A Balance Sheet of Human Equity
Fifteen years ago, I was interviewed to be the President of a well-known specialty Jewish bakery company called Manischewitz.
The job was in New York, and I was living in North Carolina. By happenstance, my father’s college roommate, Bob Starr had been the President of this company known for matzoh (unleavened bread) and ungodly awful sweet wine used for Jewish religious ceremonies and special occasions. Bob was helpful at providing me with some insights into the company and their leadership. I wanted to know more.
The recruiter knew that I had a million more questions, and she suggested that I speak to Mike Schall, another former President who ran the business for several years. She told me that you’d love talking to Mike. He is a super mensch. (A mensch is Yiddish for an exceptional person).
She connected me with Mike, and it was like finding a lost brother and a sherpa to help me navigate my way.
In truth, I didn’t want the job and had no interest to move back north, but the universe takes us along a non-linear path, so we can meet people we need to know. Mike is one of those people I am so happy and blessed to have connected with so many years ago.
Now I know why this connection was different. It was an opportunity for me to learn some valuable business, marketing and life lessons.
I ended up passing on the job but Mike and I stayed connected. We spoke about once each year for a decade never meeting in person but chatting about the world of food and beverage marketing. He was always asking me how he could help me, what could he do for me? Mike never asked for anything in return. He would introduce me to people that had interests aligning with mine. Like a conduit, Mike was always connecting people who needed to know one another. He reacquainted me with Skip Rosskam, the former CEO at David Michael & Co., a flavor company. That was a gift too.
Mike had worked with a few food and beverage companies over his career and as a consultant or board member over the past decade. His most significant and most exciting client has always been Whole Foods Market including special projects with their imaginative and inspiring leader John Mackey.
Mike worked on many extraordinary projects working with senior leadership and had a keen interested in plant-based products like Engine 2 Plant-Strong brand based on the book written by Rip Esselstyn, a former Austin, TX firefighter.
Everybody loved Mike, and it was easy to understand why.
Life’s Balance Sheet
Over the years, in every conversation, Mike shared his idea with me that he thinks about his balance sheet of human equity.
What that means is that as with a financial balance sheet, you don’t want any debt. You want always to be giving without expecting or wanting anything in return. It is a long-term way of viewing connections and relationships with the people you encounter each day. In a recent call, Mike said, “I treat people the way I hope to be treated. I invest my time and attention on the person in front of me giving all of me.”
LA Restaurant World
Mike learned at an early age, the value of giving full attention to people. He grew up in the restaurant business as his parents were restauranteurs. Mike recognized the value of a customer by earning tips waiting on tables. He even drove early each morning to the local produce market to get the day’s vegetables. (He didn’t have a driver’s license at the time).
But as a keen observer of life and human interaction, he witnessed and watched how people treated him. He saw how distracted people were, even decades ago. He thought that he wanted to put relationships at the center of his life circle. He understood that over his career, he tried to be helpful to others without expecting them to do anything for him.
It was a bit Zen but it aligned with how important and sacred each moment can be, knowing he’d be building “human equity” every step of the way.
Having suffered several profound, personal family tragedies, Mike still found an unbridled optimism in life and a “Forest Gump/Zelig-like” ability to see himself in the same room with remarkable people. Throughout his career, he would be in the presences of great men and women, and he knew it was the universe connecting him so he could keep building up his balance sheet.
A Well-Seasoned Life at Lawry’s
In the early 80’s, Mike worked for Lawry’s Foods, the seasoning company under their CEO Richard N. Frank who inspired him to keep investing in his human balance sheet.
On his first day of work, he received a document from HR that outlined the core values that Lawry’s stood for and their reason for being. To this day, Mike carries this document with him as a reminder of what is essential in business as well as in life.
Frank gave Mike a roadmap for his career in the food industry that helped him invest in creating long-term value by helping others. The key lesson from that document was a genuine belief in putting people first. Frank lived these values and instilled them not just in Mike but in every co-worker, customer, and supplier.
We Finally Met
After more than a decade of illuminating phone conversations, Mike and I finally got the chance to meet a few years ago. I was the host of a Wine Marketing Conference held in the Napa area called The Exchange. We brought together exciting thought leaders from different industries to share insights and ideas with wine marketing professionals.
We had authors like Mark Schaffer, amazing speakers from like IDEO, Method and StubHub and wine legends like Stephanie Gallo and Jean-Charles Boisset. We also liked to bring retailers too and through Mike, we were able to host several insightful professionals from Whole Foods Market who worked in diverse areas such as wine merchandising and change management.
When I asked Mike to help us, he did. When I asked him how we compensate him, he said, let’s not think about that now. Let me figure out how I can be as helpful as possible to support what you are trying to do.
He is always giving unselfishly. I think he has a gene in his DNA sequence that others don’t possess.
There were two remarkable things I remember about the conference – meeting Mike and finally getting to spend time in person talking about life, people, and connections. What a gift those few days were in wine country.
Second, at the close of the conference, Mike and the team from Whole Foods Market explained that at the end of meetings in Austin (where Whole Foods has its Global Support offices), each meeting finishes with “appreciations”—an affirmation of thanks to all and their meaningful contributions. It was a touching ending to our conference, and it was a beautiful illustration of the idea of how important human equity is in our balance sheets.
Marketing is About Connection
I’m a marketing guy at heart and am proud of the small contributions I have made in the businesses I have served. I feel blessed and work hard at living and enjoying each moment.
When I asked Mike, how he describes himself or how others would describe him, he had to pause for a minute to think.
I like when people think before they speak.
Mike took a book off his shelf and then shared a story about a chance meeting Malcolm Gladwell many years ago. He got to engage with Malcolm and spend time speaking privately with him too. When he asked for his signature in his book, The Tipping Point, the inscription read: “To Mike, a true connector.”
Are you investing in your balance sheet of human equity?
It is never too late to begin. Go ahead, be like Mike.
How can I help you? You can set up a time to chat with me about your marketing challenges using my calendar. Email me jeffslater@themarketingsage.com Call me. 919 720 0995. The conversation is free and we can explore if working together makes sense. Try my new chat feature on my site if you have a quick question.
Photo by Felix Russell-Saw on Unsplash
