Candid Conversations - Whitney Schwartz Whitney And Howard Design Chief Describes How Gratitude Is A Good Attitude In Business

Being grateful for what you have is something we are all taught as children. As adults we kind of tend to forget that at times. But, there are instances where people incorporate being grateful in their lives. Then some even take the step further, incorporating gratitude personally and in business as well. Take for example Whitney Howard Designs. The company founded in 1999 actually baked into it’s culture gratitude. I have never seen that until now. But, I think this is noteworthy and that is why I decided to reach out to Whitney Schwartz Chief Designer to learn more about this idea, I am grateful she is doing a Candid Conversation, and with that welcome to Candid Conversations.

Cliff T.: Miss Schwartz, this is an interesting idea, gratitude as a part of business culture. I have not heard of this idea before so can you explain how this idea works in Whitney Howard Designs?

W. Schwartz: Thanks for asking, it feels great that you noticed us for our sense of Gratitude. It is literally an automatic response for me when we receive testimonials; I just want to send them a gift of Gratitude for taking the time to share their thoughts with us about how our product touched their life. Wanting to gift gratitude is in my make up, it takes no pre thought it’s just who I am, it’s who Howard is. Expressing a grateful heart is one of the very best feelings I ever get when I get to say thank you, or I am grateful. At a recent gift show, at the last hour Howard wanted to play a game so he offered passers by the opportunity to have something free in the booth but there was a caveat, after they picked something for someone special, they had to pick out something for themselves. Howard took video of some of the people and asked what they picked and why. The videos made me cry so hard, my heart was expanding with love and appreciation. I love this story but I tell it to you because not for one second did I care that Howard was giving away product, all I wanted to do was watch the videos and the stories of why people picked what they did, it was a moment of ‘Life in Action’ combined with gifting tangible reminders…beautiful.

Cliff T.: How did this idea come about in the company?

W. Schwartz: Since we began selling Blessing Rings, we would offer passersby the opportunity to take a Blessing Ring out of the complementary bowl. People would stop; explore the bowl for a long time. Often this is how we got customers; it gave a passing by retailer the chance to experience all the heartfelt, inspiring and motivating words and quotes on the tokens. Something that always happens at shows, people walk up to Howard and I and share with us that they were offered to take a token out of the bowl, be it a year ago or years and years ago. People show us their treasured Blessing Rings on their keys or hung on a necklace chain, and we get to hear how something so small means so much to them. Our hearts could not be fuller. It was those interactions that led Howard and I into thinking; how can we ripple gratitude in the way we ripple the energy of the Blessing Rings?’ When we gift the Gratitude Blessing Rings we have a style in which we do it. First we take their hand and ask if we can place a Gratitude Blessing Ring in their hand, we hold their hands and say our Gratitude’s. If they are a new customer we say how with all the things to see at a show, Thank you for shopping with us and trusting our brand will work in their shop. If it’s a reorder customer that Gratitude is different, reorders are a tremendous win for each of us, we are both succeeding at selling goods that touch hearts. If it’s not a wholesale account, then that expression of gratitude is typically face to face at a show and the exchange of love is measurable by everyone witnessing. After we gift the Gratitude Blessing Ring we pass on another to that person and request that they pay their Gratitude forward. It is a joyous and tremendous feeling.

Cliff T.: Has the pandemic affected your business; and how has being grateful, if did helped you and the company?

W. Schwartz: 100% it affected our business. All our museum and destination business slowed tremendously, and many retailers were closed. We chose to make giving back our focus. In 2020, we donated 5000 Gratitude Blessing Rings to nurses in 6 different hospitals during Nurses Week. We could not be more grateful for the nurses who showed up to work during the pandemic. In the beginning of 2021 we gifted Gratitude Stones to the staff at the 9/11 Memorial and Museum, it was our way of saying Thank You for coming to work and keeping the museum clean and cared for during the Pandemic. In Spring of 2021 we gifted 500 Gratitude Stones to the staff at West Hills Hospital to say thank you for caring for our community. Business slowed greatly in 2020-2021, but our hearts grew in size.

Cliff T.: When you explain this idea and how it is used in WHD to others what kind of reaction do you get?

