The Human Stuff
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This morning, I walked into a coffee shop in Perth and waited at the counter.
Two staff members were behind it. Both ignored me. No eye contact. No acknowledgement.
After what felt like a reasonable amount of time, I offered a loud 'hello!' in their general direction. I got a muted 'hi' from one of them. Nothing from the other.
I waited another minute.
And then I walked out.
Down the street to the other coffee shop, where I was met with a huge smile. "Hi, how's your day going? What can I get you?" We had a chat about my name ("Cool, what's that short for?") and other inconsequential stuff. Then I joined the small crowd waiting for their takeaway brews, feeling oddly lighter than when I'd walked in.
Both places were equally busy. Same number of staff.
But there's only one I'll be going back to.
In a sea of excellence, mediocrity stands out. And vice versa.
Here's what I keep coming back to, though. Neither experience required anything extraordinary. The difference wasn't skill, or resources, or even time. It was attention. One place gave me a little of it. The other gave me none.
That goes for people leadership as much as it does for coffee.
It doesn't need to be big stuff. It just needs to be human stuff.
I wonder: when did someone last make you feel genuinely seen at work? And when did you last do that for someone else?
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