Win With Flynn

In 2012 Starbucks was making massive investments in its mobile application. My company was supporting a few of the projects, primarily focused on hardware, connectivity, and support for mobile ordering. But we wanted to do more. We wanted to take on some of the development of the mobile app itself. 

I set some time with the project lead, and we met on the sixth floor of Starbucks Headquarters.

Brian was a nice guy, I’d met him in passing a few times, and I could tell he was a little skeptical. He thought we just did the support work and didn’t really know about our development capabilities. 

From the lobby, he escorted me past security, and a few hundred yards down the winding halls of the old Sears Roebuck building we entered the busiest Starbucks in the world. It’s just for employees and their guests. As usual, the line was twenty people deep.  

We had a seat to wait for the line to die down. While we were catching up, I pulled out my phone and asked Brian, “What would you like?”  

Brian said, “Oh, I’ll head up with you in a few minutes once the line dies down.” 

I unlocked my phone and showed him the Starbucks app, the latest version on iOS had mobile ordering in beta, and I asked again, “What would you like?” 

I went ahead and put my order in, pointing out a few of the features of the app that I liked. 

When I looked back up from my screen, a big smile was shining back at me.  

I had signaled something to Brian. I was going to be more than just a partner that showed up on time for coffee. We were part of the same tribe. Fellow nerds.

We got his order in. I made a few suggestions that would make it easier for me as a user (adding an extra shot to my americano). He took notes, told me some of that was in the works, and we started right away with supporting their development needs. They were moving fast to get the app functioning on Android and needed outside support.  

When I talk with my coworkers, this is what I advocate for. I tell them to nerd out. I tell them to jump in with their clients as more than just a casual user with a basic understanding of what they are doing. 

When you think “nerd”, images of your lab partner from Mr. Zinc’s chemistry class might come to mind, but that nerd might be thinking of you. After all, you are the one that talked about baseball, Led Zeppelin, and weight-training incessantly while he was trying to spark the Bunsen burner and finish your assignment. 

It’s true, you might be that classic baseball – Zeppelin – lifting nerd and not even know it. 

You’re probably thinking, “dude, what are you talking about, baseball is Americas pastime. That’s not nerdy.” 

I’d simply suggest that Baseball was Americas pastime, not that funny sabermetrics you are always talking about. The difference is clear to those of us that nerd out in other areas. 

But never fear, this is all a good thing. What I’m driving at is that you, and everyone else, can and should be a nerd. And you shouldn’t resist. 

Relax. Fall back into the warm embrace of nerdiness. All the interesting people I meet are nerds about something. You just need to expand your area of expertise. 

Okay, how is this going to help you close more deals, add more value, and climb the ranks at your company? 

Dale Carnegie said, “The royal road to a person’s heart is to talk about the things he or she treasures most. If we talk to people about what they are interested in, they will feel valued and value us in return.” 

Nerding out can inform your pitch, but it also signals to the other person an interest, a genuine desire to understand. And that is the type of person they will want to work with. 

You can’t fake it. A fellow nerd can sniff out a fake. But the bar is much lower than you might think. You see, the nerd from your chemistry class never turned into Alfred Nobel or Louis Pasteur. He wasn’t even that smart. He just liked fire and wanted to make a sparkler bomb with an M-80 ignition on the 4th of July. 

Likewise, you don’t need to play like Jimmy Paige to nerd out on Zeppelin, you don’t need to throw a wicked curve ball to nerd out on baseball, and you don’t need to build iOS apps to nerd out about Starbucks mobile order and pay.  

This is about being highly interested, not highly competent. 

Although, competence might sneak up on you with time. 

The Father of Advertising, David Ogilvy, had some advice for new hires at his firm. He said, “Set yourself to becoming the best-informed person in the agency on the account to which you are assigned. If, for example, it is a gasoline account, read books on oil geology and the production of petroleum products. Read the trade journals in the field. Spend Saturday mornings in service stations, talking to motorists. Visit your client’s refineries and research laboratories. At the end of your first year, you will know more about the oil business than your boss, and be ready to succeed him.” 

Study the product, the service, the business. Do your homework. Nerd out. The more you know about a product, the more you can contribute to its success. Ogilvy said, “When I got the Rolls-Royce account, I spent three weeks reading about the car and came across a statement that ‘at sixty miles an hour, the loudest noise comes from the electric clock.’ This became the headline.” 

If you are too lazy to listen to the quarterly call, download the app, and try the new product, success might be difficult for you to achieve. If you are so uninterested you can’t read the memoir, talk to a few customers, and understand the market history, adding value could be outside of your capabilities. 

But you can find something to channel your inner nerd towards. I love coffee, I’ve been sucking back americanos from Starbucks since I was ten and wandering the Sea-Tac Mall. My mom had it delivered as a monthly subscription before people did monthly subscriptions. I also love technology. It was a perfect thing for me to nerd out on. 

But I wasn’t handed the account. I asked for it. I actually begged for it, and when I was turned down, I just took it.

And that beats the alternative. Because some accounts are just not for you. Selection is part of the game. If you father died of lung cancer, and you get assigned Phillip Morris, you will have issues nerding out on the client in a way that is helpful.

Find a company you like and admire, nerd out, and make the case to management that you would best represent them for those very reasons. 

Study up, have a curious mind, and dive headlong into the work, 

It’s not all about credentials and clout. You can get a long way down the road if you are willing to nerd out.