Shamrock Financial Corporation

September 2, 2010

by Dean Harrington

“I remember exactly where I was when…”

Throughout our lives there are those indelible memories of events and circumstances that fuse us to where we were and what we were doing on a particular day. Depending on your age these events can be anything from the day Kennedy was shot, to 9/11 to The Miracle on Ice, to the day the space shuttle blew up to this or that crash, natural disaster, election, victory or death.

These defining events mark our lives in a mysterious – almost hypnotic way. We know what they smell like, what they look like and, most of all, what they feel like. I can’t remember what I ate for dinner last night or, heck, what I did two days ago but I can give you an animated history of everything that happened in my life on and around January 28, 1986, February 6, 1978 or September 11, 2001. I’m sure you know the feeling.

But why is this? How is this? What can it teach us? And how can it be applied in business?

These events, in effect, become bigger than themselves because they connect us by minute, by day, by week. No longer are we watching separate TV shows, reading different parts of the newspaper or sharing dissimilar conversations at school, work or home. It’s all anyone is talking about is true because it’s all anyone is FOCUSED on and this creates the Money Ball of this phenomenon:

With everyone locked & loaded on the same event, the same message, the same topic, it turns strangers into acquaintances, the invisible neighbor into a visible neighbor, a co-worker that’s a name to a co-worker that’s a person. These events bridge emotional wariness, human indifference and conversational laziness. They inspire interaction and repel apathy.

During these times, when you walk through a grocery store or find yourself standing next to someone while pumping gas you have a pretty good idea of what’s on their mind, what they’re watching on TV or listening to on the radio. No longer are you strangers. No longer are you clueless as to what someone might be thinking about.

Naturally, this leads us right back into the news cycle; watching it, reading about it and listening to everything we can about it because it keeps us tied to people. It connects us.

The event is not using us to get connected. We are using the event to get connected.

So as Hurricane Earl (http://alturl.com/tmkxm) approaches and we all begin to assume the connect position within our culture this strange bonding process gets started. What can we learn from a business perspective?

Can businesses create events that connect us? Can we develop the kind of buzz around an event that turns strangers into acquaintances? Can we launch a compelling message that inspires interaction? Can we make the invisible, visible? How do we capture the togetherness of a shared experience (of shared emotions?) within our client base and amongst our staff?

How can we make the most of our own natural disasters?

“I remember exactly where I was when…” Fill in the blank and transform your business.