Story 3 | From Why to Wow!

Discovering, celebrating and elevating the passion in your company by Barry LaBov ies Another installment in the Umbrella Ser

This story is dedicated to some wonderful people who understand that before an organization can be at “wow,” everyone involved must understand “why.” Discovering, celebrating and elevating the passion in your company Illustrations by Jake Sauer, Pete Piekarski and Daniel Dombek © 2022 LaBov & Beyond Marketing Communications, Inc. 609 East Cook Road, Fort Wayne, IN 46825 All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in any form except for personal use or review. The purpose of this book is to educate and entertain. The authors have neither liability nor responsibility to any person or entity with respect to any loss or damage caused, or alleged to be caused, directly or indirectly, by the information contained in this book.

Joe always trusted his gut. Over the years, he built his umbrella manufacturing business into a multinational powerhouse. He could feel when things were clicking as well as when they were off track. It had been a long time since things felt like they were clicking. It’s more like two steps forward, three steps back, Joe thought to himself. The monthly P&L was dropped on his desk, and Joe looked at the slumping sales and shrinking pro昀椀t. Well, make that four steps back, he thought. Restless, he took a walk through his building and observed his employees—heads were down, eyes were drowsy, movement was molasses slow, energy was non-existent. Where has the passion gone? Joe wondered. He did see a number of employees standing in the hall; they seemed animated. Ah, signs of life! As he listened, he heard mostly questions: “Why did they change the program? It was the best thing they had going.” “Why don’t you do like I do and keep your head low?” “Why did they think the new product would ever sell?” “Why even try? Nothing matters anyway.” Joe strained to hear anything positive out of the group, but all he heard was: why, why, why? 3

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They shut up when they saw Joe coming. “Hi, Joe. How’s your golf game?” Joe smiled and replied, “Great.” But all he was thinking was, Where has the passion gone? We used to ask “how” not “why.” He looked closely at the many faces of doubt. Many were new faces, people who had come to Joe’s in recent years during the company’s rapid growth. They didn’t understand what it used to be like: the heartache, the sacri昀椀ce and, yes, the joy of the struggling years. They have no sense of history—all they see is a big company that’s stagnating. Joe’s eyes searched and found more familiar territory—the veterans who had been through the “war” with him. These faces were sullen; they looked de昀氀ated, confused and unsure of themselves. The company they knew and were comfortable with was long gone. Joe could feel their tentativeness, their sense of loss. Later that day, he was thinking about the loss of passion as he endured a discussion between his teams—marketing was 昀椀ghting with sales, and they were both ganging up on engineering. Joe felt like a ping-pong ball as he watched them duke it out. “We need to go upscale—luxury umbrellas—that’s where the pro昀椀t is.” “No, you’re wrong; we have to maintain our quality and pricing to protect our position.” “You’re both wrong. Think mass—we need to be the mass marketer of umbrellas—lower our price, increase volume, dominate the market.” Joe was dizzy from the pinging and ponging and interjected, “Look, it’s obvious we’re in total disagreement here. I don’t know the answer, but I do know that our employees are showing no enthusiasm or passion. Whatever we do will not work unless that changes.” 5

Joe’s HR head spoke up, “The employees should be happy to have a job.” Joe felt no positive energy from that statement either and replied, “Something has got to change, that’s all I know.” Joe was never afraid to make aggressive decisions or to be bold. In fact, more and more, over the last year or so, he felt the need to change things at the company, whether it be in marketing, products, culture, etc. Nothing was off limits. In the old days, he’d feel energized after implementing new programs, but now felt weary. And the employees were responding that way, too. Increasingly, his changes were met with polite acceptance and compliance—at least to his face. Things just don’t feel right. What do I need to change next? he wondered. Joe gathered his employees and tried to 昀椀re them up. He explained that, while things were tough, they were going to succeed, there were going to be changes, but they’d be worth it. He looked around the room for support—a smile, a head nod—anything. He came up empty. The faces were, if anything, more sullen and lacking any energy. A 昀椀re raged inside him. He yelled, “Where is your passion?” The employees were frozen, staring back at him. He stormed out. As he walked back to his of昀椀ce, head hanging, he could hear the employees. “Why did he lose it?” “Why should we want to go through more change?” More why, why, why. What he had hoped would rally his people actually drove them farther away. Five steps back, he thought. This was Wednesday, and every Wednesday during autumn, Joe left at three o’clock and headed for his daughter’s school. This was a welcome diversion today. Joe coached his eleven-year-old daughter’s Junior Varsity basketball team. He couldn’t wait to see the expressive faces of the 昀椀fth and sixth graders as they practiced their basketball skills. Make no mistake, his daughter’s team was no world-beater—they had never won a game in the school’s 6

