Know your mind – How the context, perception and priorities define the Value perceived by you or your client?

I was thinking one day that how I should I measure my success earlier as a professional or now as a consultant, a writer, a trainer & an entrepreneur. Should it be on the money I make? Should it be on the revenues of the company? Should it be on the benefits delivered to the client? I struggled around the answer until I read about an experiment conducted by The Washington Post as a study in context, perception and priorities at a Metro subway station in Washington DC.

It was a cold, winter morning in Washington, DC, a solitary violinist played Bach and Schubert for about 45 minutes in the corner of a Metro subway station. About 1,000 people walked past him as he played. Every few minutes, a person might stop for a moment or toss in a dollar or two. Other than that, no one paid much attention to the violinist.

One young person stopped, very curious. He tried to stay, but his mother pulled him along. He was three years old.

The violinist played for 45 minutes before he packed up his instrument. There was no applause, no one spoke to him, and no one noticed his departure.

His take? $32 in all.

Let me share little bit more about this violinist.

He was Joshua Bell, one of the world’s most famous musicians. He played on his Stradivarius, one of the finest, rarest and most expensive violins in existence at that time.

The same Joshua Bell, a night before had played to a sold-out concert in Boston where the average price was $100.

What is interesting to note that the only person who was most interested in listening to Joshua was a child. As we mature, our brains learn to categorize an experience based on context. Children are less prone automatically to assign meaning to an experience based on context, and are able to perceive that some wonderful music was to be heard, despite the subway platform setting.

For the adults, in that context Joshua Bell playing in the Washington, DC subway was worth $32.

In contrast, in another context, Joshua Bell performing at Boston’s Symphony Hall was worth approximately $220,000.

The drum beats are important but where you play the drum is as important. Who you play in front of is also as important? The context setting for adults is very different.

I realized that rewards (money most of the time J) you get are not necessarily only for your attitude, knowledge & skills but for “the context” or the situation of the client (let’s call this situation as an opportunity or a threat - it may be perceived opportunity or threat as well).It also depends on “the priorities”-a company struggling with revenues may not appreciate your work on cutting cost or vice versa.  So you must be wondering if I finally got the answer on success J . I don't know if I got my answer because the person in me who had asked the question disappeared and the question disappeared with him..