By Steve Moran

We are in the senior living business!

But really, what does that mean?

If I were to ask you what you do, you would start by telling me your specific position: CEO, COO, CFO, owner, executive director, salesperson, nurse. Then you would tell me that you are in the senior living business and that what senior living does is …

• Provide great living experiences for older people
• Provide housing for seniors
• Help with transportation, medication, bathing
• Keep seniors safe
• Provide peace of mind for families
• Help individuals with dementia maximize the potential in their lives

We might even say that we are the antidote to loneliness.

And while those things are true, I am more and more convinced that all these things miss the most important thing we do … or at least should be doing.

The Most Important Thing — the Only Thing

The one thing that senior living does when we are firing on all cylinders (using that idiom makes me wonder if it is a display of my age, since modern engines rarely don’t fire on all cylinders) is this:

We are in the relationship business!

And So What?

We live in a world where other people are simply annoying. This is a hard truth but a real truth. People get in the way of us doing what we want to do, even if that thing we are doing is nothing or trivial. Think doomscrolling TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, X, or even LinkedIn.

It is honestly so bad that often we are even annoyed with our best friends (no, I am not thinking of anyone in particular), our partners, even our kids and other family members.

We are particularly annoyed by the people who work for us, with our boss — and when you think about it, the very most annoying are residents and their family members. And finally, don’t forget those senior living prospects who simply don’t get that we are trying to help them.

But Here Is the Thing …

And this is really startling: All those things you think about all those annoying people … all of those people, every one of them, are thinking the same thing about YOU.

I wish I did, but I don’t have a way to fundamentally fix this problem, but I know that being aware of it makes me a better person and the world a better place.

The Right Focus

Imagine for a moment that when you wake up tomorrow morning, you set yourself a goal of making the world a better place for every person you encounter … or if that sounds daunting, how about a goal of making life just a little better for that person who most annoys you. That Biden supporter or Trump supporter, depending on your point of view.

That person who cuts you off on the freeway, the person who is talking too loud in the Starbucks line behind you. That resident that wastes too much of your time or is too demanding. That family member who does nothing but complain.

Now imagine this were a company’s goal — creating great human interactions. This does not mean simply giving people what they demand or only being nice. And it won’t always be successful. Sometimes people love being mad, and there is little you can do about that.

The wonderful dirty little secret is that when we focus on creating great human experiences for others, we will have our own.