Imagine you’re walking through the city at night, and you feel a sharp pain in your chest. It’s so strong that you clutch your chest and begin to wonder if you’re having a heart attack.

”Help!” you yell. “I need a Doctor!”

Two men approach you at once.

The first looks at you and says, “I’m a Doctor! I graduated from Harvard Medical School and I got a 4.0 GPA!”

That sounds impressive.

”I’m also a Doctor,” the second man says, “but I didn’t graduate from Harvard.”

The Harvard Doctor puffs up his chest and begins to brag about how rigorous his education was. You wince in pain.

The Harvard graduate barely notices, but the second Dr. helps you to a bench and starts fishing in his pocket for a TUMS. He gets you to take deep, controlled breaths as you’re peppered with questions by the Harvard man. It’s stressful, but the second Dr. assures you everything will be fine. After a while, the pain in your chest subsides, and you relax fully.

Now imagine it’s six months later, and your chest hurts. Who do you call? The man who bragged about what he could do, or the man who did it?

There’s a marketing lesson here. And it’s something like, “Quit focusing on yourself so much and start focusing on your customer.” But it’s also something like, “The best way to show someone you can help them is by actually going ahead and doing it.”

And if I’m wrong, I guess that means you’d call the Harvard grad?