The Wrapper

From a marketing perspective, the wrapper is important. The wrapper sends a signal about what’s inside. If you roast great coffee it makes sense to design a bag that's equally engaging. A bag that people will want to leave on the counter instead of putting in the cupboard.

The bag design doesn’t affect the quality of the coffee but it affects our perception of the quality of the coffee. This is fairly straightforward when we’re dealing with inanimate objects.

When we’re talking about people it’s much more tricky. While we’d like to pretend the wrapper is indicative of quality or potential, all we’re really doing is being judgmental. Removing the chance for discovery.

As a business owner, I’ve yet to find a correlation between how people look or dress and their performance or engagement at work.

There are people all around us who are hungry—ready to step up and do amazing things if given the opportunity.

If you're having trouble finding great people to walk with you on your journey, it’s possible you need to spend less time focusing on the wrapper and more time engaging with what’s inside.