Falling in love with Amanda Palmer a little ...

The following is the original and the rewrite can be found by clicking here.

I watch TED talks regularly as I find them inspirational, thought provoking and they introduce me to people that I most likely will never meet but who say things worth listening to - I highly recommend it!

It was TED who introduced me to Amanda Palmer.

Let me back up a second here and let you know that way back when, like all of us, I had to make a decision as to what I would do "when I grow up". For me I did have to decide if I wanted to travel the road of an artist or go into the sciences - ultimately I took the science route as I figured there was enough angry young man art already without me adding to the collection. The sciences have served me well but I have a great affinity for the arts in all shapes and sizes as it makes me whole.

Amanda Palmer is a musician as well as a poet I suspect, so right away I have a soft spot for her - she is also tall, attractive, well spoken, daring and original. The foundations for a crush are set but then compound watching her TED talk a couple more times, checking out her web site and watching some of her music videos and it becomes official that I've fallen in love a little. I've attached her TED talk so you can check it out and see for yourself.

I would like to think I do not slide into "groupie status" so easily and hence my "science/ business hybrid side" kicks in and I need to discover what is really at the core of this newly minted crush. I actually like Amanda's cabaret punk but it turns out my crush has nothing to do with the artist per se but actually the business woman... it's probably not even an aspect of any formal business frame work but more simply who she is, which serves business very well. 

I've fallen in love with Amanda because she is uber-customer connected and different! 

For me, Amanda has redefined "customer oriented"... in fact, I'm now throwing out the term as a part of my lexicon and using "Customer Connected". I look at my business career as well as other businesses that believe they are guided by being customer oriented but I dare say they are probably not - at most "transactionally efficient", which is by no means customer connected. I dare you to look at your customer through Amanda's eyes... look hard at what you see and decide if you are really connected. Oh one more thing, I get that having a bunch of drunken Germans draw on you may be hard to scale but the spirit of it most definitely isn't!

I'm was almost afraid to write the word "different" as it's a black hole for debate, definition and every philosophy ever created; so in the context of my crush I will say that Amanda being different allows her to see the status quo and say, "why do we have to do it that way" and "the way I see it, it needs to change for success"... different is what drives change. Different is that Change Agent people whisper about and that is what Amanda Palmer is.

So there you have it... someone who truly connects with the customer as well as who can see past the current situation to change the game... how can a person not fall in love a little?

gpe 

PS: Amanda, if you ever read this know there is a couch at my place with your name on it. Bring Neil too, as I like his books.