Stanford Latino Entrepreneur Leader’s Program: A day in the life as a volunteer
I want to take a second to thank my mentor and friend Eutiquio Chapa He is someone that always keeps my well being in mind and I am grateful that he matched as my mentor in the first class of the Phoenix Project back in 2011.
This weekend I had the amazing opportunity to come back as a volunteer for the 4th Stanford Latino Entrepreneurs Leaders Program (SLELP). SLELP brings together 80+ entrepreneurs from all over the country to learn how to scale their business.
The program starts with a weekend kickoff where entrepreneurs are immersed into lectures by Stanford’s best Graduate School of Business Professors, presentations on Design thinking, and a marketing presentation on the tools that Google offers to create awareness on small business.
I had the pleasure of listening to Graduate School of Business Professor Huggy Rao. What I learned is best shared in a story that he shared.
Professor Rao spoke to the CEO of Arco. He asked the CEO what are the 3 experiences that you want your customers to experience? The CEO responds the following.
- Convenience
- Speed
- Trust
Professor Rao then asked to speak to the CEO’s employees.
He asked.
How convenient is it to solve a customer’s problem?
Employee: It takes a long time
Professor Rao: Why does it take a long time?
Employee: Because we need to get 9 approvals.
Professor Rao: Why?
Employee Because they don’t trust us.
Professor then mentions to the class. What is the CEO conveying?
That it isn’t convenient or speedy to solve a customer’s problem because employees are not trusted by management.
Professor Rao then mentioned, “How can you expect your employees to wow your customers, if they don’t understand what it means to be wowed themselves”?
That hit me. Because it makes 100% sense. I also thought of it in the way that how can we expect for others to treat us well if at times we are not showing the goodness to others? It was truly special to be a part of SLELP this weekend and I hope to continue to help in any way possible.
Hector A. Martinez
HAM
