Getting to the soul of service
This weekend a friend sent me a link to a Harvard Business Review video by Ikujiro Nonaka and Hirotaka Eustachian. In “The Big Idea: The Wise Leader” they put forward the philosophy of ‘idealist pragmatism’….making profit and serving the common good are not mutually exclusive. You can have both. Eg. Tata in India…..he saw Indian couples (and even families) on motor bikes getting wet in the rain, he set out to develop a $2,500 us car.
Yesterday, I met Colin Ferreira for the first time. He is the owner of Ferreira’s Optical. Colin is a wise leader. He has managed to do something that’s very rare. He’s brought his personal values to work with him. So while he has successfully managed to get his executive and team to embrace “service” as their competitive advantage; he has also gotten them to embrace the Proverbs he lives by, like: ” The righteous man walks with integrity, his children are blessed after him.’ And just in case you think he is some kind of nut case, his proverbs come with a healthy measure of pragmatism. And he has a 23% market share to prove it as he adds two stores to his five existing, in a recession.
The Business Development Company and Republic Bank who presented Colin, outdid themselves yesterday when they invited SME’s to “Choose to be Great instead of Big.” I have not spent a better $450tt for a very long time. (Albert Chow is making a huge impact on the BDC and I’m so proud of him, always knew he was a class act) Also telling their stories”, apart from Colin, were David Lewis, The Viscuna Brothers, Allison Magalhaes and feature speaker, Editor at Large at Inc. Magazine, Bo Burlingham. Each presenter was exceptional.
India has Ratan N Tata. Trinidad and Tobago has Colin Ferreira.
*The presentations will be posted on the BDC’s website in a few days: www.bdc.co.tt
1 July, 2011, 12:55 am
I agree to a certain extent on your views, but firstly we must put into context that Tata Industries introduction of the Nano motor car can be viewed as you rightly said “…..making profit and serving the common good….” However, another is that with a population exceeding one billion and a growing middle class, there may be a perceived fear that with this affordability there is an increase in pollution by higher carbon emissions, greater demand for fossil fuel thus higher price for this resource. On the other hand the introduction of rival pricing making the item even more affordable etc. I am not advocating the halt of progress, particularly by emerging economies, but the term” common good” I believe is not appropriate, since this “good” has long term ramifications for the environment.
I however, agree in total with your view on Ferreira Optical. Each organisation has its own style and being a customer of this establishment, the vision of Mr. Colin Ferreira is manifested through his staff. Clearly his style is visionary.
On a more personal note I believe that business ideology however dynamic and ever changing, we sometimes lose the clear fundamentals, we immerse ourselves in groups, in biographies, individuals who believe they have found the pathway to enlightenment, not wanting to understand or come to terms with how basic principles apply, because it is too basic, too simple. If you make a comparison between Bette Nesmith Graham and Walter Elias Disney, they both had a distinctive approach to business, yet the pathway and end result vary greatly.
1 July, 2011, 2:13 am
I was really impressed with Colin Ferreira. What blew me away was that he started off talking about Positioning and ended up talking about Proverbs. His company (according to him and I believe him) has 23% share and is expanding branches in a recession. He’s wearing his faith on his sleeve, that’s my dream, dr