Office Hack #22 — The Imagination Hack
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“From the top down…” can have negative connotations, especially in the workplace. But in today’s Envoy Office Hack, “from the top down” is what enabled an incredible transformation: clock-punching employees turned ambitious visionaries.
Listen to this story on our Office Hacks podcast.
O2E brands is the banner company for four different brands, 1–800-Got-Junk being one of them. Today, O2E is a multi-million dollar empire with a presence in three countries and growing. But not unlike a lot of companies, its start was modest and plagued with apathetic employees.
So the founder fired his entire staff and started again.
This time, Brian Scudamore knew he needed people who would put skin in the game, embody the company values, and think big — really big — about what the company could be. But where do you find these people? Or how do you help good employees to get there? This consumed Brian until he realized the solution was right in front of him. Literally.
“How do we take people and teach them about vision? Coming up with big ideas and dreams and goals of their legacy that they can leave their mark that they can leave on this business. I came up with a wall with this big empty space that needed some decorations on it... and I put a big decal up there that said, “Can you imagine?” ”
Brian Scudamore, Founder & CEO of O2E Brands
Brian led by example and was first to add a “big, hairy, audacious” goal on the wall: Get on the Oprah Winfrey Show.
“I put my name below it as my signature that that was something I could see happen. Less than a year and half later, we were on the Oprah Winfrey Show. Got our 4 and 1/2 minutes of fame. Got to give her a big hug, and celebrate the fact that our little company of 1–800- GOT-JUNK was put on the marketing map with the help of Oprah Winfrey.”
Then others started to follow.
The next seemingly impossible feat: get 1–800-GOT-JUNK on Starbucks cups across the globe. Big? Hairy? Audacious? Yes! Accomplished? Also, yes.
“Ten million cups with a quote to the effect of “You are what you can’t let go of”. Freeing. No junk. That kind of thing. And then it said, “Founder and CEO of 1–800- GOT-JUNK”. Why that was cool was not that my name was on it, but that the company name was on it. Our phone number, how to reach us on the side of 10-million Starbucks cups.”
Brian Scudamore, Founder & CEO of O2E Brands
Other goals on the wall include:
- Can you imagine being featured in a Harvard business case?
- Can you imagine (the company expanding to) a third country?
- Can you imagine seeing the 1–800-GOT-JUNK logo on top of the Seven Summits?
All of these, by the way, have been accomplished. Well, almost…
“Here’s one that could seem impossible: seeing the 1–800- GOT-JUNK logo on top of the Seven Summits. — Paul Tizz.
Well Paul Tizz climbed the first summit with a 1–800- GOT-JUNK sign of Kilimanjaro and has plans to climb more. Who knows?”
Brian Scudamore
At the outset of this ‘imagination hack’, Brian hoped the wall would inspire and motivate people. And it continues to do just that. He is impressed at how this simple office hack has incentivized his staff to dream big and follow through.
When we have big green check marks beside goals that are done, it’s a chance to celebrate a win, something that we’ve accomplished together. It shows people that you can have impossible dreams or seemingly impossible dream but you can set out to make them happen. It’s challenging. It’s fun. You get to win together.
Brian Scudamore
How to hack it
If you want to hack a wall in your office and turn it into an imagination repository, you only need a few simple ingredients:
- A blank wall. Obviously.
- Adhesive vinyl decals (custom-made recommended; cost varies)
- Audacious goals!
And if you happen to be on the west coast some time and care to hop up to Vancouver, Canada, Brian says he’d happily give you a tour of his “Can you imagine” wall with tips on getting it started in your workspace.
Listen & Subscribe
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More Office Hacks
If you enjoyed this hack be sure to check out other Envoy Office Hacks, including:
A mobile meeting space in a rolling room from white-hot software start-up, Slack:
And one office’s creative solution to boring office walls — the Wall of Lego:
And a social psychology experiment in healthy eating from Social Print Studio:
Or how about a robotic sales gong to crank up team spirit in the office:
And then there’s Hootsuite’s office hack: an open office turned ski village.
Never underestimate the power of taxidermy on company culture…
Pub Nub hacks its way from annoying coffee woes… to website.
Mozilla takes something old and makes it new again.
One man’s getaway is another man’s office.
A big orange slide makes getting around this office a whole lot of fun.
No office boardroom is complete without some paddles and a net.
And here’s THE perfect hack for gross office kitchens everywhere.
Here’s a hack for the kid in all of us.
Sharing praise where praise is due. Now possible, regardless of distance between praiser and praisee.
Group decisions are notoriously difficult. This hack turns friction into fun with a customized Lunch Bot.
Time-consuming trips to the office washroom are a thing of the past… at this company anyway.
There are unique offices and then there are unique offices.. Weebly takes us to a hidden space in their San Francisco digs.
Zapier creates parent-bots to bring the team together. Only, there’s one small glitch…
Walls don’t have to be boring. Take it from these guys.
Slack is back with a new hack! This time: tackling awkward moments in the company washroom.
IFTTT creates a hack that anyone with a Twitter account can mess with.
Got an Office Hack you’d like to share? Do you know a stroke of genius that has made an office more productive or fun? You could be featured in a future Envoy Office Hack — let us know about it at officehacks@envoy.com.
