Anyone for Iced Tea?
April 9, 2009
Looking at how you make ice tea can help you see that sometimes the more challenging a problem seems the more simple it is to solve.
Sometimes the more challenging a problem seems the more simple it actually is to solve.
I witnessed a perfect example of this on a recent flight home from California.
As I boarded the plane, the flight attendant was passing through the cabin asking passengers what they wanted to drink before take off. “I’ll have a Diet Pepsi,” said one person. “A double vodka for me, please,” said another passenger…and it wasn’t even lunch time yet.
When the flight attendant reached the person behind me, she asked for an iced tea. I couldn’t help but overhear the interesting exchange that followed:
Flight Attendant: I’m sorry, we don’t have any iced tea.
Passenger: Do you have hot tea?
Flight Attendant: Yes…
Passenger: Do you have ice?
Flight Attendant: Yes…
Passenger: Do you have sugar and lemon?
Flight Attendant: Ah, yes…
Passenger: Then forget the iced tea; just give me a cup of hot tea and add some ice, sugar, and lemon, please.
At that point, everyone who had heard the conversation, including the flight attendant, began to laugh. Everyone’s concept of iced tea was of a drink already prepared and packaged in a can or bottle. Only the passenger, who had obviously had this conversation many times before, had the concept of iced tea as a mixture of ingredients which were all readily available on the plane.
How many times, when faced with difficult or challenging situations, do we focus on the reasons we can’t do something instead of identifying ways in which we can?
The next time the task you’re facing seems impossible, follow the example of the passenger on the plane and look for a solution. Then your customers will be able to have their “tea” exactly the way they want it!
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