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YOU SEE this all the time: A company once respected and admired has become a shell of its former self. Employees wonder why they’re still around, other than to pull down a paycheck. Customers turn cynical because there’s no longer any credibility behind the high-minded words.
You can probably name as many examples as I can. But why would we struggle to name even one company which has gone the other direction?
DEEP VALUES are surprisingly hard to nail down.
This is because you see wonderful statements masquerading all the time as deep values, the foundation of the company.
An interesting example came up recently: Walmart. I remember back in the 1970s when they had a strong statement about “Made in the USA.” Proud of this fact, they made it a central point of their advertising for several years. You would have been forgiven if you assumed that this was a core belief of a company home-grown in Bentonville, Arkansas.
LAST YEAR I ran across a gentleman who runs the local LearningRx franchise. I’d never heard about them before, but they do some amazing things with helping children learn. And adults too!
This person offered a very generous gift: a free copy of The Purpose Directed Business. This book was written by Dr Ken Gibson, the founder of the company, and really captures the philosophy behind what the company’s about.
In a word: Leadership.
THE OTHER DAY I happened across this article which describes a company culture that few would dare emulate.
It’s quite startling.
Their idea is to have a company where roles are incredibly fluid, where almost everything is transparent, and value is created through unrestrained creativity and teamwork.
Pure chaos, you’re thinking!
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 »
The Values-Based Business 