You have heard the ancient question a million times and more:
“Do you look at the glass as half-full or half-empty?”
And while the question purports to be a kind of litmus test on whether you are an optimist or pessimist, it occurs to me that we really shouldn’t be examining the glass at all.
The glass is merely the container for what matters. What’s truly important is what is inside!
If I have to drink whatever is in the glass, please give me a half-full pouring of Cabernet Sauvignon. However, if the glass contains bleach, half-empty is still way too much.
The question I would ask you is simply this: Are you paying more attention to the container, or what really matters?
Imagine a beautifully designed sports car with a lawn mower engine. Focusing exclusively on the container won’t get you where you need to be with customers.
Ever been to a restaurant that has an incredible decor, but the food is average and the service distant? The container just means that your soiled experience as a customer had an appealing wrapper.
Ever focus so much on the product or service, you failed to truly connect with your clients? Think of all of the phones with more “features” than the iPhone — yet have only a fraction of the traction in the marketplace.
Ever judge a customer or colleague by the way he or she appears? Sometimes the brightest, most visionary individuals are packaged in a container that we need to look beyond. Focusing upon the glass — rather than what’s inside — is, perhaps, the genesis of many of our world’s ills, from racism to sexism, from age discrimination to bad neighbors.
Is the glass half-full, or half-empty? It really doesn’t matter.
It’s not about the glass.
It’s NOT about the glass…
October 1, 2009 · 6 comments
You have heard the ancient question a million times and more:
And while the question purports to be a kind of litmus test on whether you are an optimist or pessimist, it occurs to me that we really shouldn’t be examining the glass at all.
If I have to drink whatever is in the glass, please give me a half-full pouring of Cabernet Sauvignon. However, if the glass contains bleach, half-empty is still way too much.
The question I would ask you is simply this: Are you paying more attention to the container, or what really matters?
Imagine a beautifully designed sports car with a lawn mower engine. Focusing exclusively on the container won’t get you where you need to be with customers.
Ever been to a restaurant that has an incredible decor, but the food is average and the service distant? The container just means that your soiled experience as a customer had an appealing wrapper.
Ever focus so much on the product or service, you failed to truly connect with your clients? Think of all of the phones with more “features” than the iPhone — yet have only a fraction of the traction in the marketplace.
Ever judge a customer or colleague by the way he or she appears? Sometimes the brightest, most visionary individuals are packaged in a container that we need to look beyond. Focusing upon the glass — rather than what’s inside — is, perhaps, the genesis of many of our world’s ills, from racism to sexism, from age discrimination to bad neighbors.
Is the glass half-full, or half-empty? It really doesn’t matter.
It’s not about the glass.