Confidence = Generosity (Part 2)

“Six months into the business, we got one of those Starbucks coffee machines here in the office.  If I had realized the morale boost that would come from having a free coffee machine in the office, I would have got it Day One.  It’s almost more exciting than medical benefits.  We have one on every floor now.”

So says Darrell Cavens, co-founder and co-owner of Zulily, in a great recent piece in Inc magazine. 

Zulily is a daily deals site for moms and kids with membership of 10 million and recent valuation of $1 billion.  Early on, he learned a valuable lesson:

It’s amazing how simple it can be to make a person happy. 

In every ad agency in which I worked, there was more excitement around half-day Fridays than year-end bonuses.

Free is good. 

Never underestimate the power of generosity.

Because nothing is ever given away that isn’t somehow eventually paid back.

Like free lattes. Or free pizza.

Every one of those cups of coffee and sausage slices fuels internal human positivity, and that’s something you can’t put a price on.

Because it leads to happy brains.

Which leads to ideas being created.

Which leads to business improving.

Which leads to more free pizza and caffeine.

It’s the most productive and delicious virtuous circle in the history of the world.

One day you’ll find out you’re no longer good

Listening to sports radio one day recently I was struck by callers talking about a pro basketball player.  “Bob from Berwyn” and others like him were savaging the player, ranting about what a waste of money he was and how he added nothing to the team.

But I was most struck by the caller who simply said, “He just isn’t good.”

This referring to an athlete who, from the time he could dribble a basketball, wasn’t just good, he was significantly better than everyone within a 500 mile radius.  You have to be that good to make the NBA.

But then one day, he just wasn’t good anymore. 

It can happen in the blink of an eye.

One day, you’re the man.  The next day, The Man tells you you’re not so great. Not so necessary any more.

Maybe they brought in someone flashier or smarter or younger or just plain newer.

Maybe a technology is developed that makes you less relevant.

Or maybe it’s you.  You’ve become less inspired, less motivated.  Inertia has taken over. 

And one day you’re just not good.  It happens. 

But then something else happens.

As the sting of rejection relentlessly stabs at you, and the hole in your heart forms where the thing you used to be good at used to be, a different feeling begins to creep in.  A sense of relief starts to form in the midst of the disappointment.

A realization that the situation you were in wasn’t perfect.

It was causing you stress and filling your days with unease.  Maybe you weren’t doing as good a job as you used to.  Others who had come up behind you were doing it better.  You weren’t working as hard.

At the same time, you were putting more energy into other things, getting satisfaction from them.  Enjoying the new challenges you were creating.

A switch pops up in your brain that goes back and forth between shock and relief, embarrassment and relief, pain and relief. 

But finally, it just stays on relief.

There are flashes of panic now and then but they’re quick and temporary and greatly outnumbered by optimism.  You have faith in yourself and awareness of your ability, and trust that something great will be around every corner, as long as you keep your legs and brain moving.

So you keep your legs and brain moving.

Even though you may trip up once in a while, it doesn’t take long to right yourself.  And in time you’re walking strong. Stronger than the time when the people said you weren’t good any more.

Because good isn’t just one thing.

Good can take many forms.  You can be good on the basketball court or in the broadcast booth.  In a boardroom or on a construction site. 

Someday someone may tell you you’re just not good.  And the really good thing is, they’ll be right.

The more important thing is what you do next.

"Cheap" is not a good story

I saw this sign on a recent visit to New York City.  Haven’t been back since so I don’t know if the $1 pizza store opened up. 

I loved the idea because new ideas that help products become more available to more people are a wonderful thing.

But an even better thing is building enough equity in a brand that it’s value can never be questioned.

So I’m not so sure about a store that sells cheap pizza.  Pizza I know and love (and trust) doesn’t cost that much more than a buck.  The $1 pizza strategy may lead people to think of the $1 pizza in the same category as $5 Rolex’s and $10 Gucci bags. 

A better idea?  Make better pizza and charge more for it.

In the long run, the stories people tell about a product are what stick, and Cheap isn’t a great story.  Just look at brands that were formerly considered premium, like Tropicana Orange Juice, now fighting for shelf space with store brands because they stubbornly kept putting their product on sale over and over and over.

If the $1 pizza people envision stores going up in Chicago, LA, and beyond, they may want to consider a different story.  If they want to sell out of a card table on Broadway, they may soon have their wish.