Categories
Are tomatoes a fruit?
The benefit of a category isn't to denigrate something or someone. It's to help us make better decisions with limited information.
If we put someone in the category of, "frequent business traveler," we can apply previous learnings about what people like this might want or need.
Categories are useful tools when they help us find shared worldviews and interests. They're ineffective when they are nothing but surface labels, labels that don't help us serve.
Use categories well and you seem like a well-prepared mindreader, able to provide what people need, sometimes before they even realize it. It means you can treat patients, lead employees and delight customers on a regular basis.
Use them with laziness or ill intent, and you dehumanize the very people you ought to be serving.
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