Evangelists or healers?

An excellent post by Leigh at LivePath. I agree with the point that evangelizing about customer experience design is one thing - doing it is entirely another. Often times I find that my clients discover the concept, loose it, find it again, only to loose it again... So, implementing an experience is often a traumatic experience in of itself.

I like the healer role Leigh describes. Experience is very holistic. It requires thinking about things in a fundamentally different way. Using a healer metaphor Leigh describes it this way:

"Healers remain dedicated to addressing disorders, rather than treating symptoms -- and prescribe treatment that addresses core issues."

What I find companies lacking are individuals who pursue operational excellence through the customer's eyes, ears, noses, mouths, and hands. Most simply forget about the before and after effect of the service they deliver to their customers. They assume that it just is, and that there is nothing they can do to impact. And often times even worse - they shouldn't do anything, or care enough to bother.

Many of us have been evangelizing about this new thought movement. And some of us brave souls are out there in the front lines designing + building experiences.

One thing is clear. The genie is out of the bottle... We have moved beyond fad and into a fundamental shift.