Build the Relationship

I recently read a blog in the Harvard Business Review called The Values Proposal: Do Small Things with Great Love by Bill Taylor, a business writer and cofounder of the magazine Fast Company.  Taylor’s blog centers around an aphorism of Mother Theresa contained in the title - Do Small Things with Great Love.  Taylor’s suggestion is that business needs to take this idea as their mantra.

Much of Being Frank has been devoted to encouraging readers to find their path to happiness through both their inner thoughts and the outward manifestation of those thoughts into action.  Sharing a smile, even when it is hard, can brighten both your and others’ day (Fake it ‘til it’s Real), letting go of your past so your actions are only informed by your present (Held Hostage), and giving yourself permission to be who you are (Free from Judgement), are some of the suggestions I have made.

Her Book, The Mary Kay Way, illustrates her
business principals.

I have never thought to consider the business angle.  Sitting here now, typing this, I feel a little silly.  I have written many times about Samantha’s Mary Kay experience, about the company ideals and what they have taught me.  How silly of me that I would never consider the business culture of a multi-billion dollar, debt-free, cosmetics company when considering how a business might apply a Being Frank set of morals.

What is the key?  Well, according to Taylor, the key is having a set of Values and utilizing those values to inform your business model.  Using Mother Theresa’s aphorism,  Taylor opines that it is in the best interest of a business to act out of kindness and concern for their customers, not simply because of the bottom line.  A company that appears to only be concerned about its self interest may get your dollars now, but not your long-term business.  Unfortunately, much of corporate America seems only to be concerned with the immediate instead of the future.

Companies with a Values Proposition will have more long-term success than a company who is out for your dollar.  Having Values will generate value, something American investors like to see.  By investing in their clients, a company will help to guarantee future investments of their own.  They are creating a relationship.

Mary Kay has known this for years, long before Samantha was ever involved.  A successful Mary Kay Independent Beauty Consultant isn’t pushy, she (or he) builds relationships.  When a consultant step into someone’s living or dining room, they are there as their guest.  While a sale right then is always great, beginning a relationship with that customer is more important.  Through the consultant’s relationship with their client, they establish a long term customer, which guarantees success down the road for both the consultant and ultimately, for the Mary Kay Corporation.  I have sat through many training sessions with Samantha at both the local, regional, and national level, and every single time, the idea, if not the words, of doing small things with great love has been expressed.

Gary Vaynerchuk, of winelibrarytv.com, and vaynermedia.com, echoes the same sentiment in a talk he gave to NYU’s Stern School of Business.  

Gary V stresses the importance of building relationships with customers.  My favorite line from the video is when he complains about the flavor of Bud Light Lime, and a minute later a Bud Light rep shows up at his door.  This is the kind of business market we are headed into.  If a business isn’t building a relationship with you, then they are at risk of losing your business to another company that does.

My business runs on the same mantra, though I never really looked at it this way until reading the Taylor article and seeing the Gary V video.  In my educational endeavors, I build a three-fold relationship with every lesson I teach.  

Not me.  I am a dude.

First, I build a relationship with the student - do we click on a personal level, are we at a place where I can understand them and they me, and do we have a trust?  Before any of the information or skill I have to offer come into play, I have to ensure that this structure is in place.  The more established the student/teacher relationship becomes, the better chance I have at improving that student on their instrument.

Second, I build a relationship with the parents.  The parents of any student I teach are not concerned with the fact that I teach nearly seventy others students a week; they are only concerned with the fact that I teach theirs.  I must make sure to communicate with them based regarding expectations, student achievement, and organizational matters.  If I appear out of synch with them or their student, then our business relationship will soon come to an end.

Finally, I build a relationship with the band directors.  Without that relationship, I would never be able to step in the door of the school in the first place, or receive a recommendation to the parents that I teach their students.  When I first private taught years ago, I never considered the fact that that the students I taught were first and foremost the students of those band directors.  Operating within the band program’s parameters enables you to both educate the student, and oftentimes expand the knowledge within the program.

