Small Talk

August 21, 2011 »

What’s Your One Thing?

One of my favorite movies is City Slickers.  Billy Crystal plays an advertising executive in the midst of a mid-life crisis, and heads out to a dude ranch with some friends to work through his issues.  As his character evolves during the movie, he figures out what it is that is going to make him happy - and realizes that it actually comes down to just one thing.  He challenges his friends - and movie viewers at large - to figure out what that one thing is for them, too. 

For some reason, that movie moment has stayed with me all of these years - and I’m particularly grateful for knowing what that one thing is for me (and even more grateful for having it, too!). 

Running HealthTalker since 2007 has been a significant contributing factor in helping me achieve my level of happiness.  Every day is different.  The complexities of managing and growing the business are enormous.  And the gratification I get from the improvements we make over time is really pronounced.  I am fully vested in what we do, and the business has defined me in many ways. 

But clearly, what makes one person happy may not provide any impact for someone else.  My friend David shared a funny story with me this weekend, relaying how his father-in-law received an iPad 2 for his 75th birthday - but was only mildly enthusiastic about the gift.  However, when he opened another gift - a tiny device with a little razor that enables him to cut an article out of the newspaper, without cutting the page below it, he was ecstatic!  In fact, he exclaimed, “I’ve always wanted one of these!  Why did it take them so long to invent this? I love it so much!”

As the saying goes, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure.

So what’s your one thing for happiness?  Do you know what it is?

I posed this question recently to my staff (who all happen to be generally healthy), and asked them to give me a personal list of the things that would make them really happy - with the hope and expectation that I can provide one or more of these items for each person over time as a bonus.  In an upcoming post, I’ll share some of the details about what I learned matters most to my employees (and kudos to Jack for being the first to submit his list, which included an airplane ticket to Idaho and a hot air balloon ride!).

But what this exercise reveals so clearly to me is that we are among the most fortunate, with simple wishes that center around adventures, excitement and thrills.  In fact, we know from our work that there are millions of people out there who are much less fortunate than we are, and who define themselves around the particular health issue they face each day.  Their list would include things like, “Get my MS under control”, “Help me finally get pregnant” (or not get pregnant, as the case may be!), or “Reduce the number of days this month living with the pain of chronic migraine.” 

The good news is that so many of these people are finding the help they need through quality products that come from pharmaceutical manufacturers. 

And it’s the really smart marketers who are tapping into the cosmic glow that emanates from the well-treated, satisfied patient.  Because that patient now knows what the one thing is for them - and what helped them get there. 

(PS - the marketer knows it, too!)

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