An off-beat guide to better investment — both financial and social
I recently finished the book The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch. It’s a great, concise book that does triple duty as an autobiography, confessional of a dying man, and collection of frank and quirky advice.
One of my favorite stories from the book is so short, it’s easy to overlook. But it gives flesh and bone to the vague skeleton of a principle I’ve come to hold to tightly since I first entered the world of business. I’ll let Pausch’s story do its own heavy lifting.
Fragility
Randy Pausch tells the story of how, when he and his sister were pre-teens, the family went to Disney World. Their parents opted to give the kids 90 minutes on their own to roam the park
To show their appreciation for the trip, and the 90 minutes of autonomy, the Pausch children went to the gift shop to pick out something for their parents. They soon found a $10 set of salt and pepper shakers they knew their parents would love. So they made the purchase and quickly left to roam the park.
Minutes later, Randy fumbled the package and dropped it — resulting in a broken set of shakers. An adult guest in the park saw what happened and suggested the kids take it back to the store. Pausch knew it was his fault but he decided to go back to the store, not sure what to expect.
After the kids told the clerk what happened, they were pleasantly surprised when they were told they could get a new set of shakers. The Disney gift shop employee even apologized to them for not wrapping the gift to prevent such breakage, and gave them a replacement.
Of Kids and Capitalists
There are two ways of interpreting this story.
- The Pausch kids — with the help of a clever adult — got one over on the Disney gift shop employees, resulting in a $10 loss for the store.
- The Disney gift shop employee made a wise investment
You may be able to guess which one is right. But let’s finish the story.
After hearing about that instance of customer service, Pausch’s parents were impressed. In fact, they were so impressed, they continued to take both their own family — and the underprivileged children served by the nonprofit they worked with — to Disney World regularly in the ensuing years. As a result, Disney made well over $100,000 from the Pausch family that they otherwise might not have.So, yes, the Disney gift shop employee made an investment, and it paid off — in spades.
I know what you might be saying: that employee got lucky! There’s no way to know that the Pausch’s parents would even hear or care about what the employees did — let alone end up spending a bunch of money there later. And you’re right. On that particular occasion, there was likely some luck at play. But that’s the thing about investments; you don’t always when or exactly how they’ll get a return. They may not yield a return. That’s why venture capitalists invest in multiple different companies. Most of them fail or return very little. But the ones that do, go BIG.
The Forest and the Trees
So often — especially in business — we operate with a mentality in direct opposition to the gift shop employee. It’s like a combination of distrust and a slippery-slope fallacy run amuck. We assume that everyone who comes to us with a request for time or money should be negotiated with. We guard our time and money so greedily that we forget that the only way to grow them is to invest them. And the only way to invest those things is to forfeit some of them — not hoard them. You need to be generous.
In the short term, your generosity may be taken advantage of. And that’s okay. Again, it’s an investment. And many investments don’t work out. But the few that do work out more than make up for the ones that don’t. You never know who’s going to find out about how well you treat others. And one of those people who hear about it will undoubtedly have something to offer you. When they think about who they can spend it on, those word-of-mouth accounts of great service matter.
I’m not saying you should indiscriminately let people walk all over you. You have every right to say “no” and refuse to let people harm your livelihood. But don’t make the mistake of thinking that every little over-reach here and there constitutes a threat. Then you become a modern day Scrooge.
Mind the Social Latticework
In short: Answer your legitimate emails and social media messages when you can. When people (and not email bots) reach out in earnest, get back to them. Put a little thought into it. Make a connection. When people comment on your video, article, image, whatever — comment back. Don’t automate that away. And don’t make the mistake of thinking your deep work is so much more important than the little people reaching out to you.
Take the time to be welcoming, because very few people are going to spend money over and over with anyone who doesn’t welcome them. And when it comes to that kind of social latticework of small interactions, people are much smarter and more perceptive than we often give them credit for.
In short, invest some of your time and profitability in generosity. That $10 of loss you take today, tomorrow, and next month, may be what gets you $100,000 more over the next 10 years.