There was a man who had built a
successful business from the ground up. Now, advanced in years, he wanted to
retire. His son wanted to take over the company from his father but the father
wasn’t sure that his son was ready. They had many discussions about it and the
son was becoming increasingly frustrated with his father’s reluctance to turn
the company over to him.
One day, the father handed his son two
pictures and asked him to tell him who they were. The son recognized the faces
as employees of the company but didn’t know their names. His father told him to
go and find out who they were. The son returned to his father’s office the next day, handed
his father the pictures and said, “The lady is a cook and the man is a
janitor.”
“What else?” the father asked.
“What do you mean ‘What else?’” replied
the son. “A cook and a janitor. What more do you need to know?”
The father sighed and told his son to
sit down. “I have something I need to tell you.” He then explained,
“The janitor’s name is Howard Jackson
and he has worked here for 37 years - almost as long as the company has
existed. He was one of the first people I ever hired and next year he’s going
to retire. And I’m going to miss him. Howard believes that first impressions
are important and that’s why the floors in our building are always spotless,
the windows always shine and the wood on the walls is always waxed and
polished. Howard believes that it is his responsibility to make sure that every
time a potential customer walks through our front door their first impression
is that this company cares. A company that can’t be bothered to shine its
floors probably can’t be bothered to make a quality product either.
“He has two sons. One is an aerospace
engineer at NASA and the other runs his own business. And the floors at that
business are always shiny, too. Howard takes great pride in the values of hard
work that he instilled in his sons. Howard’s wife died of cancer three years
ago. It hit him hard but his work and his commitment never wavered. He used to
come in here and talk to me about what he was going through. Sometimes we both
talked. Sometimes he talked and I just listened. He once told me that having
someone he could be open and honest with during that ordeal and in the months after she died helped him survive. He even asked me to be one of the pall bearers at
her funeral.
“I asked you come with me, but you were
too busy.”
The son’s eyes dropped and he turned a
mild shade of red.
“The cook,” the father continued, “is
Edith Ramirez. She has been with us for 21 years. She started as a dishwasher.
Now she runs the entire cafeteria. She believes that healthy meals that taste
good are important to our employees’ morale and she makes sure that that is
what they get every day. She is in this office at least once a week reviewing
her menu plans, the food she wants to order and her ideas on how to make Food
Services better. And, son, she has some very good ideas.
“She has 3 children that she has raised
virtually on her own. Her husband decided that fatherhood wasn’t for him and
left her shortly after their third child was born. She raised those kids,
scrimped and saved for them and made sure that they all got good educations.
She used to tell me that a good education wasn’t optional for any of her kids.
She wanted them to have opportunities that she never had.
“She has a daughter who is a doctor, one
who is an architect and a son who is a high school math teacher. Her kids
worked just as hard as their mom did to get through school because they knew
how important it was to her. They also knew what would happen if they let her
down. She may have been a single parent, but that doesn’t mean that she wasn’t
a good parent. Edith is not the type of person who holds anything back.
“She was so proud of those kids. When
they each graduated from university she walked on cloud nine for months and she
invited me to all of their graduation ceremonies. And I went.”
By now the message was sinking in with
the son. His frustration with his father was gone and had been replaced by
embarrassment.
The father continued the lesson, “You
see, son, I asked you to tell me who they were. You told me their jobs. I didn’t
expect you to know them as well as I do but I expected more than this. You
didn’t even bother to learn their names. You dismissed them as menial and
unimportant because you didn’t consider their jobs to be as important as yours.
It never crossed your mind that they might make contributions to our company’s
success or that they might consider their work important. They care about this
company as much as I do. Sometimes I think they care even more. There is an old
business maxim that says that people are our most valuable asset. Some people
truly believe that but, unfortunately, far too many people think it is just
some nice sounding words but nothing more. I believe it and I try to practice
it every day. We have over 100 employees and I know every one of their names. Every
one. My door is always open and every one of them knows that they can come and
talk to me whenever they need to. And most of them have. Our company is only as
strong as the people we employ. I am the president of this company and I have
to make hard decisions every day. It is my responsibility to make sure that
this company continues to operate and remains profitable. But I never lose
sight of the fact that every decision I make affects people. Not employees. Not
cooks. Not janitors. People! I’m sorry son, but until you show me that you
understand the importance of people and practice it every day, I cannot turn
control of the company over to you.”
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
If you had a choice, who would you rather work for,
the father or the son?
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