Let's Reset the Bar for Gifting
Before you start thoughtlessly ordering swag bags for clients and employees--both deserving and undeserving--give some consideration to how you might do holiday gifts better.
BY HOWARD TULLMAN, GENERAL MANAGING PARTNER, G2T3V AND CHICAGO HIGH TECH INVESTORS@TULLMAN
As businesses roll into the early planning phases of the holiday
gift-giving season and the challenges of "who gets what and why" --
which I call the year-end swag and bonus sweepstakes -- they're also struggling
mightily with largely futile attempts to beg, bribe, or bully their employees
to return full time to the office. Whether it's employee care packages that
demonstrate your concern, or costly client Christmas presents, where you're
going through the annual motions of sending impersonal products that are much
more about show than sentiment, the basic concerns are largely just two
different sides of the same dilemma. Namely: credibility, integrity,
authenticity, and purpose.
Frankly, no one's fooled these days, and most companies aren't
even coming close to getting much of anything right when it comes to swag. We
all know in our hearts that we're about to go for another expensive, wasteful,
and utterly inauthentic carousel ride and waste millions giving or sending
"stuff" that, if truth be known, no one needs or cares about but may
have come to expect through the constant stream of commercial manipulation and
media that we're subjected to.
Begging or bribing your employees to return is a fool's
effort. They need to have a sense of purpose, a belief that the
company stands for something worthwhile and important, and that their efforts
can make a difference to more than themselves. Life's greatest gift is the
opportunity to work hard at work worth doing. Wine or whiskey, breakfast
buffets, and beer blasts are all fine, but not a solid reason to come back to
the office. Companies - even in their "welcome back" gestures - need
to be sending the correct message. Swag and sweets and sweatshirts aren't gonna
get it done.
It's the same exact situation with family and customer matters.
In case it's not abundantly clear, assembly line gifts that you grabbed at the
last moment still can't replace time you didn't spend with your kids, the calls
and visits you didn't make to distant family or friends, or occasions,
deadlines, and commitments you missed. Never has worked, never will. Rings and
jewels aren't gifts, but apologies for gifts.
You can't even call any of these one-sided transactions -
they're actually no-sided - because other than the slight reassurance that
comes from not being left out or forgotten or the relief that flows once the
painful and picayune selection process is done, they don't make anyone actually
feel good, help others who might have real needs, or represent anything more
than the latest examples of either wretched excess. We're sending you this
expensive bottle of something or buying you tickets to a great show because we
can. Or they're evidence of severely impoverished and stunted emotions, in
which people think that giving someone a "gift" confers and creates
some useful rights, connections or obligations on the recipients.
But there's actually a simple and straightforward way to do the
right thing in the right way - honestly, sincerely and authentically - for your
team, your customers and yourself. You do the right thing for your business by
doing right by others. That's the real message that everyone needs to be
communicating today and that's where real connection, interest and empathy is
created. This kind of considered and ethical action is especially essential in
these terribly troubled economic times, where sending around egotistical
geegaws, fancy foods, or expensive whatevers is the worst kind of insensitive
and meaningless message to share. This is not the time to show off or stand
out; it's the time to pitch in, throw down, and make real contributions to
what's going on all around you.
Five years ago, I was introduced to an amazing Chicago-based
company founded by a former Peace Corps volunteer called Packed with Purpose that since 2017 has
been creating care packages and corporate gifts that combine great goodies with
social good. All of the gift products are sourced from more than 140
purpose-driven organizations which touch and positively impact more than
750,000 lives across 33 states and 16 countries. From preserving the
environment, to investing in women and diverse-owned businesses, to employing
adults with barriers to entry, these gifts transform futures and communities.
The enthusiasm, commitment and impact of the people involved in curating,
assembling, and shipping every package is clear, compelling and contagious. It
reminds me of the Flowers for Dreams team
that I wrote about a while ago.
In a time where the efforts, overhead and actual results of some
of the nation's largest charities are somewhat unclear, thinly and broadly
disbursed, and gray at best, it's especially important and encouraging to be
able to see, share with others, and document the videos, success stories and
touching testimonials of dozens of different participants on a direct and local
level. Company team members, customers and clients can understand, appreciate,
and connect with the concrete results and see exactly how the businesses
they're a part of are making an actual and substantial difference in the lives
of others. It's an opportunity to convert a mechanical and empty annual act
into a memorable and meaningful activity at no extra or incremental cost but
with an exponentially more material value.
The past is history, the future's a mystery and today is a gift
- that's why they call it the present. And today's the time to make a simple
and powerful change in the way you do business which can have long-lasting
meaning and value for you, your family and friends, and your company as well.
Make no mistake - people who know notice. The true excellence of a gift lies in
its purpose and appropriateness rather than in its cost. Make all of yours
matter.
SEP 20, 2022
The
opinions expressed here by Inc.com columnists are their own, not those of
Inc.com.