Pain and Drugs
When seeking to remedy the pain, don't forget about the person.
CX: "Identify the customer's pain and then provide an effective solution."
The solution? Well, as long as it works, who cares, right?
Pragmatism isn't necessarily bad, but it's a poor indicator of genuine care for people—the customer or the employee. Pragmatism leads us to make decisions that overvalue the pain and undervalue the long-term effects.
Sure, most companies (hopefully all?) aren't out there selling cocaine drops with pictures of kids on the front label these days.
But let's pause for a moment. How many companies are just products looking for a problem to solve rather than people looking to serve the best interests of others?
Helping someone in their pain is valuable, productive, and rewarding. But if you start to serve the pain rather than the person, you'll be led astray into dubious and potentially harmful means.
As always,
Stay humble. Hang tough.