More news from the frontlines (i.e., the internet):
In an earlier post, I pointed out that Gen Z is approaching car-buying with a sense of despair. Some of that despair is going to trickle out to other purchases. Any business hoping to attract Gen Z should ensure its experience matches the promise of its brand. The Gen Z customer will be selective, looking for authenticity and safety.
Are you sick of hearing words like authenticity and safety?
If we can get into why they have such attraction today, I think we’ll improve how we serve our customers and our world. Two recent online events paint the picture.
Getting real
This gentleman posted to Reddit. I believe his name is Colin. He got real:
Someone took a screenshot and put it on Twitter, where it went a bit viral. He is now getting advice from all over: everything from volunteering to traveling to taking hallucinogenics. One even said, “I hope he finds people who can show him that life is meaningless in the best way.”
You can see on the Reddit thread that he is a bit embarrassed, but I don’t think he should be. Which leads me to the second gentleman.
Getting brave
Americana singer-songwriter-guitarist Jason Isbell (formerly of Drive-By Truckers) often tweets things left of my positions. But I sure agree with his comeback to a critic who called him “emotionally fragile:”
We are all emotionally fragile. Most of us just don’t feel safe enough, brave enough, to show it.
And as one of my clients says, if you can’t name it, you can’t tame it.
You know one reason we love art? It gives us a chance to describe our feelings. There is something powerful about recognizing your own experience in the expression of another’s. It’s a connection.
But it takes somebody brave enough to first express those feelings. It takes skill to do it as well as Jason Isbell. But like Isbell, Colin has done a brave thing by laying out what is really going on in his heart. (Courage comes from the word for heart.) What’s more, Colin is asking for help.
It’s interesting that Colin is thinking about leaving home. Isbell once wrote about trying to get back home. This is real, too:
Where is the meaning?
I think–and it looks like Colin has had this conclusion too–that leaving home could be just escapism. In that sense it’s no better than drugs. The song’s narrator hasn’t reached that conclusion yet: He needs drink to get through Sundays alone.
But Colin is trying to figure out how to get through life alone: no girl, no friends, no family. Community … now that is real. Whether you find it at home or on the road, it takes care of the issues Isbell raises in the opening verse:
I hardly even know my name anymore
When no one calls it out, it kind vanishes away
We long to be known and connected to others. Our souls are real. They need community.
Colin has already made several real accomplishments:
- He is faithful at his work.
- He has saved up quite a bit of money.
- He has taken on some challenges: solar power, vehicle modification, photography.
- He has expressed what’s really going on in his heart and is taking steps to deal with it.
(That last one? I know plenty of senior citizens who have never done that.)
But it sounds like Colin has figured out that those accomplishments aren’t enough. He wants connection. He wants the one thing that lasts, relationship with community.
What does this have to do with my business?
I hope Colin finds a good church community that wrestles with the serious questions he raises. The Biblical perspective on suffering and existence and meaning has survived through time because it is so timeless–eternal. We’ve talked about it here before. Christians don’t have a home here. But they are pilgrims together on the road to Home.
Your business is not going to solve the despair problem.
So what does this have to do with your company? I think we all have opportunities to ease suffering through our own connections to authenticity and safety.
I had a client who had a managing partner in charge of all the customer complaints. And he was a master at earning back their loyalty. His secret was to listen to every bit of the customer’s pain and suffering without interrupting. He obviously couldn’t do anything without investigating the other sides of each story … but he could always say this:
“If that had happened to me, I’d be pretty frustrated.” His work allowed the customer to feel safe enough to get real. And they were grateful someone listened and validated their feelings.
Another client had a manager with no direct reports, a one-man department. He was universally liked and appreciated. It was a rough environment, but everyone felt like this manager was positive, caring, diligent and honest. I asked him his secret:
“Anything I do is for the glory of God.” His work for customers had meaning to him. And it showed.
I don’t know your product or service. But I guarantee you will have opportunities to get real with a customer and make the work meaningful.
A vision statement on the wall is wonderful, but that alone ain’t gonna cut it.