Some of the best lessons I ever learned about leadership came from Paul Orfalea. I worked with Paul back in the early days of Kinko’s rise to glory – back when there were 88 stores and we’d just gotten copiers that automatically duplexed. I was there when Apple released the first Mac. Boy, that dates me technologically. Anyway.
I first met Paul at new manager training. I’d just turned 18 and had taken over the Burlington VT store. He looked me straight in the eye, shook my hand with a firm grip and said thank you for coming to work with us. It was the beginning of a long and profitable relationship for us both, but more importantly, I instantly learned my first leadership lesson. People have a choice in where they work, and they’ll work harder if you recognize and leverage that.
He popped back into my life Wednesday via an article reprinted in the Times Dispatch that reminded me, all over again, of what a great visionary and leader he really was. Money quotes:
“You have to have three things in balance: work, love and play,” he said. “Like a tripod. So if you’re an addictive personality or if you like certitude, don’t go into business for yourself.
“But my definition of business is not like other people’s definition,” he added. “My definition of business is making money while you’re sleeping. Because if you have to make money by working, that means you are an employee.
“If you think you own your own business, but it only works when you put in the hours or the business can’t live without you … well, you aren’t in business for yourself – you have a job.”
When Paul titled his book Copy This! : Lessons from a Hyperactive Dyslexic who Turned a Bright Idea Into One of America’s Best Companies he wasn’t kidding – he really did make money while he was sleeping. So did a lot of other people besides him.
I think he would like our latest venture; what we teach certainly leads to making money while you’re sleeping.
“My job was going from store to store to store to find out what people were doing right,” he said. “In every store, there was something people were doing that was novel or creative.”
Mr. Orfalea knew he had to rely on capable managers.
“Would you hire an incompetent guy like me?” he said. “But … I knew how to hold other people accountable.”
…
“Those three things were the ones I relied on the most,” he said. “How they handled themselves while drinking, if they got along with their parents and if they would say ‘I don’t know’ in an interview.”
I think Paul is being overly harsh when he calls himself incompetent – I admit he drove us wild, but he was also a genius at spotting two things – the next relevant trend and talent. He always pushed us to hire people brighter and smarter than we were and promote them; he also gave us complete and total freedom to fail inexpensively and often. He encouraged it, in fact – we got paid bounties for new product or service ideas. We also got bonuses when people we developed were promoted.
Hopefully I’m doing the same – we’ve had two new people join us recently, and already I know they’re much smarter than I am.
Oh, and Paul – thanks for the shout-out in the book. Working with you was an honor and a privilege.
