This is the second of two postings related to Cooliris, a Silicon Valley software startup I learned about during a presentation at Stanford’s d.school. What’s unique about Cooliris is the way they involve student interns. These interns are among the most committed and hardworking people I’ve ever encountered. I think every business owner, leader, and parent should do their best to understand and clone Cooliris’ success with people. 

In my first post, I described what Cooliris does to engage Personal Motivation (Source 1). This time, I’ll look at the role Social Motivation & Ability (Sources 3 & 4) play at Cooliris.

SOURCE 3: Social Motivation: Do others—peers, managers, friends, relatives—provide sources of motivation to perform necessary vital behaviors?

First, let’s be clear: Cooliris is “cool.” Attending parties at Cooliris is cool; the Cooliris founders, managers, and employees are cool; and students who care about being cool want to be a part of it. But “cool” is just a label. What is it that makes Cooliris cool? A part of it is their product, but the rest of the cool factor stems from three sources: the managers, their teammates, and the customers they support.

Cooliris managers: The students clearly have a lot of respect for the Cooliris founders and employees. These leaders have created something from nothing purely through their hard work and ingenuity. And these same leaders give students an amazing level of recognition and appreciation for their work. I bet these students remember every time a Cooliris leader takes the time to listen to them, cares enough to coach them, and values them enough to praise them. What’s the ultimate reward? Imagine being a student intern and having the founder of your firm invite you to present your project to entrepreneurs and faculty at Stanford’s d.school. That’s what we witnessed, and it was amazing.

Student Peers: How did the students first encounter Cooliris? Through other students, of course. They were invited to parties at the Cooliris headquarters, where they were invited to join a team. My bet is that you won’t find many Cooliris interns working solo. They’ve created a fun happy family. In fact, their family is so seductive that parents began to worry that their sons and daughters weren’t spending enough time at their studies. In response, Cooliris invited parents to their headquarters so they could see the work and learning their children were accomplishing.

A quick note here on what some readers might see as “manipulation” or “taking advantage of” student interns. The student interns at Cooliris are learning more than they could in most any Stanford class, and the students know it. I think everyone is benefiting from the incredible opportunities.

Customers: One of the interns who manages a help desk laughingly described her customers. We all want our customers to be “surprised and delighted,” but how many of your customers are delighted enough to propose marriage? That’s got to be rewarding. These students are immersed in immediate customer feedback—nearly all of it positive. In addition, they’re empowered enough so they can legitimately take credit for a lot of their customers’ great experiences.

SOURCE 4 Social Ability: Do others provide the resources and assistance required for the person to perform the vital behaviors?

Again, I bet there aren’t many Cooliris interns working solo. Given that there seems to be little in the way of formal education or training, learning and creation happens within the project teams. People help each other. The pre-admission project was the picture of supportive teamwork. One team member had the idea to shift their outreach strategy from groups to events; another recognized the pre-admission weekend as the perfect event; and they all dropped whatever their weekend plans had been to support the team effort.

Cooliris is a nice example of positive deviance. No, I’m not talking about deviants working with student interns. I’m talking about a leadership team that has created an unnatural level of engagement and commitment. Cooliris is an example we can all learn from.