Zingerman’s 12 Natural Laws of Business

The creation of the 12 Natural Laws of Business is a lot like the story about gravity. Apples had been falling off trees and hitting the ground long before Sir Isaac Newton figured out how, why, and how fast. Similarly, somewhere along the way in our 40+ year existence, Ari Weinzweig and Paul Saginaw, the co-founders of Zingerman’s, also realized that there were some fundamental laws on which we operated our businesses.

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LAW #1: An inspiring, strategically sound vision leads to greatness.

The truth is, plenty of businesses are immensely successful without writing a vision. In other words, without having a clear definition of what success looks like at a particular point in the future. Here at Zingerman’s, visioning is so deeply rooted in our DNA that we end up wondering what those immensely successful businesses could have achieved had they had a vision!

LAW #2: You need to give your customers some really compelling reasons to buy from you.

In retrospect, this one is practically self-evident! And most successful businesses do this anyway. We think it takes on special superpowers when it’s top of mind. If you mindfully articulate the “compelling reasons to buy” for every product you put out there and then, you intentionally work every day adding to that list, you’re pretty much sure to be on the path to success!

LAW #3: Without good finance, you fail. 

Speaking of self-evident, this one is so obvious it almost didn’t make it onto the list. It’s here because it’s really not a great idea to assume that the obvious is obvious to everyone. It also makes it on the list because we recognize that people are driven by different passions, and assuming that if you’re passionate about what you do, the money will take care of itself isn’t a great idea. Neither is thinking of money as a necessary evil. You’ve got to pay attention to the money for its own sake.

LAW #4: People do their best work when they’re a part of a really great organization. 

Remember that job you had (and hopefully still have!) that you totally loved? You jumped out of bed each morning, eager to get to work. You brought your best-self to work. You loved the work you did, and you did what it took to be darn good at it. You loved what the business did. You were fond of your coworkers, and you all made a rocking team. Your boss thought you were the bees’ knees. Yep. That’s what we’re talking about. If you strive to create that kind of workplace every day, you’ll most likely also have a really successful one.

LAW #5: If you want the staff to give great service, give great service to the staff. 

Hmm, you might be thinking. Did I read that backwards? You didn’t. But it is kind of backwards compared to how most of the world works. Which is also what most people say about servant leadership, the leadership philosophy that we follow here at Zingerman’s, and which this law reflects. The truth is, the service the staff gives to customers is never going to be better than the service they’re getting from the organization, particularly from its leaders. The leaders set the bar for service—what the leaders model to the staff could set that bar really high, or it could define the lowest acceptable level of service. Or something in between. You choose.

LAW #6: To get great performance, you need to give clear expectations and training tools.

The book, First, Break All The Rules cites a survey conducted by the Gallup Organization. They asked 1,000,000 workers and 80,000 managers about the factors that are the most important for keeping the best workers in their jobs for the longest period of time. Guess what the top two were? Clear expectations and the tools to do their work. Hence, this law. At Zingerman’s, we keep this in the forefront by ensuring we use the Bottom-Line Training® method for all internal (and external!) training.

LAW #7: Successful businesses do the things that others know they should do… but generally don’t. 

Maybe you’ve read articles over the years about companies with remarkably lenient return policies. Data shows that this generosity can be a great idea for buisnesses, so why haven’t more in the country adopted the idea? Because it’s hard work. It’s staff training, customer training, tracking systems, extra accounting, and a couple of things we’re not thinking of. And yet, it’s a great idea that generates incredible customer loyalty. Having and adopting ideas like this, ideas that take us towards greatness, is exactly what differentiates successful businesses from those that are not.

LAW #8: To get to greatness, you’ve got to keep getting better all the time.

You’ve heard this one in a million different ways. There is no standing still; you’re either going forward or you’re falling back. Continuous Improvement. Kaizen. And so on. The important thing to note about this law is that it applies to everything. Any business or activity or pursuit, for that matter. But also any aspect of a business. Products. Processes. Systems. Measures. People. They’ve all got to keep getting better, all the time!

LAW #9: Success means you get better problems.

This one is a bit of a mind-bender until you accept it. But as soon as you have, it becomes a belated glimpse of the obvious! If we asked you whether you could imagine a world/time/place that is free of all problems, you’d laugh at us, right? And yet, each of us, at least secretly, believes that when we get to that next stage, meet that next goal, life will become magically problem-free. The truth is, you’ll just have different problems, and if the next stage or goal is getting you better problems, call it a win! For example, here’s a great problem: If you obsess about customer service and are nationally recognized for it, that’s a success! You’ll have lines out the door and get customer complaints for the wait time. Here’s a less great problem: If you don’t obsess about customer service, you’ll have no lines and no one will complain about the wait.

LAW #10 : Strengths lead to weaknesses.

Another way to think of this one is, “Get off the see-saw.” Getting off the see-saw brings a better perspective to many situations, but is particularly effective when you are evaluating your organization/team/business, or even yourself. Thinking of attributes in binary terms of good/bad or desirable/undesirable misses the complexity of the world in which we operate. A different time, place, or situation is all it takes for a strength to be a weakness and vice versa. Example: Being a very participative workplace. Strength: Employee engagement. Weakness: Decision-making can take longer.

LAW #11 : It takes longer to make something great happen than you think. 

Speaking of taking longer, greatness takes a long time. And a lot of persistence. Those stories of overnight, magical success that the media loves to feature? Dig a little deeper, and there’s always more. More work. More preparation. More time. More investment. More practice. But if you embark on something with the recognition that greatness will take a while, you’re more likely to stick with it and reach it. And if you find smaller, meaningful victories to celebrate along the way, all the better!

LAW #12 : Great organizations are appreciative and the people in them have more fun. 

We could have the chicken-and-egg conversation here. Are people having fun and being appreciative because the organization is great? Or is it the other way around? While that will be a fun debate, the truth is it doesn’t actually matter. What’s clear is that it’s a nice self-fulfilling cycle. So, why not go after creating a fun, appreciative workplace and see what happens?