There’s an old saying often attributed to Thomas Jefferson: “I’m a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it.” This phrase has echoed in my mind for decades—not as a quaint aphorism, but as a lived truth that continues to shape my professional journey, our consulting firm’s mission, and the life-changing results we’ve seen for campuses and students nationwide.
At first glance, “luck” might sound like something outside of our control—something random or serendipitous. But in my experience, luck has a direct correlation to effort. Not just any effort—but consistent, strategic, purpose-driven work with an unwavering commitment to innovation, client success, and human connection. That’s where the real magic happens.
And frankly, it’s not magic at all. It’s architecture.
Designing Outcomes Through Relentless Effort
Over 50 years ago, I began my career in food service operations and strategic planning. Back then, I didn’t have the language to describe what I now call SOCIAL ARCHITECTURE™ – NEXT GEN ANYTIME DINING. But even in those early days, I sensed that dining programs could be far more than just about food—they could be catalysts for relationships, retention, emotional well-being, and academic success.
Of course, creating those kinds of outcomes didn’t happen by accident. It required working harder than the competition. It meant getting up early and staying up late writing proposals and developing strategic plans, flying cross-country to visit campuses most consultants ignored, and listening—really listening—to the unspoken frustrations of students, CFOs, directors of dining, auxiliary service directors, housing and residential life directors, and directors of admissions. And most importantly, it meant attracting and developing a team of seasoned professionals who have become the foundation of our success at Porter Khouw Consulting, Inc.
In hindsight, that “hard work” was the seed of all the opportunities that followed. The more we invested in creating transformative strategies—strategies that focused not on transactional metrics but on curing loneliness, strengthening friendship networks, and elevating the student experience—the more our clients thrived. And the more they thrived, the more “lucky” we seemed.
The Luck of Creating Something That Didn’t Exist—Yet
Back in the early 2000s, no one was talking about curing loneliness and increasing student retention, establishing and strengthening friendship networks, or improving emotional well-being and academic success with next-gen residential and retail 24/7 Anytime Dining programs.
But we were. That’s when SOCIAL ARCHITECTURE™ – NEXT GEN ANYTIME DINING was born.
It was a disruptive idea: that dining could be a deliberate tool for student success. That how, when, and where students eat could influence whether they find friends, feel connected, and persist in college. We envisioned dining spaces as platforms for social capital—a term few in higher education were even using at the time.
And we did the hard work to validate it: crafting strategic plans, analyzing financials, designing environments, and coaching leadership teams to see dining as an engine for community, belonging, and lifetime success.
Take our Success Fee Guarantee model. Most consultants scoffed at the idea. “Why would you work for free unless you’re desperate?” they’d ask. But we weren’t desperate—we were confident. We had done the homework. We knew our planning strategies worked. And we believed in putting our money where our mouth was.
The result? Hundreds of successful engagements with institutions across North America. And perhaps most importantly, thousands of students who stayed on campus, made friends, and flourished—in large part because we helped make their first six weeks in college count.
Call that luck if you want. I call it vision, grit, and architecture in motion.
Luck Favors the Value Creator
The universe rewards those who create true value. And in higher education today, value isn’t measured solely in retention statistics or financial reports. It’s measured in how students feel, how connected they are, and whether they see a future at your institution.
Our mission has never been just to “improve food.” That’s the baseline. Our true mission—through SOCIAL ARCHITECTURE™ – NEXT GEN ANYTIME DINING—is to elevate the human experience on campus. We design programs that intentionally create community, fuel face-to-face interaction, and forge the social bonds that carry students through college and beyond.
To build this kind of value, you can’t cut corners. You can’t recycle solutions. You must immerse yourself in each campus, understand its culture, and engineer a plan that links dining to purpose, belonging, and well-being.
That’s hard work. But when you do it right? Doors open. Referrals come. A CFO says, “You helped us solve a student success problem we thought was unsolvable.” Another president says, “You showed us how food could literally change lives.”
And just like that, we get “lucky” again.
Persistence Is Luck in Motion
There have been moments in my career when walking away would’ve been easier—messy campus politics, tight budgets, skeptical stakeholders. But I’ve never seen transformation happen without friction.
And so we stay in it. We don’t just write the plan. We help build the reality—a dining program that doesn’t just feed students, but helps them thrive emotionally, socially, and academically. We design experiences that give students their first chance to belong—and schools a chance to stabilize enrollment and retention through deep, human-centered change.
The results speak for themselves: higher GPAs, full residence halls, and campuses where students say things like, “I made my first real friend at lunch in the dining hall.” You can’t fake that kind of luck.
Hard Work Is the Architect of Legacy
When I look back on more than three decades leading Porter Khouw Consulting, I’m so grateful—not just for the client wins, but even more so for the tens of thousands of students whose lives were touched. I think about the lifelong friendships formed, and the arcs of those lives that were quietly, profoundly, and positively shaped by the subtle yet transformative daily experiences we helped design—experiences rooted in our guiding principle, SOCIAL ARCHITECTURE™. We’ve helped institutions reshape their identity through something as seemingly simple—and yet as powerfully human—as food.
But we’re not done. We’re still innovating. Still studying. Still advocating for the full embrace of SOCIAL ARCHITECTURE™ – NEXT GEN ANYTIME DINING as a proven framework to cure loneliness, increase retention, strengthen friendship networks, and boost student success through next-gen residential and retail 24/7 dining programs.
We’re also empowering families and students to choose schools where this experience is prioritized—through tools like ratemyfreshmanexperience.com, which helps measure what truly matters in that critical first year.
And when it comes to luck, I hit the jackpot. Twenty-seven years ago, Cezanne Grawehr arrived from London—our very own version of Mary Poppins—and to this day, she is the glue that holds us all together. I also couldn’t be luckier in life than to work alongside my daughters, Alex and Madison. I started this company when Alex was just one year old, and Madison had not yet been born. Today, Alex is a Vice President at PKC and a Ph.D. candidate at Wayne State University, while Madison recently graduated from the College for Creative Studies in Detroit and now serves as a Sales and Marketing Associate with us at PKC. And my granddaughter? She’s an amazing ray of sunshine. Lucky in business—and even luckier in life.
We are not waiting for luck. We are building it, brick by brick.
Be the Luck You Seek
To anyone facing uncertainty—whether in higher education, business, or life—remember this: Luck isn’t something you find. It’s something you build.
It begins with showing up. Doing the work. Being relentless in your mission. Refusing to settle for “good enough” when you know transformation is possible.
In our case, it meant reimagining dining not as a cost center, but as a strategic asset for curing loneliness and increasing student retention, establishing and strengthening friendship networks, and improving emotional well-being and academic success with next-gen residential and retail 24/7 Anytime Dining programs.
So yes, the harder we work, the luckier we get.
Because we’re not just chasing results. We’re building a legacy.
And that’s the kind of luck that lasts.
