Being in the Business of Selling Optimism

NACS Show general session speaker Steve Gross spreads his message of optimism, authenticity and the power of play.

October 19, 2016

ATLANTA – Steve Gross, a clinical social worker from Boston, focuses on helping children around the world heal from trauma, pain, poverty and illness through the Life is Good Playmakers Foundation. “So, why am I here?” at the NACS Show, and “How is this relevant to your industry?” he asked Wednesday’s standing-room-only general session crowd.

The answer: “It’s super relevant.”

Gross, founder and chief playmaker at Life is Good Playmakers, acknowledged that parent company Life is Good is largely recognized as a t-shirt company. However, he pointed out that Life is Good isn’t defined by clothing. “We are in the business of spreading the power of optimism; clothing is just a vehicle to serve people,” he said, noting the company is in the relationship business.

“Are you all in the relationship business, too? Heck yeah! You serve people’s immediate needs and wants,” said Gross, adding that the only thing people need to be an optimist is the ability to see good. “It doesn’t mean [optimists] don’t see the bad, pain, injustice or challenges, but they never fail to see the good because there is goodness all around us—never lose your ability to see the good.”

The energetic Gross shared a story about how his love of convenience stores began as a kid, where his social world revolved around the local c-store. “We just called it convenient. We got stuff to eat, drink and hung out.” Then, one day, he stole a pack of baseball cards from the store, and felt so horrible about it that he confessed to his father. “He made me go back and return them,” Gross said, but the store owner told him to keep the cards. “He told me that although I stole the cards, it took great courage for me to admit to my mistake, come back and stand in front of him,” which made more of an impression on the store owner than the fact that Gross stole from him. “He was a playmaker in my life, he gave me a second chance.”

As his work with helping children evolved, Gross realized more and more how love, peace and creativity are the most important things. And to be a real game changer, people need to have two things: a professional skill set and their personal disposition. “When these two things are paired, that’s where you change the world—this is where the real heroes emerge,” he said.

Noting that millions of kids are impacted by poverty, illness, abuse, neglect and fear, their young, optimistic brain often turn into a “survival” brain. “You all may not work with children that much, but they grow up, and they come to your stores. Many have suffered and don’t know what it feels like to be safe and joyful.” His suggestion to retailers: “Be kind to everyone you meet. You can make their life better.”

Gross shared with the audience the “Treatment Focus” for kids at Life is Good Playmakers, and two things that retailers can also use to create an optimal environment for their customers:

  1. Be an oasis: a safe place of respite, where it feels good and is replenishing.
  2. Provide an ability to play. Play is about engaging everything you do with joy and love, Gross said, adding that “it’s not what you do but the spirit and intentionality: being engaged, connected and exploring.”

These two things create what Life is Good coined an “O’playsis”: a safe, loving, engaging and joyful environment. The four ingredients of O’playsis are: 

  1. Internal Control: The feeling that everyone who comes into your store matters, is valuable, special and safe. “Every customer is one—not one in a million. They are all unique,” Gross said. 
  2. Active Engagement: The ability to be present; to be here now. The more engaged consumers are, the more focused they will be on what they want to buy. “If we’re overwhelmed, it’s impossible to be here now,” said Gross, adding, “How do we make sure the environments we choose to be in help us be here now?”
  3. Social Connection: “We are all in the relationship business,” said Gross, emphasizing that we all need people and have the need to connect with one another. “For some people in your store, you may be the only social connection they have that day,” he said, adding that a smile and laughter are invitations for people to connect. “Our drive to connect with other humans is a primal drive; technology will never be able to compete with that.”
  4. Joyfulness: “It’s our light, our enduring sense of positivity. Even when things are going wrong we can be grateful for what we have,” Gross said. “You don’t ‘have’ to do something, you ‘get’ to do something.”

Combined, all four of these ingredients will create an amazing convenience store environment because customers will need to do go that O’playsis.

“If you are an optimist or playmaker, your focus is on growing the good for yourself, others and the world around you. That’s what community is all about,” Gross said.

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