Talk delivered on February 25, 2016 at PHX Start UP Week; Generosity in Startup Land--It Is Not Just About Doing Good

1. Generosity in Startup
Land—It Is Not Just About
Doing Good

2. Tom Curzon
@tcurzon1

3. GENEROSITY:
The quality of being kind, understanding, and not selfish
Merriam-Webster

4. AND IN START-UP LAND?
My belief:
Generosity is one of the secret ingredients
to success.

5. SO MUCH INFORMATION: HOW TO CUT
THROUGH IT ALL
My book recommendations for new
entrepreneurs (and pretty much anyone
else):
Start with some Give and Take

7. G I V E R S , TAK E R S AN D E X C H AN G E R S
Takers:
• Like to get more than they give
• Put their own interests ahead of others’ needs
• Are self-focused, cautious and self-protective—If I don’t look out for myself
first, no one will.
• Help others when the benefits to them out weigh the personal costs
Givers:
• Prefer to give more than they get
• Are others-focused
• Help others whenever the benefits exceeds the costs, or expect no return

8. R U L E N U M B E R O N E : H I R E D AN T Y R E S
Matchers:
• Strive to preserve an equal balance of giving and getting
• Fairness matters and manifests in tit for tat
These are reciprocity styles and obviously no one is just one, these are
meaningful.
Grant’s conclusions, based on research:
Givers are at both the bottom (the chumps) and the top (wildly successful)
With takers, there are necessarily winners and losers
With givers, there is more winning, and at the end of the day, Grant makes the
case for why givers, in the end are more likely to achieve success by standards
that matter.

10. Most people are more motivated by
• Autonomy
• Mastery
• Purpose

11. N O W D O U B L E D O W N O N P U R P O S E

12. O U R I N S T I N C T S AN D O U R P U R P O S E
In both his book and a powerful TED Talk, Sinek
persuasively argues that company leaders are most
effective if they start with Why: the original purpose,
cause, belief and motivation for what the company is
doing.
This is the emotional decision, and the How and
What support and follow the Why. Interestingly, he
asserts this is most effective because it fits our
human constitution, as it uses the limbic brain area,
controlling feeling, trust, analytics and decision
making (though not knowledge).

13. T R AN S PA R E N C Y AN D T R U S T

14. Dov Seidman’s Key Points:
We are experiencing a sea change in the world
around us:
• More transparent than ever
• More connected than ever
• More information than ever
This means that how we do things, i.e. process,
is incredibly important and is a "process full of
value."

15. • Focus on altruistic helping, trust, reciprocity.
• "We feel in our guts that keeping promises and
connecting with others are what gives our lives
meaning, and most of us seek meaning in our lives."
• "In an information economy, where more power lies in
the network than in the individual, outwardly focused
energy makes sense as a propeller of progress."
• Authenticity is crucial.
• Trust has become the currency of the age, more
powerful than ever.

16. S E I D M A N ’ S D E F I N I T I O N O F S U C C E S S
"You cannot do success; you cannot achieve
it by pursuing it directly. Success is
something you get when you pursue
something greater than yourself, and the
word I use to describe that something
is significance--a journey to do, make,
extend, create, and support value in the
world; and I believe, in the spirit of the
Johnson & Johnson Credo, it is this journey
that should bring you success, however
you measure it. Pursuing significance, in
the end, is the ultimate how."

17. T H E J & J " C R E D O " - - C H I S E L E D I N T O T H E W A L L O F I T S N E W J E R S E Y
H E A D Q U A R T E R S - - W A S W R I T T E N I N 1 9 4 3 J U S T B E F O R E T H E C O M P A N Y
B E C A M E P U B L I C L Y T R A D E D . C O M M U N I C AT I N G I T T O J & J ' S M U L T I P L E
S U B S I D I A R I E S , S O T H AT E A C H C O M P A N Y L I V E S I T, I S O N E O F T H E J & J
C H A I R M A N ' S M A J O R R E S P O N S I B I L I T I E S .
We believe our first responsibility is to the doctors, nurses and patients, to mothers and fathers and all
others who use our products and services. In meeting their needs everything we do must be of high
quality. We must constantly strive to reduce our costs in order to maintain reasonable prices.
Customers' orders must be serviced promptly and accurately. Our suppliers and distributors must have
an opportunity to make a fair profit.
We are responsible to our employees, the men and women who work with us throughout the world.
Everyone must be considered as an individual. We must respect their dignity and recognize their merit.
They must have a sense of security in their jobs. Compensation must be fair and adequate, and
working conditions clean, orderly and safe. We must be mindful of ways to help our employees fulfill
their family obligations. Employees must feel free to make suggestions and complaints. There must be
equal opportunity for employment, development and advancement for those qualified. We must
provide competent management, and their actions must be just and ethical.
We are responsible to the communities in which we live and work and to the world community as
well. We must be good citizens -- support good works and charities and pay our fair share of
taxes. We must encourage civic improvements and better health and education. We must maintain in
good order the property we are privileged to use, protecting the environment and natural
resources.
Our final responsibility is to our stockholders. Business must make a sound profit. We must
experiment with new ideas. Research must be carried on, innovative programs developed and
mistakes paid for. New equipment must be purchased, new facilities provided and new products
launched. Reserves must be created to provide for adverse times. When we operate according to
these principles, the stockholders should realize a fair return. [Emphasis added].

18. T U R N S O U T C U LT U R E M AT T E R S .
Wall St. Journal article, February 22, 2016:
New research showing that culture can improve
financial performance.
But financial performance doesn’t improve
culture, and companies that succeed without a
positive culture are likely to see their
performance decline.

19. H O W W O R L D C L A S S C O M P A N I E S P R O F I T F R O M P A S S I O N A N D P U R P O S E

20. C E N T E R E D O N G E N E R O S I T Y
From the prologue:
“We call their companies “firms of endearment”
because they strive through their words and
deeds to endear themselves to all their primary
stakeholders—customers, employees,
suppliers, communities, and shareholders—by
aligning the interests of all in such a way that
no stakeholder group gains at the expense of
other stakeholder groups, rather, they all
prosper together.”

21. B U I L D I N G B U S I N E S S O N L O V E A N D C A R E . T H I S B O O K I S N O T A B O U T
C O R P O R AT E S O C I A L R E S P O N S I B I L I T Y. I T I S A B O U T E N L I G H T E N E D
B U S I N E S S M A N A G E M E N T.
What really got my attention was their research
approach, their comparison then to
Good to Great companies, and the outcome of
that comparison:
• Over a ten-year horizon, the 13 [US public]
FoEs outperformed the G2G companies by 3
to 1
• Over 5 years, the comparison was 1.7 to one
• Over three years, it was about 1 to 1.

23. HOPSCRATCH
We exist to love. Really.
While we’ve wrapped up our corporate mission
into a nice simple sentence, you’ll find the wild,
beating heart of Hopscratch in our community
promise to put love first. It’s our personal
commitment to one another, the entrepreneurs
we serve, and you. So many people in the
world try to separate the professional from the
personal, but to us, that’s impossible. We
choose to live our lives with
uncompartmentalized purpose.

24. tcurzon@omlaw.com