In the past week, my partner Mike Dandridge wrote a great post on his blog about the role of the consumer in the personal experience factor (PEF), http://businessturnaround.blogs.com. He writes that his wife called to let him know that she'd just gotten a free Diet Coke at Jack in the Box ... and he's right ... that's the kind of service that makes consumers talk about you or your business.
But he also admits that his wife is an eternal optimist, believing that "the universe is always conspiring to help her, and interestingly, it seems to be doing just that."
In Alain de Botton's book, The Art of Travel, he shares the story of Xavier de Maistre, a Frenchman who wrote Journey Around my Bedroom in the spring of 1790. Xavier built a large pair of paper wings he was going to use to fly to America. He didn't succeed; but he did fly in a hot air balloon for a few minutes before crashing into a pine forest outside his home of Chambery, at the foot of the French Alps.
DaVinci's Mechanical Wing Device ca.1485 www.flyingmachines.org/davi/html
Journey Around my Bedroom suggests that "the pleasure we derive from a journey may be dependent more on the mindset we travel with than on the destination we travel to."
A key to that mindset - receptivity, Botton says. "Receptive, we approach new places with humility."
Some people, like Mike's wife Frances, are born with this gift and never lose it. Others become so hardened by circumstances and events, that nothing can soften their insight. Some of us lose it and have to fight to win it back.
Everything we do is a journey ... a trip to the store, a trip to the drive-through for a Diet Coke, a trip around our bedroom, a trip around the world. Sure, successful retailers and restaurants help to create an experience for us. But, the adventure is up to us. That's why it's called the Personal Experience Factor.
And, when I think of Xavier, the adventurous twenty-seven year old Frenchman, and the dream of the paper wings that would carry him across an ocean, I think of the lyrics written by Guy Clark on the latest Asleep at the Wheel CD (Reinventing the Wheel).
"He's one of those who knows that life is just a leap of faith, spread your arms, hold your breath, always trust your cape."
