[Outliers] Harrison McCain: How to Create Demand for Something Nobody Wants

One in three frozen French fries sold anywhere in the world comes from the same company, and it all traces back to a small town with a population of about 1,600. There's a sign when you drive into Florenceville. It reads Florenceville, French fry capital of the world. You might think it's a joke, something the local Chamber of Commerce put up to attract tourists, but that means you don't know the real story. Florenceville is the founding place of McCain Foods. They sell in over a 160 countries. They employ more than 20,000 people, and they process more than 1,000,000 pounds of potato products every single hour. And they do over 16,000,000,000 a year in revenue. And it started with two brothers from a farming family. They had no technical expertise and a tiny budget. Harrison McCain, the central figure in our story, didn't invent frozen fries. He was a salesman from the sticks who understood a few things about the world a little earlier and a little more clearly than the people around him. But he had the appetite to pursue it in the biggest way possible. This is the story of Harrison McCain. In 1949, a 22 year old Harrison McCain walked into a job interview he assumed was a formality. A pharmaceutical company needed a salesman. He'd studied organic chemistry. This should be an easy fit. The sales manager set him straight. Three graduate pharmacists had also applied. Then he added the chances of you getting this job are zilch. Harrison didn't budge. He didn't leave. He made an offer he hadn't planned to make. He hadn't even considered until the words were already leaving his mouth. No. No. No. You're making a terrible mistake. I'm just exactly the man you want. I'll borrow money from my old man to buy a car, and I'll work for no pay. You only have to pay my expenses. No pay for a solid year. At the end of the year, you pay me my wages for the full year or shake hands. Your choice, not mine. The sales manager said no. But two days later, he called him back and he said, I can't even sleep at night thinking about your offer. I'm giving you the job. Harrison beat out three pharmacists, got a salary from day one, and was among the company's best salesman within a year. He turned rejection into a yes by assuming all the risk. The sales manager had nothing to lose. No one had ever done that before. At 22, he stumbled onto something that would serve him for the rest of his life. The first time someone says no is rarely the ultimate no. It would underpin every deal he ever made. Decades later, he wrote a note to his five children labeled chutzpah. He defined it as a disregard for the possibility of getting a negative reply. His advice was simple. I would rather try and hear no than not try …