Business for Higher Purpose – The Looptail
Barraged by YouTube videos showing dastardly treatment of customers, I have been thinking of lately that I really should be more discriminating about where and with whom I spend my hard-earned money. Should I shop simply for convenience, low price and service? Or should I make my decisions based on more fundamental questions like: What does the company stand for? Is it in alignment with my own values? Do they practice what they preach i.e. are their policies, procedures and practices aligned with their espoused values?
A few weeks ago, I booked my first adventure travel trip with G Adventures (wondering where Marguerite is going? Stay tuned). I was drawn to this company by their sterling reputation and the reputation of its founder, Bruce Poon Tip. Truth be told, I was also fascinated by the story of how this fellow Caribbean immigrant to Canada managed to create the largest adventure travel company in the world. So, whilst preparing for my adventure, I decided to read Bruce’s autobiography, and the biography of G Adventures – “Looptail: Why Communities, Culture and Karma Matter in Business”.
As you can see from the accompanying picture, I finished the book and an entire pack of Post-It flags, so enamoured was I. There are many lessons that I hold dear about how to use business to add value to humanity and to be a force for good. Bruce Poon Tip demonstrates this in many ways. Here are a few topics on which he shares his insights and learning:
INNOVATION:
“Couldn’t tourism be the greatest form of wealth redistribution that the world has ever seen?”
Innovation begins with great questions that test and debunk the status quo. G Adventures is a classic Blue Ocean Strategy that created new market space where the competition was irrelevant, thus becoming a force that stood the tests of catastrophes and recessions (they GREW after 9/11 and in 2008!). The company created the adventure travel market, redefining the customer experience in terms of partnerships with people and communities at the destinations. This is not sanitized tourism – it’s the real, authentic travel experience that many people crave.
THE BRAND:
“We don’t own our brand. Our brand is what people think of us. Our culture is our brand. That is priceless.”
How your people behave and interact with each other and your customers says everything about who you are and what you stand for – and no amount of marketing and PR can create, cover, disguise or reveal that.
REIMAGINING “HR”:
“Traditional HR departments are set up to keep people from making errors. As companies got bigger, HR would create more rules and more oppression, taking away more and more freedom.”
In previous posts I have commented on the problems I see with traditional approaches to the management of Human Resources (HR). Bruce agrees: G Adventures has reinvented how they organize the “management” of their people and it works! He dismantled the HR Department, sending administrative tasks to Finance, and then creating a Talent Agency and a Culture Club, whose remits are clear – find and develop the right talent and foster the culture.
“There were only 2 concepts that I regarded as important in HR – talent and culture”
PASSION AND PURPOSE OF BUSINESS:
“There’s a compassionate side of business … there is a way to create happiness and community in everything you do”
Bruce Poon TIp goes beyond profits to planet, passion and purpose, articulating why and how organizations can make a difference AND actually experience longevity and sustainability.
People want to be a part of something big, where they feel they are making a positive difference – that’s why they come to work! Customers want to be a part of this too! When a business can combine these desires for purpose, then it’s win-win for all involved.
“In order to be successful in the modern economy you have to do what you believe in. Moreover, you have to do what other companies are scared to do – you have to stand for something.”
I haven’t yet departed on my adventure, but I am already a raver (that’s what G Adventures calls their delighted customers, of which there are many). I am happy to spend my money with them – to be a part of changing communities and lives whilst changing my own. Do your customers say the same about you?
TAKE ONE ACTION
Read Looptail – looptail.com
INTERESTING LINKS
Emotional intelligence is not enough to be a respected, trusted and amazing leader. This article outlines what being genuine is all about. Be warned – this is not a list to just check off – it’s a call for some serious introspection about who you are as a human being and how that is reflected in your behaviour.
– click to view article
So you think you are client-centric? Are you sure? You may want to go out and speak to your clients to make sure they are in the 39% who DON’T want to take their business elsewhere.
– click to view article
“One toxic employee wipes out the gains for more than two superstars” – that’s a sobering finding. Yet I am not surprised as I see this all the time in my clients’ organizations. Make sure to avoid hiring toxic employees with a rigorous hiring process. It’s worth the time.
– click to view article
