On a recent business trip, I didn’t pay close attention to my boarding pass and realized 30 minutes before departure that my gate was in a different terminal. I asked a customer service person for help. She took it upon her to call the gate, ask them to wait for me and found a vehicle to drive me to the gate.
She could have simply done her job. She could have just told me to try to make a 1-hour transfer in 15 minutes by running and hustling. She could have made the decision that this would be enough to do her job. That this interaction was insignificant in the big scheme of things. She chose otherwise.
In a world that is digitally transforming right in front of our eyes, it’s easy to forget about small change. We focus on scale, on massive changes, on transformative forces. Real change and delight often come in small packages. A butterfly can cause a hurricane. And each of us has the power to change a day or a life through a single interaction. Scale is important but it’s not everything. A single interaction is important and might mean everything.
Digital Enlightenment 