Just when it seemed like corporate greed couldn’t possibly get any greedier, it happened.
Last week, right after the election, the 10 richest people in the world got $70 billion richer. And, shockingly, all of them just happen to be American white guys! Well, there was one French white guy, but I digress.
The point is that the point of business seems always to be about money. Profits. Revenue. Earnings. After all, without money, what are we?
But what if I told you about a local business that puts people and purpose ahead of profits? Where value is derived not so much from financial capital as human capital? Where social currency means more than dollars and cents? What if that business employed people with disabilities — but focused way more on their abilities?
And what about this for a plot twist: The Harvard Business School decides to make this business the focus of one of their venerable case studies despite the fact that its co-founders have never actually operated a business before.
I guess some of us might call that lucky.
But those of us who love Lucky Ones Coffee, a Park City favorite since 2017, know better. We are the lucky ones.
Located inside the Park City Library, Lucky Ones was founded by two young women on a mission to create more than lattes and paninis. Katie Holyfield and Taylor Matkins are on a mission to create jobs for people with disabilities. People who might otherwise fall off a cliff.
The “disability cliff” is when young adults with disabilities age out of support systems like special ed — the systems that have sustained them from infancy. Katie and Taylor had an idea to create a safety net for these young adults and their families. They may not have known anything about making coffee, but after five years at the National Ability Center, they knew they could create a safe, productive space where everyone could belong.
“We pitched our idea to Park City officials and the library. We let them know we’d pour everything we had into this,” said Katie. “They believed in us, and since then, the community has cheered us on every step of the way.”
Katie said that in the last year alone, Lucky Ones provided over 16,000 hours of inclusive employment.
“But it’s so much more than a job,” she said. “It’s a place where our team members can find friendship and connection with each other.”
The rest of us profit, too.
“People bring their friends, family, even their dogs to meet our team,” Katie said. “We’ve become a true part of the community. A place people want to share with others.” So much so, that Lucky Ones opened a second location in Kamas two years ago.
But not everyone understands the value of a place like Lucky Ones. An “unexpected lease proposal” from their Kamas landlord would’ve made continuing in that location untenable. Feeling blindsided, Katie and Taylor decided to close the shop.
Even Joe Higgins, one of the authors of the Harvard Business School case study who himself has a sister with Down syndrome admitted: “I ran a business for 20-plus years and never, ever thought of hiring from this community. It just wasn’t in my brainscape at all until I did this case.”
And here’s where it gets all Kevin Bacon, only with fewer degrees of separation. Joe overheard one of his colleagues, Harvard professor Rick Rubach saying he wanted to do a business case that would be “game changing.”
Joe and his wife live in Park City, and his wife works at the National Ability Center.
“We of course know Lucky Ones and Katie and Taylor,” Joe said.
I guess you could call that lucky. But Park City is luckier. Because we get to have our eyes opened to the possibility that a workplace can be about more than work. Inclusive employment hits different. It’s about understanding. And humanity. And unbridled joy.
I walk into Lucky Ones one day with my cairn terrier, Riley, a dead ringer for Dorothy’s pup in the “Wizard of Oz.” Alex, one of the team members, spotted us the moment we stepped in the door. He sprinted across the room, yelling, “Toto, Toto, Toto!” and it is the best “welcome in” I’ve ever had from any business in my life.
I ordered a breakfast panini, and my friend and Lucky Ones team member Preslee started to make it for me while her co-worker Jules looked on. I could tell she was hesitant, a little fearful even, especially when it came to placing the sandwich onto the hot panini press. I watched while Jules patiently urged her on. Moments later, Preslee presented me with my sandwich, her proud smile melting my heart like a hunk of provolone.
Another time, I’m was visiting with Lucky Ones team member, my friend Porter. I mentioned that I just got my snow tires put on and he proceeded to passionately school me on the ins and outs of tire maintenance. He reminded me to come to see him next time at his second job at Burt Brothers tire shop.
In the multimedia Harvard case study, which plays a bit like a documentary about inclusive employment, team member Kyra Cassel says, “Working at Lucky Ones makes me feel great and that my disability is worth something.” I think to myself, It is worth everything.
As billionnaire businessman Mark Cuban said, “All that matters in business is that you get it right once. Then everyone can tell you how lucky you are.”
I can tell you that Katie and Taylor got it right. And we are all the luckier — and the richer — for having people like Alex and Preslee and Porter and Jules and Kyra in our lives.
To learn more about the Lucky Ones case study and inclusive employment, visit hbs.edu, or download the podcast “Cold Call,” episode 242. The show notes contain a free link to the case study itself.
This post was originally published on here
