Take care of the relationships, and the money will take care of itself. A lot of organizations, a lot of epic performers, a lot of people in business, I think they’ve forgotten about what business is all about.
Business is about relationships. I mean, it was the founder of Southwest Airlines, Herb Kelleher, and here’s what he said. He said, “The business of business is relationships.” And so many companies have forgotten about that. They forgot about who puts food on their table every night.
And so I’m going to invite you to consider when you become a merchant of wow, when you go
the extra mile for your customers, when you’re all about relationships with your teammate, when you understand the power of culture to build a leadership company, the money, the success, the brand will take care of itself. Allow me to share a story with you that really speaks to this idea that I’m inviting you to play with, that you take care of the relationships and the money will take care of itself.
Well, one of our clients is Starbucks, and Starbucks used to be a great company. And then, they sort of grew too quickly, they forgot about the relationships, and they sort of lost their magic. And so Howard Schultz came back in, this was the mid-2000s, and he sort of reminded people. The whole idea of Starbucks was to be the third place. People have their work, they have their home, and Schultz’s vision was a place where people could go and they could drink the kind of coffee he experienced in Italy, but they could connect.
We live in a world right now where people are aching for human connections. They are aching
for humanity. They are aching for a sense of belonging. And so, there was one manager in one Starbucks coffee shop I want to tell you about, and she really understood that if she took care of the relationships, the money will take care of itself. Well, she had a favorite customer, and her favorite customer was a woman named Irene. Irene was a woman in her 80s, and Irene had been a school teacher. Irene would walk into this coffee shop every morning, and she would be holding the hand of this gentleman who was also very elegantly dressed. He was also in his 80s.
And this beautiful couple, the kind of couple you just wish you had his friends, they had an
interesting ritual. They would walk up to the counter of the coffee shop, and they would order a tall cup of coffee with two cups and one pastry with two forks. And when they could, they would sit at the same table, and they would have a conversation because business
is a conversation. You lose the conversation with your customers, I promise you, you’re going to lose your business. You lose the conversation with your teammates, you’re going to lose your teammates. You lose the conversation with your family, and I promise you, you’re going to lose your family. And even being an epic performer and a great human being is a conversation. You lose the conversation with yourself so you’re not thinking about your vision, thinking about who you want to become, thinking about your values, you just might lose yourself and live society’s life versus living your life.
Well, one day the manager noticed that Irene was no longer showing up at the coffee shop. And because she truly cared, she became really, really concerned. And about two weeks later, she saw Irene in a bank, but Irene was not looking graceful. And Irene was no longer looking beautifully dressed, and she was no longer looking inspired and elegant. She actually looked disheveled. She looked confused. And the manager got really scared, and she ran over and she said, “Irene, is everything okay?” And Irene looked at her and said, “No, everything’s not okay.”
And the manager said, “What happened?” And Irene said, “You know that gentleman who’s been coming in at the coffee shop for so many years? The one who holds my hand?” And the manager said, “Yes.” And Irene said, “Well, I’ve never told you this, but that man was my husband. And a few weeks ago, he took a massive stroke, and now he’s dead.” She
said, “I don’t know what I’m going to do. I don’t know if I’m going to make it. I feel so alone.”
And because the manager understood the importance of real relationships, she said, “Well, why don’t you go back to the coffee shop and have a cup of coffee on me? Maybe it’ll make you feel better.” And Irene said, “Well, who would I drink it with?” And the manager said, “I’ll drink it with you.” And the two human beings, in a world that has forgotten what it means to be human in many ways, went back to the coffee, ordered a cup of coffee with two cups, one pastry with one fork, and they had a conversation. You take care of the relationships, and the money will take care of itself.