Start with why

partnerships, strategies and tactics—should all pass the Celery Test.

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The More Celery You Use, the More Trust You Earn
Mark Rubin is a good parent. He spends a lot of time with his two daughters,
Lucy and Sophie. One Saturday afternoon, his wife, Claudine, took Lucy to a
friend’s for a playdate and Mark was left home to look after five-year-old
Sophie. Feeling a little tired, Mark really wanted to just have a little time to relax
on the couch and not have to play tree house again for the ninth time that day. To
keep Sophie occupied, he opted for the TV as babysitter. Mark had two brand-
new DVDs to choose from. He’d seen neither of them and heard nothing about
either of them in the press or from any of his friends with small children. Mark
didn’t feel like watching the cartoon himself—the plan was to let Sophie enjoy
the movie in one room while he watched something in the other room. One of
the DVDs was from some company he’d never heard of and the other was from
Disney. Which one did he put in the DVD player? Which one would you put in
the DVD player?
The answer is so clear it verges on a silly question, but let’s consider the facts
for fun. Both DVDs were cartoons. Both were age-appropriate for a child. Both
had a couple of good reviews on the packaging. The only difference is that we
trust the DVD from Disney. Disney is not a perfect company. They occasionally
have management and leadership issues. Their stock price sometimes goes
down. They have lawsuits filed against them all the time. Some would lump
them in with all the other nasty corporations that work to appease Wall Street.
So why would we trust them?
Disney operates with a clear sense of WHY—they exist to promote good,
clean family fun and everything they say and do has, for decades, worked to
prove it. The reason we trust Disney is simple; we know what they believe. They
pass the Celery Test. They have been so consistent over time in everything they
say and do that parents trust them enough to expose their children to Disney
content without vetting it first. This has nothing to do with quality products. This
is not rational.
Southwest Airlines also passes the Celery Test. The company has been so
consistent over time that we almost know what to expect from them. The airline
offers only open seating on its flights, for example. It’s one of the things they do
to prove that they believe in freedom. It just makes sense. A company that serves
the common man and values equality for all so much could never have a class
structure. If Delta or United or Continental tried to do the same, it wouldn’t

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make sense, open seating doesn’t fit their way.

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