Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things. ~Peter F. Drucker
As I’ve confessed before, I’m a faithful fan of the reality TV show, Shark Tank. I enjoy the optimism and creativity of the entrepreneurs juxtaposed against the analysis and critique of the would-be investors. Last week, I witnessed something on this show that’s a rare occurrence, venture capitalists truly moved by the genuine compassion and sincerity of the one of the presenting entrepreneurs, Johnny Georges.
Johnny is a fruit farmer from Florida (as was his father) and he invented a product that allows farmers to not only use significantly less water to irrigate their groves, but also helps to prevent damage from frost. He has been selling direct to farmers and his margins are somewhat thin, especially by venture capitalist standards. As the sharks began their questions and critique, a number asked why he wasn’t charging more so he could improve his margin. Johnny replied with a very sincere and compassionate response, “Because I’m selling to farmers.” He repeated this several times, with just as much genuine sincerity as the first time he made the statement. It was quite clear that if you read between the lines he was really saying, “Because it is just the right thing to do.”
At this point, Kevin O’Leary (aka: Mr. Wonderful) would have typically said something like, “If you’re not willing to consider raising your price and increase your margins then you’re dead to me.” But even Mr. O’Leary stayed silent—miraculous! One by one the sharks backed away from investing in Johnny’s business. Until it came to first-time shark, John Paul DeJoria, co-founder of Paul Mitchell. He told Johnny that if he’d be willing to raise his price by just a dollar or two he’d invest the full amount he had requested. Done deal, and barely a dry eye among the sharks!
I just discovered that there are a number of people who blog about Shark Tank and here’s what one blogger had to say about Johnny. “Johnny Georges, what can I say, this guy is about as genuine as any good hearted person you would ever be lucky enough to meet. He is now a real super star, possessing unique genuine qualities hard to ignore. By the looks of the dozens of comments that came pouring in after he was featured on the show, apparently there are thousands and thousands of other folks who feel the same way about Johnny Georges. Sometimes running a successful business has nothing to do with the bottom line, but has everything to do with doing the right thing.”
I’m guessing that Johnny wouldn’t categorize himself as a “leader,” but I think there may be thousands of folks out there (myself included) who would follow Johnny to the end of the earth. I couldn’t agree more with the blogger, Johnny had unique genuine qualities hard to ignore. He wasn’t charismatic, or even overly articulate. But genuineness simply oozed out of him. I think it was so hard to ignore because unfortunately, we see it so rarely these days. There wasn’t a self-centered bone in this guy’s body.
After the show I kept thinking, where have we gone so wrong that simple genuineness is now a rarity? Something we see so infrequently that we’re overcome with emotion when it does pass our way.
This week how could we each join Johnny and let go of our self-centeredness, reach deep inside to our genuine selves and just simply do the right thing?