The Joy of Service Book

This post is from Ron Kaufman’s book, The Joy of Service. Read Part One now… Every time you consume something, you create a customer experience -you …

This post is from Ron Kaufman’s book, The Joy of Service. The Consumer to Contributor Continuum People who live in developed societies are routinely referred to …

People who live in developed societies are routinely referred to as “consumers.” From a business and marketing perspective this makes sense, because that’s exactly what we are. We consume food, beverages, electricity, gasoline, entertainment, clothing, an ever-growing variety of household gadgets, electronic devices, and other accumulating “stuff”.

Every time you consume something, you have an opportunity to connect and contribute to someone else’s experience of life. The extent or degree of connection—and its effect on the other person—is entirely up to you. Do you only take, or do you also give back? Do you experience each consumer transaction as one more moment for “me” or as another experience to create and contribute to “we”?