A Lesson in Customer Obsession: Airbnb and the Giraffe Stand

In 2014, I took a group of executives on a West coast tour of some of the most fascinating companies in Silicon Valley. Our intention was to study innovation and entrepreneurialism. We were impressed by their intolerance for bureaucracy, employee-centric practices, intense cultures, open office layouts, start-up stories, dogs laying under desks, etc. I had arranged for Airbnb to be one of our visits. They were a 6-year-old business at the time that had just hit 5M nights booked and gaining momentum every day. The company had just gone global and only a couple of my students had heard of them at the time. I wanted to ensure that these participants understood the product of the company we would be studying later that week. Thus, I assigned them the homework of booking a room through Airbnb’s website. No hotel room with room service for this class. They were on their own to experience market disruption at its finest.

Now, the leaders I served were extremely busy, global executives of billion-dollar businesses who travel 80% of the year and are used to staying in typical hotels with typical accommodations. To say they were out of their comfort zone is an understatement. I gave them a budget. What they booked within that budget was up to them. Their stories were hilarious. One of our leaders was asked to retrieve the keys to his new home from behind the counter of a corner grocery store after 9pm. One ended up in an apartment that shared a bathroom with another apartment down the hall. One simply opened the door to his new abode and immediately called my staff to find other, more suitable, accommodations (think vintage Airbnb...emphasis on the 'air' mattress ). One lucked out with the most gorgeous view of the San Francisco skyline and sent pictures to razz his classmates. The debrief about market disruption, product quality, customer service, etc. was incredibly rich.

Our visit to Airbnb’s corporate office proved to be just as rewarding. At every turn, our leaders saw evidence of an innovative culture at work: impromptu collaboration, whiteboards and walls filled with notes, a computerized customer satisfaction dashboard on monitors hanging from the ceilings for all to see, bright celebrations of personal and professional milestones, and laughter…lots of laughter.

One of my fondest memories from that visit came in the form of a small corner space across from a large area filled with Millennials hard at work. The space was called “The Giraffe Stand” and contained two simple desks with an assortment of stationery, envelopes, and stamps. The surrounding walls displayed framed quotes about gratitude and pictures of giraffes. I asked our gracious host to share the significance. Here is a summary of the story he shared with our group:

A young family was vacationing out of the country. The little boy in the family had a beloved stuffed giraffe that never left his side. In their haste to pack and depart, the harried family left the beloved toy behind. The mom called Airbnb with the hopes of finding it. She explained the toy’s significance and pleaded for its return. Touched by the story, an Airbnb staffer hopped on a plane to retrieve the lost friend and as he made his way back to the office, took pictures of the giraffe in all sorts of travel mode scenes. When he delivered the giraffe to its rightful owner, he presented the little boy with a charming stack of photos highlighting the little giraffe’s adventures. …and a loyal customer was born.

This gesture …small and grand in one swoop, is a phenomenal example of customer obsession. The Giraffe Stand was conceived shortly thereafter as a way to say 'thanks' to employees and customers alike. The Stand also highlights the stories of employees who went above and beyond to serve their customers’ special requests or solve their customer’s greatest challenges.

Inspired by our friends at Airbnb, my talented team erected one at our company as well.

 Your turn…