Social Capital Mentor

We recently had a great party here at Taste Consulting. Our first Social Capital offering, The Power Lunch - A Modern Approach to the Business Lunch, is going to be ready in a couple weeks and we had a wrap party for it last week.

Carolyn Davis

When it was time to hire a caterer, of course we wanted great food. That’s a given. But that’s not the only thing we look for. We went with Carolyn Davis Catering, and the food was amazing. The rave reviews from party guests continue today. But it was also Carolyn’s social skills that caused us to hire her.

When you’re having a party, the energy and vibe that you put forth is critical. Anyone that you hire for the party—from the valets to the bartender to the band—must add a positive energy to the party.

A successful caterer, like Carolyn Davis, knows this. She realizes that she’s in a middle of a party. People might stop her to ask her about the food. They might know her from outside the party and want to say hello. The might simply want to compliment her on the food, which happened a lot last week.

Here’s my favorite example, because I’m a sucker for cute stories like this. Carolyn is a friend of the family to one of the guests at our party. They have a first-grader named Ella, who adores Carolyn. Ella wanted to go behind the scenes and “help” Carolyn (which, if you’ve ever spent time with first-graders you know that “help” means “be near and feel special”).

Carolyn had a lot going on. She was delivering food to the main table in the middle of the party, managing three employees upstairs, keeping an eye on the how fast the shrimp was getting eaten, and whatever else caterers deal with when they’re working. She could’ve decided that the ‘hard skills’ of what she was hired for—preparing food—was more important than entertaining the wishes of one of the miniature guests, but she didn’t. She stopped. She bent down and said hello to Ella, and then invited her upstairs to the food prep room.

How cute do you think it was to see a 45-pound first-grader carrying out a plate of mini sandwiches for our party? How many people see that and can’t smile? How happy do you think her parents were to see her so welcomed and taken care of?

Do I think Carolyn did this as a calculated effort to please her client? No. Fortunately for Carolyn it really does come naturally. She can do serious work without being serious. People like her remind the rest of us with their actions how valuable and successful it is to have positive, friendly social skills when they’re working.

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