Smile & Move™

We all have our "customers." And most of us have more than one customer group.

• A teacher serves his students as well as his school administrators (and perhaps even parents).
• An administrator serves her teachers in addition to a group of county administrators.
• A doctor serves his patients as well as his practice partners and perhaps a hospital staff.
• A CEO serves her stockholders as well as her management team and outside clients.

It's an interdependent world.

We depend on each other and as a result, we need to make ourselves accessible and approachable to our people (customers, constituents, colleagues, patients, leaders). We're not islands, and can't expect to succeed on any significant level without connecting with people.

Being approachable is being receptive to occasional interruptions, making ourselves regularly accessible to others and doing it with a smile... a smile not only with our mouths and eyes but an internal and authentic smile that can be felt by those with whom we interact.

If we create a situation where people feel the need to walk on eggshells when they come to us (asking for help, guidance, or a solution), eventually they'll stop walking on eggshells and go to someone else. If that happens, whether we're a leader or a follower, our value to others is gone. And when we're shopping for something and the store no longer provides the value we're looking for, what happens?

We go somewhere else.

Be approachable.

Jacques Cousteau (1910-1997)
French marine explorer

(inexorable means inevitable... we love the quote, but realize the word inexorable is, ironically, not very approachable)

When asked to do something for someone else (friend, family member, colleague, customer) does your YES say "yes, if I have to" or "yes, it would be my pleasure"?

How patient are you with the first from someone else?

Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948)
Indian leader and activist