Coming to Understand

"I placed myself unreservedly under His care and direction. I admitted for the first time that of myself I was nothing; that without Him I was lost." p. 13 Alcohics Anonymous (Big Book)

In the interest of this research, 'Him' is the Customer.  We must first admit the customer comes first.  We live in a customer-centric ecosystem in which we, our jobs/passion, is dependent upon this audience.

If twelve step programs work for alcoholics, gamblers, and special sexual interests, the approach can surely be adapted to the rebuilding of public trust in the communications industry. One cannot make progress until he/she admits that one has a problem. To succeed in repositioning the industry, reform begins with the individual practitioner.

Step 1: We admitted we were powerless over word – that our lives had become unmanageable.

Step 2: Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.

Step 3: Made a decision to turn our lives over to the care of the customer as we understood Him.

Step 4: Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.

Step 5: Admitted to the customer, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.

Step 6: Were entirely ready to have the customer remove all these defects of character.

Step 7: Humbly asked the customer to remove our shortcomings.

Step 8: Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.

Step 9: Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.

Step 10: Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.

Step 11: Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with the customer as we understood Him, praying only for the knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.

Step 12: Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to communications practitioners and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

(Those words highlighted are words differing from the original twelve steps text as written by Alcoholics Anonymous.)

Comments

[Robert French]

I like this, Lauren. Perhaps the most difficult thing will be to get practitioners to "turn themselves over" and accept that they need help. Is this going to be like an alcoholic and they have to hit bottom, first? And, what would be the bottom in this instance?

I hope you don't feel we are already there. Although, I bet some people think we already have hit bottom - long ago.