昀椀ve-year history. With Joe at the helm last year, his coaching prowess helped preserve that tradition, but they had made great progress. The greatest progress was personal—he and his daughter grew closer—after he learned a lesson. His daughter was the tallest girl on the team, but she was not a dominant player. He recalled how, at 昀椀rst, he pushed and pushed her—to no avail. He could feel them drift apart until he saw her writing a story about her basketball experience. That’s when he got the message. She did have talent—writing talent. That’s where her passion was. After his discovery, Joe committed himself to motivating and nurturing her writing skills, and their relationship grew. The team had a small turnout last year, and many of the girls who played had never dribbled a ball before. Realizing he was no basketball expert, Joe asked a friend who was a former college coach to teach the girls the fundamentals of the game. Joe focused on his strengths: motivating the girls, rewarding their progress wherever he found any and keeping them focused on their purpose—teamwork. For Joe, it was all about educating and celebrating. A highlight of last year was the awards ceremony that he held to celebrate the progress the girls made. He created an award for each girl with her name and her area of contribution to the team—Most Improved Ball Handler, Most Enthusiastic Player, Scrappiest Defender, etc. In front of her parents, each girl accepted her award—it was a huge deal. The buzz at school was so great that twice as many girls signed up to play this season—there was actually a chance that the spell would be broken, that the team might win. But even if they didn’t win, his purpose was clear: The girls were going to learn to play as a team and have fun—it was as simple as that. 7

As Joe watched the girls practice, he saw them laugh at their mistakes and cheer their baskets. Why can’t my company have this kind of excitement and energy? He had a revelation. The next morning, Joe held another impromptu company-wide meeting. The employees slowly waded into the room; the energy was at an all-time low. He could hear them questioning the meeting. “Why do we need to go through this again?” “Why are we wasting our time?” More why, why, why… Joe stood in front of the group and nervously cleared his throat. Then Joe spoke, “I want to apologize for my behavior yesterday. I was wrong. I’ve been trying to push progress, to add new programs—I’ve been trying to create how we should be—that’s a mistake.” As Joe saw a few eyes open wider than he’d seen in a while, he continued, “I was remembering my daughter’s basketball performance last year. As she was running down the court, you could hear me yelling out, ‘Get your hands out of your pockets.’ She was actually playing basketball with her hands in her pockets— she was disengaged. At 昀椀rst, I was guilty of pushing her too much to be something that she wasn’t made to be—a star basketball player. What I learned was that she was great at story writing— that’s her passion. Instead of trying to create a basketball star out of her and making both of our lives miserable, I discovered her passion, her strength—story writing—and chose to focus on it. It made both of us happier, and it helped the team.” The employees looked at each other, confused. Is he having a breakdown? they thought. One spoke up, “Why tell us this story, Joe?” Joe realized how off-the-wall his story must have sounded and replied, “Great question—actually great word—‘why.’ We all need to know ‘why’—why we’re who we are. I’ve been trying to create 8

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our future, willing to change anything and everything—including things we probably shouldn’t ever change.” Joe saw smiles and continued, “We’ve been focusing on markets that might not be the ones for us.” With more smiles, Joe became animated. “We need to discover who we are before we go further—we need to start at the heart.” One person began to clap, then another and another until the entire room erupted in thunderous applause. It was like a weight had been lifted. Owen raised his hand and said, “I’m new here, and I’d love to learn who we are, where we came from, why we are who we are.” Micah, an old-timer, spoke up, “Well, I’ve been here since the beginning, and I’d love to get the same feeling we used to have— we were a team, we had…” Erik, another long-time employee, 昀椀nished Micah’s sentence, “Passion—we had passion. Well, we can get that back.” Diane, their HR head, added, “I’d love to know why our employees came to Joe’s in the 昀椀rst place—and of course, I want to know what they love as well as what they don’t love about Joe’s.” The head of engineering piped in, “I’d like to know more of what each department is up to. I only know about my department. Frankly, I don’t even understand what some departments do.” Mark, the Marketing VP, stood up. “I’d love to know why our customers buy from us, why they’re loyal and why some of them have left us,” he said. “If we could learn what we do best and stick with that, we’d be unbeatable.” On and on, people stood up and voiced their enthusiasm for Joe’s idea—they were excited about learning about their strengths, what made Joe’s special. Those people included the very people 10

