People don’t stay because of perks. They stay because of how you make them feel.
This story reveals a simple truth: it wasn’t the waffles that kept people coming back—it was the welcome.
That moment of being seen, acknowledged, and valued is what drives loyalty in teams, customers, and families.
If you want a high-performance culture, this is the lever.
Here’s what separates average environments from extraordinary ones:
– Intentional care creates connection — People remember how you made them feel long after they forget what you did.
– Small actions signal big value — A greeting, a follow-up, or stepping in to help builds trust faster than strategy decks ever will.
– Ownership of experience wins loyalty — When people feel important, they come back, contribute more, and perform at a higher level.
This isn’t about being nice. It’s about being deliberate.
Start by identifying ten ways you can make it unmistakable that you care—and then execute them relentlessly.
Because in the end, performance follows people. And people follow those who make them feel valued.
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We did it every year. We were snowbirds. We went to Florida with the kids to celebrate spring break.
When the house wasn’t already filled with other snowbirds who called first, my husband’s parents would host us. Granny, as she referred to herself, had the skin of a woman thirty to forty years younger. This is not your ordinary granny who makes cheesy potatoes, jello salad, and bundt cakes. She was a health nut. This is a woman who eats—well, nobody really knows what she eats. My best attempt at a description would be bee pollen-filled organic sprouted flaxseed topped with seaweed powder with a side of enzyme supplement over organic avocados. Not really, but close.
She boasts that she has never eaten at a fast food restaurant, making her the only human I know who can say that with a straight face. Imagine her disgust when every year, every morning we were there, my kids would wake up at her house demanding that we head to the Waffle House. The Waffle House is a Southern phenomenon. We didn’t have those in Minneapolis where we raised the kids. Granny begged and pleaded, “Please let me make you a healthy breakfast,” but no—the kids demanded the food that would make our aortas gurgle.
Why did they demand the Waffle House? Because the food is extraordinary? Nope. After all, it’s only waffles.
Is it because the bathrooms were so clean? Yeah, no. Enough said. We went to the Waffle House because as we would walk in the door, the chorus from the employees within range would start to shout out, “Morning, morning, morning, morning, morning.”
Five or six people would snap to attention, multitasking with a greeting while still waiting on people.
And that’s why we went to the Waffle House. Humans have an insatiable craving to have others around them show that they care. So how do you tap into that power? You show you care when a customer has a problem and you say, “Oh my goodness, that’s terrible. My name is John, and I’m going to make sure that this is corrected right away. Here’s my direct line. We’ll keep talking until this is resolved.”
You show you care when your teammates have a deadline, and even though it is not in your job description, you stay late and do backflips to make sure that they meet their deadline. You show you care when you spend time with your kid with no television and listen to them tell you about what excites them. You show you care when you tell your boss—who demands more of you than you knew you had in you—that you appreciate her critiques of your work because it helps you improve. You show you care when you challenge someone who hasn’t completed their work with the required excellence by going directly to that person and coaching, as opposed to whining about that person to coworkers behind their back.
And you show you care when every customer walks out saying, “Wow, that was amazing. They always make me feel important here.” And you show that you care when you go above and beyond every project that you do. Find ways to make a meaningful difference and add great value.
So try this: Make a list of ten ways that you can make it more obvious to people around you—from family members to coworkers to customers—that you care.
Live your list with fervor. Repeat. Keep finding new ways to show people around you that you care.