Soup

A Recipe to Create a Culture of Greatness

Jon Gordon

• Publisher: Wiley
• Year: 2010
• ISBN:
  9780470648742
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Personal Development
• Subtopic: Personal Success

Why it matters who's stirring the pot

Soup offers an inspirational business fable that explains the "recipe" you can use to create a winning culture and boost employee morale and engagement. The story follows Nancy, the newly anointed CEO of America's Favorite Soup Company. She has been brought in to reinvigorate the brand and bring success back to a company that has lost its flavor and profit and has fallen on hard times. Fatefully, while eating lunch at a local soup shop, Nancy discovers the key ingredients to unite, engage, and inspire her team and create a culture of greatness.

• From the bestselling author of The Energy Bus, The No Complaining Rule, and Training Camp
• Find out how culture drives behavior, behavior drives habits, and habits deliver results
• Create relationships that are the foundation upon which successful careers and winning teams are built
• Features quick takeaways you can use to invest in your people, build trust, create unity, and enhance engagement

A turnaround tale like few others, Soup will inspire you to work in your own company to unleash the passion that delivers superior results.

Chapter 1

Hungry

Nancy’s stomach growled as she walked with Brenda toward their favorite lunch spot—a burrito joint with dirty floors, old furniture, and cheap, oversized burritos. After a long morning analyzing spreadsheets, reading reports, and engaging in heated discussions that lasted well into the lunch hour, Nancy was tired, hungry, and in need of food . . . quickly.

She didn’t want to think about the bad news the spreadsheets revealed. She didn’t want to worry about the reports anymore. And she didn’t want to talk to one more person about the future of her company. All she wanted to do was eat. Yet instead of turning left into the burrito joint, she grabbed Brenda’s arm and whispered, “Keep walking.” Her intuition was stronger than her hunger, and it told her that the man with the mustache in the blue suit was following them.

“What’s the matter?” Brenda asked, as Nancy began to jog instead of walk.

Nancy pointed and nodded toward the man following them.

“Again,” Brenda said.

“Yes, again. Come on. Let’s lose him,” Nancy said as she grabbed Brenda’s arm and they ran down the street. Moments later, they came to an intersection, turned left, made a quick right, and then took the next left, zigzagging their way through downtown, hoping to lose their pursuer.

The first time Nancy realized that someone was following her, a few months ago, it terrified her. She’d called her husband, a retired police officer, in a panic, only to learn at her board meeting later that day that it was probably some form of corporate spying. More like idiot espionage, she thought. She was told it came with the job of being the newly appointed CEO of a company that everyone was watching. With its stock price in the tank, revenue falling, and rumors swirling, the company was a likely acquisition target, which meant that business reporters, investors, potential acquirers, and powerful businesspeople were doing their due diligence on the company, and it also meant that they wanted to know more about the new CEO.

Her life wasn’t in jeopardy, but her privacy was, and Nancy didn’t like it one bit. She did whatever it took to keep the prying eyes out of her life, even if it meant forgoing mouthwatering burritos and running through downtown streets. Thankfully, her effort paid off, and when Nancy and Brenda stopped in the middle of the street and looked around, their pursuer was nowhere in sight. They had lost him, and now it was time to eat. But where?

Nancy noticed a long line of people at the end of the street, and as she and Brenda approached, they realized that these people were waiting to eat at a restaurant. Brenda looked up and read the sign on the building: GRANDMA’S SOUP HOUSE.

“Let’s eat here,” Brenda said.

“Are you serious?” replied Nancy. “We make soup. We live and breathe soup. We are surrounded by soup every day of our lives. Do you think I really want to eat soup for lunch? I’ve had enough soup.”

“Oh, come on,” Brenda said. “Where else are we going to eat? And besides, look at this line. It’s almost 1:30 and the place is still packed. It must be good. Plus, they probably have sandwiches and salads, too.”

“Fine,” Nancy said, realizing that her hunger was getting the best of her. “But if it’s not good, you’re buying the burritos tomorrow.”

“Deal,” Brenda replied.

Chapter 2

Grandma’s Soup House

The lunch line moved quickly, and before long they were ordering from a cute young lady who stood behind the counter. It was one of those fast, casual places where you place your order, receive a number, and wait at your table for someone to bring the food. The good news was that the place was clean, the people were nice, and the smell was amazing. The bad news for Nancy, however, was that they didn’t serve sandwiches, wraps, or salads. In fact, they didn’t serve anything except soup and bread.

Just great, Nancy thought, as she and Brenda ordered their soup and were handed an empty plastic soup bowl with their order number on it. The person working at the cash register told them to simply place the soup bowl at the edge of the table, with the number facing outward, and someone would bring their soup shortly.

In most restaurants, when they say the food will be out “shortly,” it usually means a wait of 15 to 20 minutes. But in this case, the register person meant it. Within two minutes, a good-looking twentysomething with dark hair and blue eyes delivered their soup and bread with a big smile and a warm welcome.

“Have you been to Grandma’s Soup House before? You look very familiar,” he said as he stared at Nancy. He knew he had seen her somewhere before, but he couldn’t quite place where.

“No, this is our first time,” Brenda answered. “We sort of found it by accident.”

“Well, I’m glad you did. My name is Peter. Just let me know if you need anything. I hope you enjoy the soup,” he said before walking back to the kitchen.

“I’m sure we will,” Brenda said as she smirked at Nancy, who ate her first spoonful.