Joe had heard complaining about the company just yesterday. It occurred to him that, when there’s a void of information, people will 昀椀ll it with something—usually something negative. This was a chance to avoid the void. Joe made this discovery his top priority. To make sure the information they received was unbiased, Joe turned to an outside source, their marketing partner, to conduct interviews of Joe’s stakeholders, or constituents. That group included Joe’s employees (from front-line workers to executives), dealers (large and small, old and new), customers (satis昀椀ed and dissatis昀椀ed) and industry experts. In addition, all of Joe’s competitors were studied. To avoid meaningless answers, people were personally interviewed with open-ended questions, allowing them to express their feelings—and the source of each answer was kept con昀椀dential. After weeks of interviews and research, Joe’s marketing partner shared the 昀椀ndings with him. The report was voluminous. In fact, they nicknamed the document the “Thud Book,” because when dropped on a desk or table, that’s the sound it made—a huge “thud.” Joe couldn’t wait to learn what each constituent thought of Joe’s Umbrellas. The employees interviewed expressed how they were afraid to open up and criticize management, that there were too many changes—almost change for change’s sake. The executives felt hostility toward rival departments. But all employees expressed an enthusiasm toward Joe’s products—they believed in them. One consistent criticism was lack of communication; they felt that Joe might be hiding things from them. Joe, reminded of the void, thought, Again, when there’s a void of information, people will 昀椀ll it with negativity. And as fast as we move, we need to over- communicate—the faster the speed of your company, the faster and more frequently you need to communicate. 11

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Customers shared countless experiences, but over and over, they shared their passion toward the product and the people of Joe’s Umbrellas. They felt Joe’s was the best value, very clever, very fun to own—BUT they felt that Joe’s was not the cheapest nor should it be. They also expressed concern at Joe’s attempt at producing an upscale umbrella—they felt it wasn’t Joe’s strength. Numerous customers recounted how they had experienced problems with Joe’s umbrellas but loved the umbrellas and the great service so much, they remained loyal. The data actually showed that dissatis昀椀ed customers became more loyal than satis昀椀ed customers if they were treated with respect and taken care of. Joe was taken aback when he learned this. All along, I thought we had to be perfect and error-free to earn customers. I guess when there’s passion, you don’t need perfection. The industry experts echoed the sentiment that Joe’s was everyone’s umbrella—great value, great quality, a lot of fun. They felt Joe’s was at a crossroads—in danger of losing its identity— something the competition would love to see happen. The last thing Joe wanted to do was lose the goodwill he had built over the years. Sometimes, if you look at change as the answer, you just might change the good things you’re doing. The competition was studied and some were found to be cheaper—cheaper price, quality and service. Those brands had little customer loyalty and were interchangeable in the customer’s mind. If customers experienced problems, they’d immediately switch brands. Joe thought, hmmm, the opposite of us. They have no passion; they have to be perfect, error-free, to hope to retain a customer. Several competitive brands were extremely expensive; they had carved out their niche and were 昀椀rmly entrenched in the minds of their loyal customers. Those brands deservedly had earned their customer base; Joe’s would be hard-pressed to make an 13

impact there without damaging its reputation. Another interesting 昀椀nding was that, over time, all of the competitors’ advertising had become very similar—they had all lost their identity, including Joe’s. Joe compared his advertising to his competitors. We all look alike. We’ve become “me-too.” But that’s an opportunity for us to re-introduce Joe’s Umbrellas to the marketplace— we can stand out from the rest. The dealers were, as expected, very vocal. They felt that Joe’s had lost its way. The new product had been less interesting, less “Joe’s”—it was time for a fresh approach to products and promotions. The dealers did express why they were loyal to Joe’s—it wasn’t pricing or product—it was integrity. Through thick and thin, Joe’s had been fair, honest and loyal. The dealers, while frustrated, were ready and willing to strengthen the relationship. Joe was touched. The dealers are no different than us; it’s all about relationships—good or bad. We need to engage the dealers in our product again. If we don’t, they’ll focus on something else; they’re entrepreneurs, after all. Joe invited his executive team to read through the Thud Book. They read page after page of 昀椀ndings and viewed the company’s strengths, weaknesses, core values and its positioning against the competition. Joe asked, “What do you think this tells us?” The executives spoke up: “Some of it is good and some of it is, well, disturbing.” “We’ve been moving away from our strengths.” “We’ve been trying to be all things to all people.” “Our dealers are loyal—they appreciate our relationship with them.” “Our departments don’t understand each other.” 14

