Surrounded by shiny guitars, autographed cymbals and drumming gloves in all the colours of the rainbow, Mike Silver of Stretch Experiential Marketing introduced David Chait, the co-founder of the Vida e Caffè brand, former owner of Rikki's Taxis and current Chief Delivery Man at Mr Delivery, as well as Charl Bassil, the Marketing Director of Pernod Ricard, on how to construct authentic brand teams.
Considering the setting, it was only fitting to receive a hearty welcome from Graham Lowndes of Marshall Music itself, kicking off with an example of the acoustic guitar phenomenon, which soon had the audience clapping encouragement as he looped various segments of guitar together.
Silver then explained the #OutofOffice initiative as 'something different' and fitting for the experiential agency, wanting to provide more than just the typical talk in an office space or conference venue. "Breaking the mould by hosting it in different venues and different settings makes it easier to change your thought process", he explained.
Chait's story took us back 20 years on his life as an entrepreneur and his service industry journey, which he dubbed "a very lonely place that comes with stress and hair loss." It was based on watching his parents' work ethic, always wanting to explore, and the need to support himself. He worked weekends at Newlands cricket ground running food to the suites throughout his high school career, which opened his eyes to catering companies and so he started a company called '12th Man', a reference to the cricket field. This went so well that Chait dropped out in his honours year but eventually turned sour, which he says is "when his lessons started". These are: Don't use other people's money without knowing the consequences of paying them back - this led to the worst stint in Chait's life, working on cruise lines as a bus boy; always do due diligence; and there's no lift to the top floor, so be patient as there's no such thing as 'free money'.
Having paid his parents back, he got involved in Vida and found the effort put in on the ground back the still resonates today, twelve years later. Through working at Rikki cabs (he's glad he sold it before the rise of Uber); Mr Delivery, which he decided to franchise out and take advantage of the e-commerce wave, he learned the importance of having a clear vision right from the start with an endpoint in mind means you don't worry what doors close and open along the way. His ten values to stick by are religion, as it gives a purpose in life; the value of money, in cherishing and respecting it as it can make people funny; respecting your elders, as this keeps you grounded in business, but goes both ways as you also need to respect youth; honesty, as no one wants to work with people without integrity and life is too short to cut corners; family first, as material things come and go; be accountable, there's really nowhere to run; communication, meaning you need to be in the trenches and take the lead as people are always watching and you need to be able to talk at all levels to any group; healthy body happy mind, which is essential to think clearly on daily basis; and lastly detail, without it you will fall flat. Chait's final words of advice were to keep the simple things top of mind: getting to work on time and saying 'thank you' will take you far.
Next, the talk shifted "from a serial entrepreneur to the ultimate Mr Nice Guy", said Silver in introducing Bassil. He highlighted many of Chait's points, pointing to the importance of humility in running a serious team in a serious organisation. His career at Pernod has been underpinned by strong strategy but Bassil felt he wasn't ready to talk at the first #OutofOffice event just yet, so this was his first time telling his story in this format. It was heartening to hear Bassil say he appreciated their support but he actually wished his team wasn't in the audience, as it's quite intimidating to speak in front of them.
His story started in what he dubbed "the centre of universe... Klerksdorp", which is where he grew up. Bassil said it is incredible how much in common with David in terms of values, as 'spit and a handshake' in his parents era was enough to do business on - even though that's how his dad lost his farm. This mindset was a huge influence on how he operates. He also reiterated Chait's point that if you can't communicate and operate with shareholders, investors and the guy on the ground alike, you're not going to get anywhere. To illustrate the story he spoke of his dad handing a Russian and slap chips to a beggar and asking him to join the family in a quick meal on the steps. "In those days, you would have lunch with anybody on the street," he explained, something that would be unheard of today.
The fundamental lesson in life that he got from this and drove his future interactions was that everybody counts. You're dealing with someone's father, mother, child. Everybody has a story. Connect with them as you're not always being told the whole truth in your cosseted early life, as he discovered on entering university - try to understand what the situation is for yourself and you'll have what it takes to succeed.
All in all a wonderful evening filled with laughs and great insights throughout. For more, follow @StretchExp's #OutofOffice on Twitter.
*Bizcommunity was a media partner for this event.
