The first thing most people in the YouTube comments notice about John Nese in this piece is:  he absolutely loves what he does.  It’s a wonderful brand signal when you know the owner or employees of a business love what they do and enjoy the product too. 

Why is it then, that not many companies since Remington and Victor Kiam have used this in their positioning? Is “liking it so much that I bought the company” enough?

10 years ago, we had our wood floors done in our 1930’s flat in London. We had a choice between the biggest floor company in the area, and a very quiet independent floor guy. Quotes were similar for both, but we went with the quiet guy. I knew I made the right choice when one hour into the job, he said “Stop. Smell that sanded wood.  Isn’t that the most incredible smell in the world?” Wood fetish?  Maybe. The best wood floor work I have ever seen?  Definitely.

Doing what you love can be a curse too. When I started working for Nintendo managing the Canadian promotional centre in 1996 after my MBA, I was very excited.  The problem was, the thing I used to do as a hobby was suddenly completely associated with work. I couldn’t relax after a hard day’s work with a nice game. My hobby became my work, which made me tire of the hobby. Weird.

I guess the reason you don’t see the “we love our work” or “we love our product” positioning much, is that it’s hard to communicate quickly. It’s also hard to prove, the more front-facing employees you have.