“Our marketing and promotions have been misguided.” “We’ve been trying to change our way out of this—if we don’t watch out, we’ll change the very things that have brought us success.” “This will dramatically affect our new product development—a lot of projects will go by the wayside.” Joe interjected, “Yes, there’s a lot to learn here. Some ideas will be shelved, true. But think how simplifying all this will be. All of our complexity has squeezed out the passion. Our lack of communication has allowed for negativity to 昀椀ll in the void. We’ve been trying to create our essence instead of discovering it and amplifying it.” “Our employees love our company; we need them to be a part of how we 昀椀x this. Let’s share this information with them, warts and all.” Eyes opened, and an executive con昀椀rmed, “Warts and all? How can we do that?” Joe’s eyes twinkled and he answered, “The same as we do for the girls’ JV team—let’s educate and celebrate!” The next company-wide meeting was like none before. It was more than a meeting. It was a workshop, a fair and a celebration. The employees were all educated on the 昀椀ndings from the Thud Book. They were given Joe’s 101—a history lesson on Joe’s and a snapshot of the competition. They were then broken up into small groups. There, they discussed the 昀椀ndings and applied them to make Joe’s a better place to work and a better company overall for dealers and customers alike. The ideas came on like an avalanche. 15

Next, to make sure employees could describe what Joe’s was all about, they each created their own elevator speech. Joe explained, “An elevator speech is a simple two- or three-sentence description of what our company is all about—what makes us unique. It’s called an elevator speech, because that’s about the time it would take to travel a couple of 昀氀ights on an elevator— just enough time to explain the company if somebody asked you. This will come in handy, since people are asking you about our company every day—we might gain some customers or valuable new employees from this.” 16

Employees were then ushered into the lobby—it was colorfully decorated with informational booths representing each department. Each booth was staffed by a representative of a department. All employees were required to visit each booth and learn what that department did. To cap off the event, there was a celebration, much like the awards ceremony for Joe’s daughter’s JV team. Each department was recognized for its contribution to the success of the company. Smiles were everywhere, energy was sky-high. He overheard employees talking. One word rose above the rest—over and over. But it was a different word than before. Joe addressed the group, “Thank you all for your dedication. For too long, we tried to create who we are. We needed to discover who we are and put all efforts behind that. We’ve now discovered who we are—this will simplify our efforts and lives. It will also amplify our success together. I know that we’ll make a few mistakes along the way, but when you have passion, you don’t need perfection. Two months ago, all I heard was one word, ‘why?’ Today, all I’m hearing is ‘wow.’” Joe’s Umbrellas Inward Marketing Event became an annual tradition. The next year, dealers and vendors were invited to participate and learn, too. All new employees were indoctrinated with Joe’s 101 to start them off on the right foot. They constantly communicated with employees so that they could avoid the “void.” The new, focused, clari昀椀ed message was then unveiled to the customers via new product, advertising and promotions. It was a hit with customers and the envy of his competition. The passion was back, and Joe’s Umbrellas had gone from Why to Wow! 17

From Why to Wow Lessons • When there’s a void of information, people will usually 昀椀ll that void with something negative. • Communicate often, to the point of over-communicating. Avoid the void. • Educate and motivate. Let people know why you are who you are, why you do what you do—and then celebrate what you’ve done together. • The faster the speed of a company, the faster and more frequently information needs to be communicated. • Beware of change for change’s sake. If you look at change as the answer, you just might change the good things you’re doing. • Start at the heart; discover who you are and what you stand for—only then can you grow. • When there is passion, you don’t need perfection. • Every company and every cause should have its own elevator speech—a short description of what is at the heart of that company—what makes them who they are. • You can’t create your essence—you must discover it.

About the Author A two-time Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year and inductee into the Entrepreneur of the Year Hall of Fame, Barry LaBov is the founder and president of LaBov & Beyond Marketing Communications, Inc. Based in Fort Wayne, Indiana, LaBov & Beyond is an agency nationally renowned for its passion and its integrity as well as for its niche: creating strategic marketing, training and communication solutions for corporations with dealer, distributor or sales representative networks. Its client base is comprised of some of the most respected corporations in the world working in a wide variety of industries, including automotive, aviation, transportation, 昀椀nancial services and health care. Through the Umbrella Series of business parables and books, Barry and his team 昀椀nd an entertaining, involving and enlightening way to share with readers The Most Important Business Lessons Under One Umbrella. They not only explore the issues most vital to business success today—passion, leadership, change, entrepreneurialism, vision, loyalty, the tearing down of business silos—they bring them to life, in full, vibrant color. Indeed, lessons from the Umbrella Series have been brought to life as corporate learning events, interactive DVDs, keynote speeches and through its own Web site (umbrellastory.com). In addition to his work on the Umbrella Series, Barry has authored two critically acclaimed business books: How to Sell and Be Yourself and Beyond Comparison. He’s also a published columnist in national newspapers, magazines and various trade publications and an accomplished and in-demand public speaker. In addition to its Fort Wayne headquarters, LaBov & Beyond also has operations in Auburn Hills, Michigan, and suburban Washington, D.C. For more information on how LaBov & Beyond can market, motivate or leverage your company’s products, services or distribution network, please visit labov.com, umbrellastory.com, or call us at 260.497.0111.