Take a Dose of Community and Call Me in the Morning

I was listening to Malcolm Gladwell’s book “Outliers: The Story of Success” when it became apparent that I had erred in my post titled “Creating a Culture of Community” back in May (link below).

http://buddhaceo.blogspot.com/2011/05/creating-culture-of-community.html

In that post I made a big deal not just about the importance of culture in business, but about a very specific kind of culture that you want to create in your organization called a culture of community.  It turns out I was dead wrong.

I massively under-estimated the importance of creating not only a strong culture in your business, but specifically a culture of community.  It is at least 100 times more important than I implied.  As a matter of fact, your very life depends on it; both the quantity and quality of your life as it turns out.

How can this be?  Well in Outliers, Galdwell retells the story of The Roseto Mystery.  The executive summary of the The Roseto Mystery is that in the 1950’s a physician by the name of Stewart Wolf became aware of a medical mystery happening in the small village of Roseto, Pennsylvania.  During that time period heart attacks were an epidemic in the U.S.  Yet, rarely did anyone in the town of Roseto under the age of 65 suffer from heart disease.

Wolf conducted an exhaustive study and concluded that the urban legend about the lack of heart disease in Roseto was in fact true.  Further as it turns out, the Rosetans were dying of only old age and nothing else!

This led to an additional intensive study to determine the underlying cause of this phenomenon.  They ran through the usual suspects; diet and exercise, genetics, regional bias, etc.  In the end the only reason that held up under the microscope of rigorous scientific analysis was that the Rosetans longevity both in terms of quantity and quality was due to the unique culture of community within the village of Roseto.

Now it is true that we can create this Roseto effect in our time outside of work.  We can strive to make our residential communities more Roseto like.  But, if a culture of community is so directly linked to the quality and quantity of our longevity then why stop there.  Why leave our health and happiness to chance.  We will likely spend from 1/3 to ½ of our adult lives at work and so the type of culture we create there will have an undisputable and significant impact on our overall quality of life.

With this new evidence and emphasis on the importance and impact of a culture of community I urge you to re-read and apply the principles I shared in my post back in May on the best practices I have found for creating a culture of community.

Please share with us your best practices for creating a culture of community.

We would love to hear from you!

John Wooden's Nine Promises for Happiness

Coach John Wooden said happiness comes from making and keep nine promises:

1.    Promise yourself that you will talk health, happiness, and prosperity as often as possible.

2.    Promise yourself to make all your friends know there is something in them that is special that you value.

3.    Promise to think only of the best, to work only for the best, and to expect only the best in yourself and others.

4.    Promise to be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as you are about your own.

5.    Promise yourself to be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind.

6.    Promise to forget the mistakes of the past and press on to greater achievements in the future.

7.    Promise to wear a cheerful appearance at all times and give every person you meet a smile.

8.    Promise to give so much time improving yourself that you have no time to criticize others.

9.    Promise to be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear, and too happy to permit trouble to press on you.

How do you GET YOUR HAPPY ON!  We would love to hear from you!!

Disney is NOT the Happiest Place on Earth

What is the formula for creating the happiest place on earth?

Charge a competitive but fair price for your main product or service, charge prices that are noticeably less than your competitors on most items that are necessary to maintain your original sale, and give the rest of your products and services away for free.

Where in the world does someone employ this type of philosophy?

       Holiday World in Santa Claus, Indiana

How can such a model work to create sustainable enduring success?

First of all, Holiday World understands the difference between optimizing the lifetime value of a customer vs. maximizing an individual customer transaction.  

Secondly, they understand the marketing buzz that is generated by the power of free.

I just got back from taking my family on our annual trip to Holiday World.  During this much needed day of rest, I was reminded of a great story form Randy Pausch's Last Lecture book. 

It was a story of how Disney created a magic trick when he was a child and turned $10 into over $100,000.  He and his sister had purchased a $10 gift for their parents at one of the souvenir shops in the Magic Kingdom. 

As they walked from the shop back to meet his parents, the gift slipped out of the package, hit the ground and broke.  Randy's sister convinced him to return to the shop and at least ask for an exchange.  Reluctantly he agreed to try even though he was pessimistic with their chance of success since the breakage was clearly his fault.

When they arrived back at the shop and explained what happened, the clerk accepted full responsibility for improper packaging, gave them a replacement free and was much more careful about how she wrapped and packed the gift the second time around. 

When Randy and his sister relayed the story to their parents, the Pausch family was so impressed that during the rest of Randy's life, he estimated that he and his extended family spent in excess of $100,000 at Disney World.

As Randy retold the story in the book he knew he was relaying a lesson about great customer service.  As a computer scientist as opposed to a business consultant, he might not have known that he was telling a classic story illustrating the power of focusing on optimizing the lifetime value of a customer vs. maximizing an individual profit per customer transaction.

Randy shared this story with a group of modern day Disney executives as an adult and asked them if their current business practices would allow a store clerk to make that type of decision today.  Their silence told them everything he needed to know.  Disney has become a corporate machine obsessed with maximizing profit per visit. 

Disney makes sure you leave their compound without a penny in your pocket to spare.  You have a great time, but you feel a little cheap and used as you return home.

A visit to Holiday World (HW) takes you back in time when Walt Disney's original legacy and magic was still alive at Disney World.  HW charges a fair and competitive price for their tickets. 

