Don and I had the privilege of watching How I Built This Live with Guy Raz as he interviewed Curt Richardson, the founder of Otterbox, at the Paramount Theatre in Denver, CO.
We loved hearing the story of his journey as he developed his company, moving from a plastic injection molding company that built a whole variety of products for other businesses, to deciding to focus on building his own product and brand. It was an honest story of perseverance and luck, as Curt credited some of his success to Steve Jobs and the iPhone. 🙂
What struck me the most was what he shared towards the end of his interview. “We grow to give,” he said.
And he really meant it. He shared about many ways they are personally involved in their community in Ft. Collins. They are the 4th largest employer in the city, and so they affect the livelihood of many families. They genuinely take an interest in helping their employees live fully into their passion, purpose, or “calling.” For every employee who has been working with Otterbox for a year, they go through a Life Plan session, helping them gain clarity on the best ways for them to grow themselves – even if that means parting ways with OtterBox. And they have an awesome non-profit arm, Otter Cares, inspiring students to become entrepreneurs and philanthropists. Don and I were both inspired ourselves by Curt Richardson’s authenticity and care for others.
Why Do You Grow?
If we buy into the idea of “we grow to give,” it clarifies everything. No longer are we just thinking of our own gain, but we shift the focus to others. There is clear purpose for the growth, that I would argue is more motivating than growing to just keep everything for ourselves.
We can have an insatiable desire to grow in our area of expertise and the roles we have in life – learning as much as we can about being an excellent doctor, consultant, parent, engineer, architect, real estate agent, photographer, counselor…so that we can give as much as we can to the clients/people we serve.
And as our businesses and net worth increases, we can get excited about bigger ways that we can give to others – the people and organizations that are doing great things to care for needs around us.
I hope you are just as inspired as we were by Curt Richardson’s clarity, “We Grow to Give.” Keep an eye/ear out for this Podcast which should air during the first couple weeks of December.
Sonya Dalrymple 
That “Why” sticks. I learned a lot listening to Richardson’s perseverance and perspective. He kept tuning his aim on his entrepreneurial journey and the business multiplied in the later stages as the focus was on how much to give, rather than simply how much more to get.