3M makes large-format Post-it Note paper and I have one framed on my office wall.
This particular Post-it Note is filled with my handwriting in blue and green markers. The heading reads: “Corporate Objectives,” of which there are three.
1. Create a great place to work for the best people in our industry at all levels of the company.
2. Take market-leading care of our customers through our attitude, accuracy, multi-level relationships, and products + services that increase their success.
3. Be a consistent, top tier profit + cash producing company.
Below this list of priorities is a hand drawn triangle that looks something like this:
This self-made Post-it Note art project is now nearly 15 years old and it’s framed because it’s meaningful to me. It’s meaningful because it’s the first time I ever designed, drew, and took the position that our first corporate priority was going to be our employees. With this Post-it Note we were literally rearranging the mission of the company. The new first mission of the company was to enhance the lives of the people who work at Hancock Lumber—to make a meaningful contribution to the quality of their lives. The old business saying, “the customer comes first” was no longer going to apply to us. Instead, I coined a new phrase: “At Hancock Lumber the customer comes a wicked-close second.” We are really into our customers. We focus on them, value them, and work hard for them. But they don’t come first. Our employees come first.
This new belief system was elegant in its simplicity. The people who were going to take care of the customer would come first. Create a world-class work experience for our employees and they will then take world-class care of our customers and our company. Customers and shareholders could soar to new heights on the wings of thriving humans at work. That was the plan, and we’ve stuck to it ever since. Fifteen years later, I can tell you that this works—it works great!
Companies and their leaders get whatever they choose to consistently prioritize. Prioritizing employees is a smart, effective, and actionable way to improve corporate performance while advancing humanity.
“Advancing humanity through work?” You might ask, “Really?”
Yes, really!
Humanity advances one human at a time, starting with ourselves and then turning to the people right beside us. Despite the abundance of global distractions offered by your phone, laptop, and television, advancing humanity is a local job—it happens right in front of you. If we were going to advance humanity at the adult level we would need to do it where adults hang out and, on this planet, 3.5 billion of them hang out at work. A work career is 70,000 hours—decades of time. Making work meaningful and energy giving is a pathway for advancing humanity. When people at work feel trusted, respected, valued, and heard they grow. They come into their own true voice and power. They then bring this self-actualized power home and their families, neighborhoods, and communities are changed. The highest calling of the place of work should be the people working there. Help them thrive and they will lift up the customers, company, and planet. Humanity can be nudged forward one company at a time.
The framed Post-it Note on my wall records the very first time I wrote this new work vision down and then stood before our owners, directors, management team, employees, and customers and explained it. That’s why it’s framed on my office wall.
Love, light, and blessings to you!
—Kevin
