Tuesday
Dec162008
Giving Away Value: Sustainable business model or way of life?
Tuesday, December 16, 2008 at 5:43PM
The first part of the movie Jerry Maguire has the protagonist wrestling with purpose, his conscience and meaning. He thinks back to his mentor, Dicky Fox, who says, "The key to this business is personal relationships." Maguire goes on to write a personal mission statement that he distributes to his convention attending colleagues and is promptly fired from his job. The rest of the movie is mostly romantic drivel and rise-from-the-ashes career success. That part did not interest me near as much as the first part.
So here's the question: are you caught up in what you do? Or are you passionate about how you do it? There's a big difference. Jerry Maguire was a sports agent all the way through the movie, but he radically changed HOW he did what he did and found a lot more fulfillment. Funny thing, fulfillment. When you have it others notice. There's a scene at the end of the movie where Jerry, looking very fulfilled, is approached by Troy Aikman about becoming his agent. When people see what you have they want to be a part of it. It's exciting, and yes, down the road it can often be financially rewarding as well.
I believe fulfillment is about giving away value. Now, I didn't say it's about "earning" value or "delivering" value because those words connote a right to receive something in return. True value is given first and rewarded, maybe, second. There's a huge difference between the professional who gives away value and one who earns it. The first lives a life of fulfillment, some uncertainty and plenty of excitement. The second may generate more billable revenue, but he does so at the expense of those personal relationships Dicky Fox was so interested in.
So here's the question: are you caught up in what you do? Or are you passionate about how you do it? There's a big difference. Jerry Maguire was a sports agent all the way through the movie, but he radically changed HOW he did what he did and found a lot more fulfillment. Funny thing, fulfillment. When you have it others notice. There's a scene at the end of the movie where Jerry, looking very fulfilled, is approached by Troy Aikman about becoming his agent. When people see what you have they want to be a part of it. It's exciting, and yes, down the road it can often be financially rewarding as well.
I believe fulfillment is about giving away value. Now, I didn't say it's about "earning" value or "delivering" value because those words connote a right to receive something in return. True value is given first and rewarded, maybe, second. There's a huge difference between the professional who gives away value and one who earns it. The first lives a life of fulfillment, some uncertainty and plenty of excitement. The second may generate more billable revenue, but he does so at the expense of those personal relationships Dicky Fox was so interested in.
Reader Comments (1)
Agreed, the market has changed from being able to sell pre-designs in our industry to giving away the entire first phase of discovery. In our experience once you get through that Phase 1 pitch, you understand your client's business better because you had to work harder to understand it. (You didn't have the business yet.) Most times the client sees this and rewards you with the work and if you don't get the contract:
a. you sharpened your research/sales/presentation skills and are better prepared for the next client. (Whether they are in that same industry or not.)
b. perhaps you and the client weren't a great fit for one another.
c. ask the hard questions of yourself, review and improve. Did you not listen enough? Did you underbill/overbill? Was there a lack of trust, if so, why?