From untitled
Wednesday, April 9th, 2008I woke up this morning from my T-Mobile cellphone alarm, ate a quick breakfast of some brand of cereal I don’t remember with a banana from the supermarket and that red box of raisins, spoke over the Verizon landline with Michael, rode the MTA train into Manhattan for a meeting in Grand Central, used my Compaq Presario laptop to show a video I’d made on a digital camera, ate in the food court, rode the MTA train to Gramstand cafe where I’m writing this now.
Retail is present in our lives. So when I try to decide whether “Retail Makeover” is the name I want for my business — whether it clearly describes a hook of why someone might be interested in what I do – I think about J.H. who doesn’t like retail, who feels manipulated by it. I think about E.L. who feels manipulated by businesses like the oil companies and the food and clothing companies. I think of the emphasis businesses place on selling. I think about how I care most deeply that people who work at a company can decide what they are responsible for, what they do, and why. I know my experiences don’t match up with a typical view of retail.
Manipulation — how many of my friends feel about retail – reminds me of how Clotaire Rapaille found that in America, seduction in personal relationships is associated with an underlying theme of manipulation. Selling as seduction. I’ve never been a fan of seduction. I prefer flirting, or friendship, or family.
I guess that’s one way of describing why I think it’s so important for me to work with companies. Companies which sell to the general public are a great focus for me, because of the first paragraph above — nine retail companies influenced my day this morning. They are the touchpoints of my morning. Aside from the retail companies, my day was made by the people I met and connected with, and my own self.
Change from seduction to flirting, friendship or family, and we move from manipulation to connection. And along with connection, more fun and peace in our lives, too. At least that’s how I see it.
I’m reluctant to change the name of what I do, but as M.Z. says, I need to package what I do, and put it in a box with a ribbon around it so people “get it.” I can continue doing what I’ve been doing, or I can kick it up a notch. I’ll also get more physical peace, fun, and connection too. That’s why I do this stuff, this storytelling, ethnography, organizational democracy, retail makeover.
Retail makeovers have been more fun for me than my work when I was a theater producer, felt more right, and felt more real. Retail is a good match for me because there are real-time results — what we do at a company can be measured two weeks later.
It’s a hard balance, the line between better retail and better relationships between people. Luckily I’ve had wonderful times bringing the two closer together in fascinating ways.
I’ll leave the light on for organizational democracy, and make it happen with retail makeovers.
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April 10th, 2008 at 6:36 pm
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