Walk a Mile in My Shoes

When I first opened AllWrite Ink as a freelance writer I wanted my focus to be “writing with the reader in mind.”

If asked, most will say “oh, I do that” and yet few really take the time to put on someone else’s shoes and feel what it’s like to walk a mile in their shoes, to truly understand their:

Life experiences

Challenges

Health issues

Family joys and struggles

Fears

Educational background

Financial status

Goals, hopes and dreams

We think we talk and write with the other person in mind, and yet it is so hard to shake off our own preconceived notions and experience to really understand the other person.

True empathy is what I believe sets an exceptional customer experience apart from all others. 

To create a make or break experience in the minds and hearts of our customers we have to walk a mile in their shoes.

When I was in Hawaii recently for the Sweet Adeline’s International competition I had the incredible joy of hearing the 2007 International quartet winners perform.

SALT is a wonderful quartet from Sweden.  The artists: Anna Ohman, Annika Andersson, Anna-Stina Gerdin and Susanna Berndts have an amazing way of bringing their music to life for the audience.  Watching the joy in their faces, the total blast they are having on stage performing, transfers to those in the audience and at the end you are on your feet screaming for more!

One of their songs is Walk a Mile in My Shoes.  As soon as I heard it I knew that I wanted it to be the theme song for my company – to play while I work, to have available for you to hear and to play for my audiences as they enter one of my workshops.

The musicality is incredible, the fun they are having with the arrangement is evident and the words say it all:  we need to take the time to walk a mile in each other’s shoes.

Thanks to Anna-Stina Gerdin for giving me permission on behalf of SALT to bring their wonderful sound to you.  Enjoy WALK A MILE IN MY SHOES!