When someone hires you to do something, they usually aren’t just hiring you to get the job done and then disappear.
You see, we all want human connection, and because we are wired that way we love it when the people we work with do more than just their job. It makes us want to do more than just our job for them too!
Creating connections and helping others is actually a positive chemical process in our brains; oxytocin is released when we perform, receive or even witness acts of kindness and morality.
So when your business acquaintance remembers your daughter’s birthday and gets her a gift, you get a chemical rush that helps your brain to solidify that relationship as a good one to have.
The deliverables alone aren’t enough, and if you aren’t better than just what you are hired to do, you’ll just be in that damning race to the bottom that Seth Godin is always talking about.
We can use this to our advantage if we choose, but it turns out that most people are pretty fine tuned to being manipulated. When was the last time someone did something for you, then asked for a favour. It’s noticeable, and it can backfire.
So rather than trying to trick others, if we show genuine care for the people we deal with, and make that part of who we are and how we work, then we are in for not only a much more successful business, but a much more successful life too.