The smell should have warned her. This was no ordinary soup. It was the best soup she had ever tasted.

“Well?” Brenda said, waiting for the verdict.

“Wow. I’m shocked,” Nancy said, as Brenda also tried the soup.

“Yep, looks like I won’t be buying burritos tomorrow,” Brenda quipped.

“No, you certainly won’t,” Nancy countered as she attacked her soup with hunger and delight, savoring every bite. The soup was so good that Brenda and Nancy ignored each other until every drop was gone. They even wiped the bowl with their bread, hoping to savor the taste a little longer.

“You must have been hungry,” Peter said as he approached the table with a big smile. “Did you enjoy the soup?”

“We loved it, as you can tell,” Brenda said.

“Best soup I’ve ever had. What’s the secret?” Nancy asked.

“My grandmother. She makes the soup every day.”

“So, there is a real grandma behind Grandma’s Soup House,” Nancy said, nodding her head. “I like that. I thought the name was just some warm-and-fuzzy marketing ploy and Grandma was likely a 50-year-old bald guy with a mustache who smoked cigarettes in the kitchen while heating soup from a can.”

“Oh, no,” Peter replied. “Grandma is very real, and she’s the reason I work here. I got my MBA from Cornell University, and just as I was graduating, she asked me to open this soup house with her. Fifty-fifty partners. I always thought I would go to work for some big company or head to Wall Street after business school. I was recruited by a number of Fortune 500 companies who wanted to develop me in their leadership programs but I found myself here, and I don’t regret it one bit. In fact, I’ve learned more in the first six months working here than in all my years of schooling. Grandma is one smart lady. She knows more about business than you would think. In fact, she’s in the kitchen. Would you like to meet her? You’ll see how real she is.”

Brenda and Nancy looked at each other as Nancy answered, “Sure.” She knew they had a lot of work to do in the afternoon, but at the same time she was very curious to find out what made the soup so good.

Chapter 3

Grandma

When they walked into the kitchen, they spotted Grandma immediately. It was hard to miss her. The kitchen was small, and Grandma was not. She had a pretty face, a big smile, and every ounce of her radiated love.

“Hello, hello, hello. Who do we have here, Peter?” she cheerily inquired as she stirred a big pot of soup with a large wooden spoon.

Peter, realizing that the two women had never told him their names, wisely said, “I’ll let them introduce themselves.”

Nancy introduced herself as she approached Grandma with an outstretched hand, but Grandma wouldn’t have any of it. She wrapped her big arms around Nancy, squeezed tight, and said, “Handshakes are for strangers. Hugs are for family.”

Brenda, knowing she was next, approached Grandma and received a big hug, too, while introducing herself. It was clear that Grandma didn’t know any strangers, because the minute you met her you became part of her family.

“So, did you like my soup?” asked Grandma.

“We loved it,” answered Nancy. That’s why we were excited to meet you and ask . . . ” but before she could finish her sentence, Grandma cut her off and interjected joyfully “That’s wonderful. I’m so glad! So, tell me about you. Tell me about your family.” Grandma, who could tell she was a businesswoman by her fancy-schmancy suit, considered asking her about her business and work, but she was really more interested in the person behind the suit. Grandma knew that every person who went to work took not only his or her briefcase but also his or her childhood dreams, family, history, home life, and problems, too. Grandma wasn’t interested in masks and facades. She wanted to get to the core of a person—and often did. She could learn more about someone in 10 minutes than most people could learn in 10 years. She disarmed people with her hugs, warmth, and smile, and Nancy, surprisingly, found herself opening up. She told Grandma about her two sons who played high school football, her seventh-grade daughter who loved to sing and dance, her supportive and loving husband who recently retired from the police force after 20 years of service, and her work as CEO of Soup, Inc.

“I know that company well,” Grandma said. “When my kids were young and I didn’t have time to make my own soup, I’d just open up a can of your company’s soup. Now we’re both in the soup business. Isn’t that fabulous!”

“I knew I recognized you from somewhere,” Peter said excitedly. “I’ve been racking my brain trying to figure out how I knew you. It was from the article I read about you in the Times. The article said you were trying to turn things around at Soup, Inc. I became a big fan of yours after reading the article. It’s such an honor to have you in our restaurant.”

“Thank you, Peter. I appreciate that. We’re doing our best,” she said, knowing in that moment it was time to go. “Brenda and I actually have to get back to work. We have a lot on our plate right now, as you can imagine.” She turned to Brenda and motioned that it was time to leave. She thanked Grandma and Peter for their hospitality and delicious soup and said she’d be back. Grandma gave her a big good-bye hug and said, “I really hope you come back.”

“I will,” Nancy said, knowing in her heart she wasn’t telling the truth.

Chapter 4

Nancy

As she and Brenda navigated their way back to the Soup, Inc., headquarters, Nancy wanted to kick herself for mentioning that she was the CEO of Soup, Inc. People treated her like a celebrity and a rock star, but she didn’t feel like one. After all, just a few months ago, before the board chose her to run the company (and hopefully to save it), she had been the vice president of marketing. The board said her marketing team and campaigns were the one bright spot in the company and that she showed the leadership, innovation, and creativity the company needed. Although the board had confidence in her, she did not yet have confidence in herself. She had never run a company, never mind a company that was spiraling toward almost certain death. Once an icon of American business, Soup, Inc., had lost its way, and it was Nancy’s job to help it find its groo...