I love HelloSomebody.
They do great things for great causes with great watches.
Last fall they helped us send 6 Rwandan kids through a yearlong leadership program. And this year, we’re talking about working together on an even bigger project. Recently though, they gave me a lesson in leadership I wanted to pass on to you.
If you do something well, people will imitate you. So when folks saw HelloSomebody using watches to change the world, a few people copied the watch and started to do the same thing.
This was at frustrating to me at first because I consider Manny, one of the people who helps run HelloSomebody, a friend.
So I talked to him about it.
I asked him if it bothered him that people had copied the idea. (How ironic of me to even dare ask that question given that SCL was started in response to SWPL?)
I asked him what he thought about competition, and his response was perfect. Here is what he told me.
“At end of the day poverty, hunger, lack of water, that’s our competition. That is what needs to keep me awake at night.”
Wow, in the midst of my pettiness, in the midst of me worrying about being original or what other people do with the watches, Manny straightened me out.
Poverty.
Hunger.
Lack of water.
That’s the competition Manny is concerned about.
If you bought a HelloSomebody watch last year, thanks. As Manny reminded me last week and I reminded you today, you jumped in the ring with some big competition. And I’m glad you did!
