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Michael Jordan
“I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”
– Michael Jordan
Michael Jordan’s legacy on the court is well written. Not much more can be said about the success of “His Airness.” With six NBA championship rings, five NBA Most Valuable Player awards and tons of other accolades and awards, Jordan is probably the best NBA player of all time.
Bruce often cites Michael Jordan as a leader he admires. In Looptail, Bruce writes about “The Michael Jordan effect” as a way of leading. From the book:
“…I will never apologize to anyone for holding people to excellence. I push people to achieve their potential. I want everyone to do their best work under my watch, and that’s one of the driving forces behind why I do what I do. I call it the Michael Jordan effect; I demand excellence and performance from the entire team, myself included, and there’s a hard side to that.”
Bruce isn’t alone in his admiration for Jordan’s leadership style and how it translates to business. This article by Chris Campbell called “What Entrepreneurs Can Learn from Michael Jordan” (from technori.com), Campbell takes famous Michael Jordan quotes and translates them to business advice for entrepreneurs and aspiring small business owners.
“If you’re a young entrepreneur or small business owner, there are certainly much worse people to learn from than the former Chicago Bulls star. Over the years, Jordan has provided plenty of valuable advice on leadership, competition, and success – both on and off the basketball court.”
Click here to read the rest of the article.
Here’s a clip that highlights some of Jordan’s leadership style on the court and the impact that he had on his teammates.
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Company Culture 101 at G Adventures
(photo credit: Hamin Lee)At G Adventures, our company culture is our brand. This article from Joanna Pachner at Profit Magazine provides some insights on what the company culture is like at G Adventures and some of the challenges and successes that G Adventures has had over the years.
From the article:
“Since 2008, Poon Tip has been crafting what he says is “a business model that’s never been seen before in this country.” In a nutshell, it revolves around changing people’s lives—both customers’ and employees’—by giving their experience with the company a greater meaning than just seeing the world. To do that, he has devoted enormous energy to fostering an internal culture in which the roughly 1,350 staffers dispersed throughout the world uniformly see giving back and doing good as part of their fundamental mission.”
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BT Toronto Hosts Bruce to talk Looptail
Thanks to Breakfast Television Toronto for hosting Bruce bright and early this morning and talking Looptail.
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Good Things Cooking at Karma Kitchen
(video via Global Oneness Project)
Ariel Schwartz of Co.Exist reports on Karma Kitchen, a Berkley, CA based restaurant with quite literally a “pay-it-forward” business model. The success of the Berkley location has resulted in the opening of four other US locations as well as two in Japan.
From the article:
Karma Kitchen opened in 2007–and not only does it ask for donations, it also is completely volunteer-run. The model is working well so far, so well that, despite charging nothing, the company is able to donate extra money. -
Good News Auto – Paying it Forward With JumpStart Program
Linda Hoang of CTV Edmonton reports on Good News Auto, an Edmonton, AB based auto shop. Owner Chris Ferland has created a unique business model with a pay-it-forward program for its customers called JumpStart.
From the article:
“Sometimes a lot of people are just one repair away from not being able to pay their rent or mortgage, so that’s the people we’re focusing on,” Ferland said.
The JumpStart program is described as offering a boost, a helping hand, or ‘jumpstart’ to customers based on income and circumstance.
Ferland says a little more than half of his sales are through regular, competitive market business.
He then uses those profits to subsidize repairs for people identified as being in need – through the JumpStart program.
Click here to read the rest of the article on CTV News Edmonton.
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Karma in Business
I was once a skeptic of the idea of karma in business. It seemed like “paying it forward” was a buzz phrase and most businesses were just out to raise stock values and make as much money as possible.
This was before I experienced a series of life and business altering events that changed my opinion on karma in business, which I write about extensively in Looptail.
Karma and the notion of paying it forward is central to what we are doing at G Adventures. One huge step in getting to this point was creating our NGO arm, Planeterra that helps local people develop their communities, conserve their environments, and provide social solutions to local business challenges in communities that our trips and travellers visit. We’re paying it forward to communities that our business touches.
Through initiatives like our Women’s Weaving Co-op in Peru, we are now helping to solve social problems and find business solutions in local communities that our travellers visit.
In addition to helping to build these sustainable community projects, we have found a differentiator for our business through Planeterra – with the help of our travellers, we have created something that makes us stand out amongst our competitors. Please visit planeterra.org to learn more about our social enterprise at work.
In fact, the title of my book Looptail: How One Company Changed the World by Reinventing Business was originally Looptail: Why Community, Culture and Karma Matter in Business . I now believe that nothing is an accident and everything happens for a reason. It’s all part of the Looptail.
This week, on Looptail.com, we are going to highlight some interesting articles around karma and the notion of “paying it forward” in business and society. We’d love to know what you think about some of these articles so feel free to comment and have your voice heard.
Peace,
Bruce
2013 AugustMonthly Archive
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