On a recent tour through R&R Realty Group’s office, I had to stop and ask Vice President Brittany Freund why there was a gong sitting on one of the counters. Now, I’m still new to the Des Moines business community, but I’ve yet to see any gongs in other offices I’ve been to so far. 

Freund said you get to come hit the gong when you close a deal. I’m sure there are probably bigger reasons why they want to close deals, but getting to hit a gong sounds like icing on the cake. 

As I was researching gongs (as all journalists do when writing a Notebook item about them), I discovered a story published by Inc. a couple of years ago about another company that uses gongs. Lisa Curtis, founder and CEO of food brand Kuli Kuli Inc., said in the story: “The best $15 I ever spent was on a gong that our entire company uses to celebrate wins. Now whenever there is a big or small win, someone inevitably asks, ‘Is that a gong?’ Our whole team gets excited to hear it ring.”