Getting Naked

Despite its titillating title, Getting Naked isn’t a romance novel. It’s a relationship novel. And a business book. And how intimately intertwined these two subjects are. It begins with a story about two companies that approach business in very different ways. One is big. The other small. One towers over the San Francisco Bay, the other is a small repurposed elementary school. And yet, the former is in a constant battle for market share while the latter hardly lifts a finger to self-promote, and has higher client satisfaction and a consistently larger profit margin.

It’s a parable with real-life parallels that many companies today can relate to. And the morals of this story – how David can best Goliath in the world of business – are the foundation for how we do business at McKee Wallwork. (Spoiler alert: it’s not with brains or brawn.) At the end of the story, Lencioni outlines the three fears that that can sabotage a company’s growth, and how to overcome them using principles for what he calls “naked service,” approaches that lead to stronger connections and more lucrative outcomes.

At McKee Wallwork, we believe all of life is about relationships, and therefore, all of business must be about relationships too. After all, business is just a community that's centered around a shared purpose. Why, then, shouldn’t we focus on our connections with people – clients, customers, employees, peers – to grow this community in the most beneficial way possible? To some, it may seem radical, stripping away pretenses, admitting when we’re wrong, and inviting clients to truly be our collaborators, but leaders who have followed Lencioni’s advice have profited far beyond revenue. Ourselves included.