Build a great company on a powerful foundation!
HRISTUS RESURREXIT! Christ is risen!
But this is a business blog – why would I want to bring Easter into the picture?
Because every one of our companies needs vitality. It’s a living organism, which means it will either be nourished or die. Easter is a time when we focus on renewal in the Christian faith, so it would be very appropriate to also spend a few minutes thinking about whether the foundation of our business is growing – or dying.
TOMS SHOES is another great example of a company that has a much deeper foundation than just selling products.
They sell shoes and eyewear. Ho hum, right?
If that were the case, you’d never hear about them. They’d just be some little specialist internet shop, indistinguishable from thousands of others.
Blake Mycoskie started the company in 2006 after a deep personal experience in Argentina, where he developed a passion for selling products and benefiting those in need. Read the rest of this entry »
PEOPLE have asked me to explain more about this concept of “deep values” – and in particular, to give examples.
Today let’s explore New Belgium Brewing, which is based here in Fort Collins. On the surface, they’re a fast-growing craft brewer, best known for their Fat Tire Amber Ale. But they have other great beers too, and set the standard for craft brewers in this region.
New Belgium is expanding rapidly across the US, currently in 28 states.
Last year, the company announced that it would start expansion to the east coast, and after significant investigation, settled on Asheville, North Carolina. Why is this relevant?
CHARITIES shouldn’t work.
Think about it: We’re all quite busy, and we value our time too much to throw it away.
Yet, here we have it: A charity asks for your time AND money, and we give it. Not to every charity, of course, but to some.
Are we insane? How could that possibly work?
INHISNAMEHR.COM had a great article today, titled Most Employees Are Not Lazy, Just Not Led. It’s a great read, and captures a thought that I’ve had kicking around for some time.
Managers can make lots of judgments about employees: they’re stupid, they’re lazy, they’re just not worth it.
But if you’re building a business that needs people, you have to get beyond this way of thinking. Because if this is the lens you’re using, then NOBODY is ever going to live up to your expectations. Your life will be miserable, and your business will fail.
JONATHAN RAYMOND wrote a powerful article recently called The Power of Caring over at the E-Myth Blog. They do great work over there.
His observation is that customers make most of their decisions based on emotions rather than logic. I find this to be absolutely true – even in surprising cases.
My background is in engineering, so I’m a pretty hardcore analytic. Read the rest of this entry »
LAST WEEK I gave some perspectives on branding your values-based business. My good buddy Hugh offered up a challenging question that I think is worthy of more exploration.
His question is around the values of your company versus the values employees hold as an individuals.
When you started out as a one-person company, it probably wasn’t too hard. Read the rest of this entry »
THERE was a wonderful discussion this week when I put an announcement of this blog in one of the Facebook groups. I have to say that I’m very pleased with the support I’ve been receiving.
Someone made a great point about how they’ve strongly branded their coaching business with a Christian theme, and how well that’s worked. For myself, I’ve chosen to emphasize two points:
GALLUP Business Journal recently published an article entitled Making Hope a Business Strategy. I have to confess that I was a little disappointed, though, because the bottom line seemed mostly, “if you support your people, they’ll have hope in a better future and they’ll be 14% more productive.”
Sure, but that’s only scratching the surface.
ODAY marks the beginning of Lent, a Christian period of reflection and renewal leading up to Easter.
If your business is based on Christian principles – either implicitly or explicitly – perhaps this would be a great time to reflect on how well it’s living up to those ideals.
The Values-Based Business 