There is a movie that I saw a few years ago by the name of Master and Commander (it stars Russell Crowe and Paul Bettany). I was always struck by a scene where Bettany, the only doctor on board, has a malady that requires him to be opened up and operated upon. They resort to using mirrors and glasses and alcohol (lots of it!) so that he can operate on himself.
Yikes.
It’s about as easy to diagnose, prognose, and treat oneself within a business setting – it tends to be extremely painful and clumsy. We are inherently much more at ease identifying and treating other’s problems than one of our own – in fact, attorneys (of which we have quite a few as clients) have a witty saying: A lawyer who represents himself has a fool for a client. Many web designers even hire others to design their websites! It’s pretty hard to get out of your own head and be your own customer.
Why am I telling you this? Beyond an indirect way of gently suggesting that you consider CSR for our service offering, it’s also a segue into the journey we recently embarked upon. As of January of this year, we have benefited from the use of a wise consultant that periodically meets with us to point out the blindingly obvious things we ourselves are missing in the management and growth of our business. A specialist (he works with consultants like ourselves), he is enabling me to not have to be in the precarious position our poor Mr. Bettany finds himself in the above film clip.
Think about it and act – put some shoes on the cobbler’s children. Avoid having a fool for a client. Take the step to sanity.