs rarely are. (I really like the idea of talent essentially becoming entrepreneurs, given the freedom of thought and action within the goals and objectives of the company. This releases negative control and yields greater results.) Consider this quote from the introduction of Darwin's Autobiography:
"Darwin's whole trend of thought was against facile speculation, yet theories flowed freely through his mind ready for the essential tests of observation and experiment. (Since a child Charles Darwin was ruminating on various things and picking them apart i.e., bugs and flowers. This is both random thought and action in motion, the kind of prototyping encouraged by Tom Peters.) He took twenty years of combined theorising and fact-finding to prepare his case for evolution in the face of a predominately antagonistic world." (Where others have left off, others begin. Technology did not begin in the 21st Century. Process is cumulative.)
"He had to convince others, and his doubts are as freely expressed as his convictions. (Be honest in prototyping.) His books lie like stepping stones to future knowledge. Dogmatic fixity was wholly alien to his central idea...Darwin's faith in Natural Selection as a (not the) main agent never wavered, but this admission of other causes showed his awareness of difficulties still unsolved." Without dogma, we communicate more effectively, hearing each other honestly and producing innovatively. We also discover truths that would otherwise be lost. Our customers and clients, those who hire us, want to heard. Listen.
"Darwin shares some interesting characteristics of his father that aligns beautifully with our relationship with customers and clients, those who hire us. He writes, "His chief mental characteristics were his power of observation and his sympathy, neither of which have I ever seen exceeded or even equalled. His sympathy was not only with the distresses of others, but in a greater degree with the pleasure of all around. This led him to be always scheming to give pleasure to others, and though hating extravagance, to perform many generous actions...I suppose that it was his sympathy which gave him unbounded power of winning confidence, as a consequence made him highly successful as a physician."
Are you observant to the needs of your customers and clients? Are you sympathetic not only to their needs, but to a greater degree with their pleasures all around, including those of others on the job? What makes customers and clients happy? What pleases them? Discovering the pleasures of our customers and clients may be the best way to discover their needs. This will lead to how to best serve them. Are you highly observant and sympathetic? Being indifferent will never do. Let's be passionate about service. Stepping outside of ourselves is the only way to serve. This is the distinguishing factor that brings great success.
Another relevant question: on the curiosity scale of one to ten, where are you?
I was wonderfully surprised to read, though I should not have been, that Darwin was not dogmatic in his principles at all, though many of his followers are. Great scientists, thinkers, inventors and entrepreneurs rarely are. (I really like the idea of talent essentially becoming entrepreneurs, given the freedom of thought and action within the goals and objectives of the company. This releases negative control and yields greater results.) Consider this quote from the introduction of Darwin's Autobiography:
"Darwin's whole trend of thought was against facile speculation, yet theories flowed freely through his mind ready for the essential tests of observation and experiment. (Since a child Charles Darwin was ruminating on various things and picking them apart i.e., bugs and flowers. This is both random thought and action in motion, the kind of prototyping encouraged by Tom Peters.) He took twenty years of combined theorising and fact-finding to prepare his case for evolution in the face of a predominately antagonistic world." (Where others have left off, others begin. Technology did not begin in the 21st Century. Process is cumulative.)
"He had to convince others, and his doubts are as freely expressed as his convictions. (Be honest in prototyping.) His books lie like stepping stones to future knowledge. Dogmatic fixity was wholly alien to his central idea...Darwin's faith in Natural Selection as a (not the) main agent never wavered, but this admission of other causes showed his awareness of difficulties still unsolved." Without dogma, we communicate more effectively, hearing each other honestly and producing innovatively. We also discover truths that would otherwise be lost. Our customers and clients, those who hire us, want to heard. Listen.
"Darwin shares some interesting characteristics of his father that aligns beautifully with our relationship with customers and clients, those who hire us. He writes, "His chief mental characteristics were his power of observation and his sympathy, neither of which have I ever seen exceeded or even equalled. His sympathy was not only with the distresses of others, but in a greater degree with the pleasure of all around. This led him to be always scheming to give pleasure to others, and though hating extravagance, to perform many generous actions...I suppose that it was his sympathy which gave him unbounded power of winning confidence, as a consequence made him highly successful as a physician."
Are you observant to the needs of your customers and clients? Are you sympathetic not only to their needs, but to a greater degree with their pleasures all around, including those of others on the job? What makes customers and clients happy? What pleases them? Discovering the pleasures of our customers and clients may be the best way to discover their needs. This will lead to how to best serve them. Are you highly observant and sympathetic? Being indifferent will never do. Let's be passionate about service. Stepping outside of ourselves is the only way to serve. This is the distinguishing factor that brings great success.
Another relevant question: on the curiosity scale of one to ten, where are you?
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