Guy Reams (00:01.71)
Day 269, what do they want?
Guy Reams (00:07.982)
So yesterday I wrote an article about what I think I want the most when I wake up and take on my job each day. So last as I was humming the Joe Cocker version of With a Little Help from My Friends, the background singers asked this question, Do you need anybody? The answer, I need someone to love. Could it be anybody? The answer, all I need is someone knows where I'm going, yeah.
That is the answer I realized in that moment of clarity. Thanks, Joe. I'm absolutely confident that this was not your intent of your revision of the song, but hey, I will take the help where I can. Find it. May you rest in peace. This is what they all want. Help from someone who knows where they are going. They do not want you to tell them where to go or why or when to go. They just simply want help in getting there.
They want someone who has been there before and can lead them on the way. Luke, we're what they grow beyond. That is the true burden of all masters, said Yoda. This is the heart of intent, correct? People know when you are a master or a charlatan. Are you trying to help other people down the same path and hopefully beyond? Or are you simply peddling wares? We all want the former. We want the master. We want the one that will tell us what to do.
so we can go do it ourselves. I went back through my read -wise notes from several years ago when I first read Story Brand by Donald Miller. I vaguely understood this conceptual device as I'm a lifelong fan of Joseph Campbell, another philosopher who jacked me up. Miller was and is spot on with this concept of the story as an instrument for understanding what they want. I'm glad I got this song stuck in my head for a few days because now I'm reminded
My intent really does matter. Will I be the helper? Will I be the guide, the sherpa, the mentor? Or will I be the snake oil salesman, the swindler, the shyster, the imposter? Successes usually depend on our ability to influence others, according to Dale Carnegie in 1936. But note that his book focused largely on how to win friends. How do we win? We become generally interested in the other person. We remember them. We listen.
Guy Reams (02:36.206)
We talk about their interests and not our own. We make them feel important with sincerity. With all the complexity in modern marketing and all the tried and true techniques for sales, we tend to forget the most important value behind human to human interaction. That is sincerity and genuine intent. Honestly, this is what I respond to the best. I will pick up a call and talk to anyone who I feel could be a potential guide.
I would do well to remember this when I try the same.