I didn’t watch the Super Bowl last night. Instead, I decided to knock one of the books I’ve been meaning to read off my list. As it turns out though, my reading was related to the Super Bowl after all.
The trophy that Drew Brees hoisted over his head last night (the Lombardi Trophy) is named for legendary Green Bay Packers’ coach Vince Lombardi. Perhaps the most famous expression of Lombardi was “Winners never quit and quitters never win.” Seth Godin’s book, The Dip, is all about how absurd that statement is.
Godin’s point is that the best people in the world quit all the time, but not every time. They quit everything except the one thing that they conquer. The same is true of great companies. Did Starbucks quit their in store CD Burning stations? They sure did. Did they quit serving coffee that cost a little more to make then all the other coffee shops? Nope. Even when margins got low, they maintained that quality and now many people (yours truly included) trust a Starbucks, any Starbucks, to provide a great cup of coffee every time.
Godin also points out the advantage that individuals and companies get by sticking with the good ideas. America loves a winner. By sticking with high quality coffee through “the dip” (when margins dropped because people would not yet pay Starbucks a premium), Starbucks was able to earn customers’ trust. Now Starbucks can reap the benefits of surviving that dip. A cup of coffee at Starbucks is routinely twice as much as the neighborhood shop next door, but I go to Starbucks because I know what I’m getting. Additionally, Starbucks is now implementing coffee cards, discount travel mugs, $.50 refills and other measures to ensure that any challengers will have an even more insurmountable “dip” then they had.
If you’re an individual or a firm that’s balancing the pursuit of perfection in a number of areas or simply “caught in a rut”, I highly recommend this book.