Where you really start to feel the difference is once you get inside the gates.  For most theme parks, the ticket price is just the start.  The real expense begins once you start buying food. 

At HW, you would have to work really hard to spend very much money once you get in.  The food prices are fair and the food quality if good. 

This is where the remainder the formula for sustainable success kicks in. 

Step 1; charge a fair price for your main product, tickets in the case of HW. 

Step 2; charge a noticeable lower price than your competitors for subsequent purchases that are necessary to maintain your original purchase, food in the case of HW. 

Step 3; give the rest away for free.

This step 3 is the one that will drive your competitors completely crazy.  HW provides free drinks and sunscreen all day, every day. 

This amounts to a substantial savings and increased enjoyment for their customers over any of their competitors.  It is also very unlikely that your competition will every try to match a move this bold. 

Most businesses are obsessed with maximizing the profit per customer transaction.  Only truly great and enduring successful companies are obsessed with optimizing the lifetime value of a customer; the magic trick of turning $10 in to over $100,000.

The second dimension of free is that it is the highest ROI marketing expenditure you could ever make.  You can actually justify a price of free in terns of marketing ROI alone without even considering its effect on lifetime customer value. 

If you take the cost of the free sodas and sunscreen that HW incurs every year and divide by the word of mouth marketing that comes from people like me telling every one they meet about their experience, you would find that it is the most effective and cost justified part of their extensive overall marketing campaign.

Please tell us your stories of organizations that understand lifetime customer value and the marketing power of free.

We would love to hear from you!

Like Minds - Tim Sanders “Love is the Killer App”

In Tim Sanders’ masterpiece, “Love is the Killer App” he offers up the lovecat way “Offer your wisdom freely, give away your address book to everyone who wants it.  And always be human.”  You accomplish this through sharing your knowledge, sharing your network and sharing your compassion.

He describes the above system as an antidote for what he describes as the biggest challenge facing businesspeople today “Men and women across the country are trying desperately to understand how to maintain their value as professionals in the face of rapidly changing times.”

What is a killer app?  Sanders’ defines a killer app as follows: “basically it’s an excellent new idea that either supersedes an existing idea or establishers a new category in its field.  It soon becomes so popular that it devastates the original business model.”

The premise for the book is that Love is the new killer app.  Sanders says (also the clever name of his blog) “Those of us who use love as a point of differentiation in business will separate ourselves from our competition. Further he states that “I believe that the most important new trend in business is the downfall of the barracudas, sharks, and piranhas, and the ascendancy of nice, smart people – because they are what I call lovecats.”

Sanders’ defines love in business or what he calls bizlove as “the selfless promotion of the growth of the other.  When you are able to help others to grow to become the best people they can be, you are being loving – and you, too, grow.”  Sanders’ battle cry is “SHOW ME THE LOVE”.

Tim sets up our contract with our employers as follows: “we take on a contract to create more value than the dollar amount we are paid.  If we don’t add value to our employer, we are value losses; we are value vampires.  Tim’s definition of added value: The value of you inside a situation is greater than the value without you.”  Further he points out that now more than ever, “every member of your team depends on each and every other member to contribute.  You can’t afford to take on people who will sink your value boat.”

Finally, he sets up the meat of the book with the following definition and observation.  “Here then, is my definition of love business: The act of intelligently and sensibly sharing your intangibles with your bizpartners.  What are our intangibles?  They are our knowledge, our network and our compassion.  These are the keys to true bizlove.”

Amen!

Please share with us your thoughts on the next killer app.  We would love to hear from you!!

Buddhist Compensation Best Practices

Compensation systems rarely create strategic alignment of both the team member and organizational goals.

Care and Compassion

Many employers, especially in the small to middle market are very generous when it comes to seeing and helping team members through hard times.  However, this is hardly universal.  There is no better way to instill trust and loyalty in your workplace than to stand behind your teammates when they need you most.

Sharing

Sharing pleasant things with your teammates and vendors can not be over emphasized; little things can make a big difference. 

The culture of your organization will be determined more by the small kindnesses, unexpected pats on the back and sincere thanks than any other single element of your overall compensation systems.

Rest for the Weary

Providing your troops with needed rest is another incredible opportunity to differentiate your organization and make you an employer of choice.  Again, many companies do a respectable job here, but in general, we work way too hard in the American culture.

We do not provide enough paid vacation.  We work too many hours with too few breaks for renewal.  We provide too little time off to allow our team members to be engaged in their families’ lives and the community at large.

Adequate rest is good for business.  It is the embodiment of the John Wooden principle of the need to have “fresh legs” in the fourth quarter when the game is on the line.

Recognition – Show me the Love!

Do not underestimate the power of non-monetary compensation in attracting and retaining key talent on your team.  It has been said that people are more starved for recognition than they are food.  In my experience this has certainly been true.

Non–monetary systems can also be informal, and those may have the most motivating impact of all.  Examples would be the so called “Pat on the Back” that you give a team member in the simple form of a thank you for a job well done.

An example of a legendary informal non-monetary recognition system is the thank-you notes Ronald Regan would send out to Republican Party volunteers and supporters.  He reportedly wrote and mailed five such cards every day.  No wonder he was so popular with the party loyalists at election time.

Please share your thoughts on the most important aspects of sustainable compensation strategies.  We would love to hear from you!!