According to Wired’s Cult of Mac blog, Apple’s legal department recently made a little girl cry. Apparently, Shea O’Gorman had written to Steve Jobs with suggestions for improving the iPod and instead of a gracious reply she got a stiffly worded letter from their legal eagles telling her, in no uncertain terms, that they didn’t accept unsolicited product suggestions.
This week I am still reeling in the consequences of a couple of badly-timed and possibly ill-judged emails. I don’t want to go into the details because it’s water under the bridge but this little girl’s story resonated with me as a result.
There is an emotional message underneath the rational and calculated intent of any communications. The intellect is the grown-up rationaliser but most people’s emotional mind is essentially childish. At least mine is!
Tease me and I cry. Thwart me and I sulk. Pull my hair and I’ll pull yours back. But make me laugh and you’re my friend. Recognise my efforts and I’ll work even harder.
I think this has lessons for me in my relationship with clients, for Apple in its relationship with little girls and for all of you in any writing you do.
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In the past I’ve received emails that have made me angry. I used to compose a hasty response which did little to diffuse the situation or reach a solution to the problem.
I quickly learned that the best way of handling this kind of situation is to lock my computer and walk away. Take a couple of minutes to cool off and contemplate a more measured response. I’ve found this really helps to resolve the problem much more rapidly – fighting fire with fire doesn’t work.