In Fired Up or Burned Out I wrote about “high five moments” that are celebrated at Cranium, the games company. It turns out that new research reported in a New York Times article by Benedict Carey entitled “Evidence That Little Touches Do Mean So Much” shows there is a correlation between touch and performance. Reading the article immediately made me think of the twin Jensen brothers who dominate men’s doubles in tennis. They must give each other a hundred fist bumps a set!
Like the Jensen brother in tennis, Craniun is a force to be reckoned with in games. Here’s what I wrote about them:
Day 19: High-Five Moments
In 1998, with $100,000 of their own money, Richard Tait and Whit Alexander, two former Microsoft employees, decided to create a new board game.1 Tait came up with the idea when he and his wife were playing games at the home of their friends. The couple easily won Pictionary and were trounced at Scrabble. Pondering how he felt as the winner of one game and loser of another, Tait thought it would be ideal to play a game that involved different skills so that everyone had a chance to shine. That type of game would be more fun, and it would bring people together rather than alienate them in a winner-take-all battle. Tait persuaded Alexander to join him, and together they created the game Cranium.
Cranium became the fastest-selling independent board game in history, selling more than either Pictionary or Trivial Pursuit had in its first year. The company (also named Cranium) went on to shatter industry records by creating games that won the Toy Industry Association’s Toy of the Year game award four out of the last five years. It has sold more than 15 million games in 10 languages and 30 countries. In 2005, while the toy industry’s unit sales were down 6 percent, Cranium’s sales were up 50 percent.
To help fund Cranium’s growth and increase distribution, Tait and Alexander persuaded CEO Howard Schultz of Starbucks to invest in the new venture and to distribute the game through Starbucks locations. Schultz liked the tie-in with Starbucks’s mission to create community. Cranium brought people together, and it increased the connection among them by making everyone feel like a winner.
Tait and Alexander designed the game based on Harvard professor Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences. Gardner has identified at least seven forms of intelligence ranging from musical and linguistic to logical-mathematical. Cranium incorporates challenges that favor each intelligence in hopes that everyone will win part of the game and experience a high-five moment.
Connection is the key to Cranium’s success. Take, for example, Cranium’s Conga, a game that gets players to learn more about each other, including silly things such as how many marshmallows fit in someone’s mouth. One New York Times reporter observed, “When Tait describes the Cranium mission, he often sounds less like a game maker and more like a sociologist diagnosing the ills of an atomized society.” Inc. magazine opined that “in their minds they weren’t selling a game but a social experience.” In the words of Tait, “we [want] everyone to high-five their teammate at least once each game . . . I know that’s not a very scientific metric, but that’s what we’re going for.” Alexander adds, “We want people to leave a game feeling enriched and better-connected.”
Cranium is equally passionate and intentional about increasing connection among its employees. Cranium’s inspiring identity is to bring people together in a world that has less free time and more distractions that inhibit connection. Another aspect of Cranium’s inspiring identity is that the company gives back to the community, frequently donating games to people in need. In addition, every employee gets ten games to give away to family members and five to donate to charities. Cranium employees are proud of their company, not only for its reputation as an innovator but also for its worthwhile mission and its heart.
Always the passionate leader, Tait reads two hundred customer e-mails and letters on an average day and shares some of them with employees. Celeste Welch wrote about the fun her family has had playing Cranium’s games after her two-year-old daughter, Valerie, was diagnosed in 2005 with a brain tumor. Even during the difficult times, Cranium’s games Cariboo, Hullabaloo, and Balloon Lagoon kept Valerie, Celeste, her father, and three sisters laughing and smiling. According to Celeste, “[Our kids] never really went through a time of crying or confusion. Really, it’s our faith in God that’s getting us through. But the Cranium games kept that laughter in the house.”
Human Vvalue is present in Cranium’s workplace culture. New employees go through an orientation program to learn more about Cranium’s values, including its goal to produce every Cranium toy or game to meet the CHIFF standard (that means it is clever, high quality, innovative, friendly, and fun). The company throws a Gong Party for new employees. The company pays 100 percent of employee health, dental, and vision care premiums. All of the corner offices with nice views are unoccupied so that everyone can enjoy them. Each employee chooses his or her own title. Tait’s title is Grand Poo Bah, and Alexander’s is Chief Noodler. Other fun titles include Edgar Allen P. O. (the head of purchasing) and Head of the Hive (the head of public relations who creates buzz about Cranium’s products).
In a culture such as Cranium’s, knowledge flow is high. The approachable and unpretentious Tait and Alexander exemplify leaders who are more interested in “getting it right” than personally “being right.” The collaboration and informality they encourage make people more likely to share their knowledge with decision makers.
The high degree of connection that is fostered by Cranium products and in Cranium’s workplace culture contributes to its superior performance and industry leadership. “What Cranium did was it rewrote the rules,” says toy industry analyst Chris Byrne. “There’s a warmth . . . from the interpersonal interaction that comes from Cranium. People are hungry for that kind of connectedness.” I couldn’t agree more.
Review, Reflection, and Application
In the words of Cranium cofounder and Chief Noodler Whit Alexander, “we want people to leave a game feeling enriched and better-connected.” Would you be inspired to work for a company that aspires to bring people together? Does your organization have an inspiring mission or values? Are your colleagues proud to work for your company? If they are, why? If not, is there some aspect of the company they should be proud of?