Damaging any one of these relationships would degrade my business.  The same can be said for my music arranging and drill writing business - if they don’t know me before I write for them, they take a risk in hiring me.  It is my responsibility to build the relationship from the ground up while we work together.  

Finally, you and I have a relationship; my hope is that it isn’t just a one night stand.  My efforts in constructing Being Frank into a blog that encourages readers to come back are grounded in building a long lasting relationship through relevant content and timely messages.

No matter your angle, business or personal, everything you do helps to build a relationship with someone.  Follow Mother Theresa’s advice - do small things with great love.  While it may appear to inconvenience you in the present, the investment in your future is completely worth it.

Greed is Good

Greed is good.  These are the famous words spoken by Gordon Gekko, Michael Douglas’ character from the movies Wall Street, and Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps.  Gekko is a stock trader, driven by the investment game, always on the prowl for the trade that will make him more wealthy and famous.  For Gekko, greed is the driving factor.  He is owned by both his material possessions and by the opinions others have of him.  Without them, he is nothing.

For many of us, greed seems like a game only the wealthy can play.  We associate greed with only the wealthy, refraining to consider that we ourselves could be greedy.  In my last blog - Aiming Higher - I discussed the drives that push each of us.  I used myself, my wife, and a local school as  examples of people who were striving towards success.  Do we live up to the Gordon Gekko model?  Are we greedy?

First, lets analyze what greed is.  Webster defines greed as a selfish and excessive desire for more of something than is needed.  This definition seems to be extremely broad considering the way greed is bandied about today.  Typically we associate greed with money and power.  The current Wall Street protest #OccupyWallStreet is centered around the idea that the powerful and wealthy are driving down our future through their hoarding of money.  If they were less concerned with their own wealth, then the future of the country and the global economy would be much brighter than it seems to be today.

Is this true?  Milton Friedman, a conservative economist from whom Reaganomics originated, has a well known youtube video in which he discusses greed on Phil Donahue’s show. 

Friedman argues that all successful societies in the history of man have been centered around a free market economy fueled by greedy individuals.  Further, he declares that even in socialist and communist societies, greed still exists, though the market to exploit greedy drives is absent.  

I agree with Mr. Friedman.  Greed is prevalent in all societies.  The brilliance of capitalism lies in society’s ability to harness the powers of greed to better the lives of its citizens.  The United States of America would not be where it is today without the shrewd businessmen of the past who have driven our industry and economy to the peak of human wealth.

Unfortunately, after every peak there is a descent (read The Long Ride to see how this applies to life in general).  There seems to be a point in a free market economy where the have’s seem to have it all.  We are not at that point yet, but the fact that 10% of our population owns 90% of our wealth would suggest that the United States is close.  Factor in the current economic conditions, news stories highlighting CEOs earning massive bonuses while losing their companies money, and the plight of the unemployed and poor, and it is easy to see why #OccupyWallStreet has its sights set on financial district of New York City.

Back to my examples from Aiming Higher.  I freely admitted that one of my goals as a drill writer and marching arranger is to make money.  I enjoy the work and appreciate seeing the work of my mind produced and carried out in real time, as well, but I love to get the checks in the mail.  Does this make me greedy?  I don’t think it does.

I believe that the drive to be successful is separate from the drives associated with greed.  The drive towards success can be corrupted and lead towards greed, but I do not think the two are intimately intertwined.

Where is the point where they separate and consideration of individual success becomes something negative?  To me, that point lies in the choice to pursue something that serves your interest at the acknowledged destruction of others.  Enron is one of the best modern examples of corporate greed.  The drive to succeed, which in this case was evidenced by a rising stock price, was corrupted into a drive to make money.  Executives fabricated earnings reports, causing the stock price to artificially inflate.  When the scheme was discovered, the stock collapsed, leaving those who had trusted their financial welfare to Enron’s stock value crushed.