W. Schwartz: We get testimonials every day. We send out goody bags to all our customers, retail and wholesale. Each goody bag is filled with stickers. A Gratitude Blessing Ring to pay forward, and other relevant goodies. People react in authentic ways, tears of gratitude, lots of hugs, handwritten notes, and emailed thankyous explaining how they payed forward the Gratitude. People react with love and surprise, they are often shocked we are saying thank you, and when we add the second Blessing Ring for them to pay forward…it is the most beautiful of moments.

Cliff T.: Miss Schwartz, what do you think the biggest benefit is for you, your staff and customers that being grateful offers?

W. Schwartz: I can go on for pages on the benefits of being grateful. I am also a teacher of ancient wisdom and meditation, from Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism, all the faiths and beliefs…Gratitude is the one word that comes up in all of them as the foundation to a happy and healthy life. The benefits are totally physical, we see people tear up the minute they realize we are grateful for them. The heart is touched, the soul, the mind; Gratitude benefits the entirety of who we are.

Cliff T.: Of course we can’t just discuss being grateful. You have a business that is out there providing some unique products. What exactly does Whitney Howard Designs offer the consumer?

W. Schwartz: We offer the consumer a gift for every occasion and celebration in life. Most of us buy gifts for the typical holidays, birthdays, anniversaries, graduation, new baby, new home…but in between those are the times in life when gifting comes into play. We have gifts for those moments when you want to say, ‘I love you’, I am proud of you’, ‘you can do it, I believe in you, ‘you are going to be ok’, ‘way to go’, ‘you will get through this’, gifts for recovery, healing and new beginnings. Our collection encompasses life’s journey and placed into tangible, wearable reminders.

Cliff T.: The company has been around since 1999, congrats on that success. How do you keep it fresh what goes into keeping customer interest in your products?

W. Schwartz: We do not and have never followed trends. We always dive deep into our hearts, we say to ourselves ‘what do people need, long for, what are people inspired by?’ To design we ask questions like, ‘What is a healing way of saying something worth wearing’, what are people we know going through and what words and quotes relate to that particular journey, and we go from there. I have a friend who has a Heart of Gold; years ago I wanted to gift her something and I designed and created the Heart of Gold cuff and now the Hearts of Gold collection has many hearts to choose from. I thought to myself, who do I know with a Big Heart, Brave Heart, and so I made a ring and heart charm with ‘big heart’ and ‘brave heart’ along with other hearts of gold. Customers stay interested because as we continue on life’s journey, words, quotes and symbols change or gain meaning. We are a meaningful company, so as long as gifting meaningful gifts is on your list interest should always be present.

Cliff T.: As the Chief Designer you have a lot of ideas coming your way, what is the most interesting part of the job selecting or taking that design and creating the product?

W. Schwartz: The most interesting part is how impactful what we create has on people. The most challenging part of the job continues to be, trusting in myself. What I may sketch or find inspiring may not be to another. Trusting in myself that what I think is worth wearing is that to others. Years ago, I created The Peace Leaf, it is a leaf that one gifts to someone seeking Peace, an olive branch to repair relationships, turning of a new leaf, peace of mind, peace for the world. It was not a huge hit until recently we have had many requests for it. I trusted myself in creating this piece, which means so much to me though it is not popular in our collection, stay true to yourself, that challenge is interesting to me.

Cliff T.: Miss Schwartz if you could impart some wisdom to company leaders what would you suggest they do to make things better for the company, the staff and people they serve?

W. Schwartz: I would suggest they learn to meditate. There are so many myths around the idea of meditation but when we mediate, the best version of our self appears when we are in our lives. The practice of meditation gives us time to ourselves, when we are aware, and we cultivate awareness, our life after mediation, in work, in personal, it all changes, it all illuminates and your best version is at play.

Cliff T.: Excellent, I want to thank you again for giving us a peek into your world. I am sure more great things are coming along the way from WHD and I appreciate your taking time to share your story.

W. Schwartz: Thank you Cliff, honestly this time, your thoughtful, inquiring questions, is a big compliment to me and to Whitney Howard Designs. The fact that you think we are worthwhile to talk about, truly the biggest and best compliment.

I am grateful you took the time to get to know us.

Whitney

Whitney Schwartz is the Chief Designer for Whitney and Howard Designs. To take a look at what they offer visit https://www.whitneyhowarddesigns.com/. There is a really good article about their gratitude model which can be found at Expert Click.

