From Self-Centered to Other-Centered: Embracing the “SO WHAT?!” paradigm.
A decade ago, in my office at Portent Interactive in the historic Smith Tower in downtown Seattle, I experienced a paradigm-changing moment. It was a typical winter afternoon, and as the sun had set, I found myself alone, working by the light of my desk lamp. Amidst the mail, a large manila envelope caught my attention.
I opened the envelope, pulled out a wood handled sign with a postcard-sized sheet of paper glued on. It had only two words printed on it, “So What?!” That was it. To this day I don’t know who sent it.
But that seemingly unremarkable event triggered a profound shift in my perspective, challenging my perception of the very essence of existence and purpose in both personal and professional domains. It was as if a veil had been lifted.
From that point on, in both business and life, the fundamental and filtering question that matters most to me is, "So what?!” – “Why do we exist, doing what we do, and what’s the impact on our community?
Yet, too often, I observed a habit in myself and others boasting about our “features”, products, services, and company without ever genuinely connecting it to what really matters to our prospects, clients, and teammates = Results. It’s human nature to focus on the brilliance of our work but it’s also human nature to forget to address the core question: Why do or should our customers care?
Sure, it is cliched, but clients don't (and won’t) pay us to purchase a hammer and nail; they buy those tools to create a hole in the wall and hang a picture. That age-old analogy can be extended to all interactions in business and life.
I’ve been blessed to have been part of a diverse group of companies and worked with many people of exceptional skill, creativity, and competence, however, so many times, there was this same missing element in our approach to dealing with stakeholders.
This revelation isn’t unique to any industry or size of company; I noticed it in many service and product providers that so often fail to ask the vital question, "So what?!” and how those simple two words could have reminded us that clients pay for results, not just the effort put into our work.
Looking back in history, it's evident how successful inventors and entrepreneurs understood the significance of answering the "So what?" question. Thomas Edison's electric light bulb was not successful merely because it was invented; it was embraced for the outcome it provided—safe, affordable, and accessible illumination. Similarly, Steve Jobs' iPod wasn't a hit just because it was a cool gadget; it fulfilled a customer desire by offering a convenient way to store and carry all their music.
While most of us genuinely strive to create better products and services, we often get so consumed with the effort that we forget to effectively "sell" it to our customers. To truly succeed, we must learn to answer the critical question, "So what?" for our clients. It's the key to earning their trust and winning their business.
