Excellence in serving the other comes with excellence in paying attention to the other. You will see this principle working everywhere around you.
Consider why you prefer a certain grocer, hairdresser, doctor or a bank over others. If you ponder over it, you’ll realise that the people you prefer over others are those who serve you better because they seem to know better than others what you want. These people grant you significance, are better listeners and do not categorise you as per their past experience of serving others.
I have found that the best doctors are not necessarily the ones whose appointments are the most difficult to obtain, or the ones who charge a heavy fee for a consult. In fact, the ones whose clinics are brimming with a crowd of patients may very well be the ones who are more concerned about the amount of money they make rather than the service they have to extend.
The best ones in fact are those who lend you an unhurried ear, who wish to treat you with what’s in your best interest and who consider your well being over and above their own interest.
Same goes for schools. The ones with air conditioned swimming pools and sprawling custom built campuses might do little to equip the students with the skills necessary to excel in life.
Over and over, you’ll see the service and attention principle apply to everyone in a simple ‘give and take’ transaction.
So how does this principle apply to you in your daily life?