Perhaps you have been watching the Disney Plus online movies which include the series called The Mandalorian. He is a bounty hunter in the Star Wars series who takes a liking to one of his assignments: finding and rescuing what looks like the baby form of Yoda we all know in that series. The baby, by the way, is 50 years old, but given that the Yoda species can live 1,000 years or more, I guess this still qualifies as a baby.
You may not be aware, but Disney never anticipated people would be so captivated with baby Yoda that they wanted one for Christmas. It was insane how many “knock-offs” emerged to fill this void. That was certainly a missed opportunity for the Disney franchise.
Well, a cartoon showed up on my Facebook page which I thought was a riot. It shows a girl receiving a baby Yoda for Christmas and her complaining that she wanted a Toyota. That triggered a whole series of thoughts to me about how selective our hearing really is and how easy it is to miscommunicate and talk right past each other.
I am sure you can recount many situations where customers misinterpreted your ideas and offerings, and how difficult it is to be sure we are communicating. That reminds me of a pastor who runs across one of his parishioners in the grocery store who had not been in church for a long time. He asks her, after exchanging greetings, “I’ve noticed you haven’t been in church lately. Aren’t you worried about the hereafter?”
She nods knowingly and states: “Yes, I worry about that all the time! I walk into a room and ask myself ‘what am I here after?’”
I rest my case.