Mandy Hale isn’t a business writer, but she may have written the best piece of business advice, ever.
“To make a difference in someone’s life, you don’t have to be brilliant, rich, beautiful, or perfect. You just have to care.”
Your employees need to know you care.
Something that makes me happy every time I think about it, is our 101 Life Goals program.
Our objective is simply to inspire our people to imagine big possibilities for themselves. So, from time to time, we ask our franchise partners and our employees to write down 101 Life Goals. Then we become their cheerleaders, encouraging them, supporting them, giving them whatever they need to build the franchise of their dreams or live the life of their dreams.
You would be surprised at the number of things that are on those lists that you can easily help make happen.
One of Cameron Herald’s Life Goals was to grow a lemon tree and make lemonade for his dad from that tree.
Tanya Hall wanted to “Read Anna Karenina in Russian.” When I asked her about it, she said, “My Dad was Russian and the last thing he said to me as he was on his death bed was, “Honey, go read Anna Karenina.” I still remember the tears streaming down her cheeks when we did just a little bit to help make that possible.
Earl Sotto wanted to sit with his wife on the FRIENDS couch at Universal Studios where that TV show was made. I smile every time at look at that photo.
Lara Gribben wanted to ride a motorbike through Vietnam.
Phil Bubis wanted to feast with his co-workers on a roast pig.
Alannah Niven wanted to meet Halsey.
Vaughn Joyce wanted to help release baby sea turtles back into the ocean.
Rachel Stout wanted to learn to change the oil on her motorcycle.
Ryan Anderson wanted to throw out the opening pitch at a professional baseball game.
Sarah Robinson wanted to eat at one of the best restaurants in the world.
Greg Brown wanted to learn traditional blacksmithing methods.
Jenna Sadko wanted to hold a bird of prey.
Yvonne Munro wanted to reunite her 7 siblings.
Jordan Tait wanted to swim in a glacier lagoon.
Romi Weiss wanted to attend Comic-Con.
Marc Asgeirson wanted to visit the birthplace of his grandfather.
Shelley Adam wanted to learn to drive a big rig.
Matt Atack wanted to see an alligator from an airboat.
It doesn’t matter why these people wanted to do these things. What matters is that someone cared about what they wanted.
You can’t take care of your customers without first taking care of your team. And taking care of your team is fun. We’ve already published a private edition of a big, beautiful, full-color coffee-table book that celebrates 101 of our people as they experience one of the goals on their list, and we plan to publish more of them.
I believe my most important job as CEO is to share my vision with my team and make sure they see themselves in it. Please understand that I’m not saying, “Hey, as an entrepreneur, here’s what I want to do, and rah-rah-rah, you get to help me do it.” I’m talking about something bigger than that. I’m talking about the encouragement of big dreams and the living of big lives, celebrating the uniqueness of our private goals while at the same time remembering that we are bigger and better TOGETHER.
I’m talking about doing what Mandy Hale said: “To make a difference in someone’s life, you don’t have to be brilliant, rich, beautiful, or perfect. You just have to care.”
Will you join me? If we do it right, the impact of it will continue long beyond your lifetime and mine.
And that’s a pretty special thing.