Miss Schwartz wrote to us from the corporate site in Los Angeles CA.

Candid Comment - TV Shows About Police

I am not much of a TV watcher but I do like to follow a few shows.  Like you I have seen my fair share of good and not so good shows.  Among these are shows that feature policing.  There are shows that are very true to the way policing is actually done, of course there are reality shows that are also just as revealing and then there are shows that are just horrid. 

Hawaii 50 the original series.  Pretty close to the real thing.  Though more often than not Steve McGarrett and his crew would save the day.  However that was not always the case.  Sometimes they did not get their man or woman.  I would have to say this show rates 7 out of 10.  The plots are simple bad guy vs good guy and the writing is not bad at all, for it's time the show held it's own and I would say was pretty well balanced though frankly speaking quite predictable in most cases.  

Chicago PD. Until recent I never got this show but, now understanding the backstory I get the show, do I like it NO.  Ridiculously violent and unrealistic in many ways.  In real life there are dirty cops and yes they do get away with crimes up to and in some cases murder.  However more and more we are seeing that change.  There is still a long way to go to get policing that truly works for all but, it is happening, slowly.  This show is just to over the top.  Jason Beghe portrays Hank Voight a cop who is not just dirty he is nasty, in fact much of his team are also just as nasty.  Such a team in real life might be able to operate for a period of time, but eventually the deck of cards does fall and they are dealt with.  A good example of this is the Toronto Drug Squad, in 2012 five members were found guilty of attempting to obstruct police.  I will be posting an article about cops being busted for crimes in another article.  With respect to Dick Wolf this show, Chicago PD is just not that great.  

Law and Order.  Now we are talking about a good bunch of shows that show the police and the justice system at work it's highs and it's lows.  This series of shows is very well done and Dick Wolf should be proud of them as they really do a good job of reflecting what goes on on the street and in the court and clearly shows a tiered system one for the wealthy and the other for the poor.

One of my ultimate favorite police shows is Barney Miller a sitcom based in New York at a station with a rather motley crew of officers doing the job day to day.  This show really captured what it is like to be an officer.  There are some real powerful episodes in the series.  Chano a Puerto Rican officer forced to kill bank robbers comes to mind, the murder of Mr. Cotterman a store owner who dies after refusing to pay protection money.  The episode explores the failure of assigning one type of policing to different precincts detective units.  The 12th is designated as a homicide investigations team.  Cotterman preferred to work with them as the officers knew him and he knew them.  In the end having to go to another team whom he did not know or trust was his undoing but also the undoing of the special teams idea.  The end of the episode shows the team handling all calls and the return of teams that are specific to more highly trained officers to deal with things like robbery homicide.  FYI these teams are more or less headquartered at the central location of the police forces they work for.

S.W.A.T the original and the current version are not that bad.  I would say that the newer show is more hyped with a lot more gun play than what is really true.  Most officers including SWAT members rarely fire weapons but it happens and it probably is a bit more than a traditional police officer on patrol.  The story lines are interesting in both versions though I would say the original was not as indepth as the new one.  

There are so many other shows that are notable at least to me.  They include shows like Hillstreet Blues, Police Story and Adam 12.  And who could forget Dragnet.  These were very well done shows.  19-2 is a pretty good show as well it's Canadian and tells the story of Montreal police officers.  Then there are the reality shows like 999 what's Your Emergency, C.O.P.S and Live PD.  Interesting shows but they are controversial as more often than not blacks and other minorities are targeted by the officers in these shows.  In Canada Your Under Arrest a similar show is probably much better at trying to show a balance.  C.O.P.S generally speaking is a divisive show and while it is loved by many fans it's loathed by an equal number who see it as a platform for racists and people who get off on seeing officers in some cases abuse their power.

So the bottom line here is there are lots of good and just as many bad cop shows out there.  It's really interesting to watch these shows and see how good or horrid police officers are and how good or not so good at portraying police as they do their work.

I would say with most shows take a step back and realize a lot of the stuff you are seeing is fiction and unrealistic.  But, there are few real great shows that really do capture what police do very well.  

Check out this list of TV shows that are police centric via Wikipedia.  And let me know what you think is a good or not so good police TV show.