Greed lies in the purpose, the intent behind the action.  Samantha is driven towards owning a successful Mary Kay business by the opportunities it affords her as an individual and a woman, and the financial opportunities it offers our family.  If she allows those drives to corrupt her integrity to the point where she is taking advantage of other people and consciously causing others harm for her own benefit, then her drive to succeed has become greedy.

The Oak Ridge High School Band (donate here) seeks funding to offer its students the opportunity to experience something unique in the Macy’s Parade.  If the director’s somehow had their only welfare in mind when applying for, accepting, and promoting the parade, then they could be called greedy.  But, as long as their motivations take into consideration the wellbeing of others, they are not.

Greed is less of an action and more of a mind set.  Gordon Gekko’s actions pushed past the edge of a reasonable drive towards success, leading him to believe that greed is good.  While I agree with him to a point, too much greed can be a very bad thing.

Greed: Aiming Higher

One of my readers recently offered me his opinion on greed as a response to my blog Tipping Over and it got me thinking about our individual drives.  What drives us?  What pushes us to do better?  I think this is an awesome question towards which each of us should devote some time discovering the answers.

As always, I would like to use some examples of my own experiences.  This morning, when I arrived at my normal Market Street Starbucks writing spot, I noticed the presence of a marching band and I recognized the director - Jack Allen.  This was Oak Ridge High School, one of the bands for whom I write drill and teach lessons.  As this was the first Sunday of the new month, the regular car show was in progress, and the band is in the midst of raising funds through a car raffle.  What better place to sell raffle tickets than a car show?

If you would like to help the ORHS Band get to
NYC for the parade, click here.

Oak Ridge isn’t just raising funds for operating costs.  They are raising money to help get them to New York City to participate in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in 2012.  This isn’t something every band gets to do, rather it is something Jack and his staff decided to pursue.  They decided to aim higher.

The drive to aim higher comes from many different places.  For Oak Ridge, the opportunity offers the students an experience they will remember for a lifetime.  It will help retention from the lower grades into high school, it will help market the band to future ORHS band members, and it will provide some national recognition for the school and the district.

In a different spectrum, the drive to succeed individually is motivated by other forces.  Samantha has just completed her Director in Qualification period with Mary Kay.  As of October 1, she has given herself a promotion, joining the cream of the crop in Mary Kay as an Independent Sales Director.

For Samantha, the drive to achieve this career level originated in many different places.  She loves the opportunity to help women, she loves the opportunity to be in the “big girls club,” and she definitely is fine with the financial benefits that come along with the promotion.  Ultimately, though, her drive came from a sense of belonging paired with the knowledge of a job well done.

Personally, my drive to succeed stems from many different areas.  While I like writing marching band shows, I will freely admit that am driven by the financial angle.  If I write well, I will gain more customers, be able to charge higher rates, and be more secure financially.   

When it comes to writing words, I have two different motivating factors.  The first involves my blog.  I am in a sort of contest with myself, driving myself to find new readers and expand the influence of my words.  I was excited that my September numbers have an average daily readership of 120 people.  While compared to uber-successful blogs, that number is paltry, but for me, that is gigantic.  Considering the number of blogs I wrote in September, I had an average of 600 people reading each.  It is exciting and blows my mind (thank you, by the way).

The other side of writing - my novel - is driven entirely by joy.  I love to write.  I love to craft words.  I love to watch something that I have seen in my mind slowly take shape on the screen of my laptop.

Both the blog and the novel could have future financial implications, but right now, that is so far away that I can’t even really pause to consider the possibility.  I wouldn’t mind being a famous novelist, or even a moderately successful one.  I wouldn’t mind my blog reaching national or international notoriety either.  But, that isn’t what is driving me right now.

For all three situations, Oak Ridge, Samantha, and I, the drive to succeed at our chosen objectives stem from personal satisfaction, some acclaim, and eventual reward.  Is it driven by greed, or is it something different?  

I think to answer this question, we must turn our attention to what greed is and how it operates in our society and within our own psyche.  We will begin to tackle this idea in the next blog.  For now, what are your driving factors?  What motivates you to succeed?     You can start the process of figuring things out on your own today.