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SXSW Keynote: Blake Mycoskie, founder of Toms shoes
Time/Date: 2 p.m., Tuesday — #sxswtoms
Keynote speaker: Blake Mycoskie, a 34-year-old Dallas native who graduated from St. Stephen’s High School in Austin who founded TOMS shoe company, which gives away a pair of shoes for every pair it sells. More than 1 million pairs of shoes have been given away since 2006.
The gist: Charities and nonprofits shouldn’t be the only organizations who are taking on the responsibility of alleviating the world’s problems. By making giving a core part of the business model, companies not only make the world a better place, they attract and retain great employees and partners and your customers become your biggest marketers.
Quotes: ” ‘Buts’, get in the way of doing things.”
“When I first went to Argentina to put the shoes on those kids, my life changed. Five months before, it was just an idea. When I saw my mom on her hands and feet, wiping kids’ feet clean and putting shoes on their feet, I just lost it. I was crying so hard that I scared away all the kids who were around me.”
“Giving doesn’t just feel good, it’s a really good business strategy. When you incorporate giving into your business, your customers become your biggest marketers.”
“There is no Tom. ‘Tomorrow’s shoes’ wouldn’t fit.”
Takeaways: Mycoskie told the now-famous story of how he went from being a first runner up on “The Amazing Race” reality TV show competition to one of the world’s most innovative entrepreneurs. It’s a humorous story that he’s told hundreds of times. “We lost $1 million by four minutes, and it was all my fault. I epitomized the cliche that men will never stop and ask for directions,” he said.
A few years after traveling around the world on the show, he went back to Argentina and came across people who were doing a shoe drive by collecting lightly used shoes from a wealthy area of Buenos Aires and giving them to kids in need. He helped distribute the shoes they collected. “I didn’t grow up doing a lot of philanthropy and charity. I grew up in a middle-class family and never had to worry about food or shoes or anything like that. When I got on my hands and knees and starting putting these shoes on these kids’ feet. I was filled with complete joy. I was elated.”
The seed was planted: “Why does charity have to be responsible for helping these kids? Instead of looking at charity to solve these problems, why not entrepreneurs?”, he asked himself.
Within a few months, he went from knowing nothing about shoes to working with the world’s biggest fashion influencers, including Vogue editor Anna Wintour and buyers from Nordstrom’s.
His original goal was to sell 250 pairs of shoes, but by the end of 2006, he’s sold 10,000. He took his small crew, as well as his parents who had never left the country, to Argentina to personally put the shoes they were giving away on the feet of the kids who would receive them.
That was the moment that truly changed his life, he said, and although he speaks to a lot of groups around the country, he told the SXSW audience that it’s rare he gets to talk to an audience that has so much influence.
He encouraged the crowd to think of ways that they could incorporate giving into their business strategies. It’s not about getting a warm, fuzzy feeling inside. Yes, you’re making a difference in the world, but it’s good for your business to have employees who feel like they are a part of something bigger than the company is, he said.
(One company incorporating the one-for-one model with food is Two Degrees, a nutrition bar company that gives away nutrient-dense bars in countries including.)
In what might be the biggest tease of the entire festival, Mycoskie held up a box at the end and said that the next step for Toms was inside the box. “I’ve known the answer since 2007…We won’t be a one-for-one shoe company. We will be a one-for-one company.”
He said he’ll open the box and announce what the next step is on June 7, but at least one audience member noticed that he and several of his staff members were wearing similar, if not the same, light-blue button down shirt.
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By Penny De Los Santos
March 15, 2011 3:33 PM | Link to this
really amazing and inspiring story Addie. Thank you for the kick in the pants reminder that we need to think beyond ourselves.