I Was Given a Great Quote the Other Day
At an event the other day a gentleman handed me a card with this quote on it. It struck me on a couple of different levels, for faith and for business. Here it is:
- Do all the good you can;
- By all the means you can;
- In all the ways you can;
- In all the places you can;
- At all the times you can;
- To all the people you can; and
- As long as ever you can.
The card said this is attributed to John Wesley, co-founder of the Methodist movement, in the 18th century. How does this affect your glass business, or any business? If you run your business under these principles you will have a very happy work force, which in turn creates happy customers, which in turn makes the business more profitable than if you follow the advice of Oscar the Grouch on Sesame Street.
There are a thousand and one books and consultants you can hire (including me) who can give you specific advice on specific problems. It just seems to me that if you run your business under the above thoughts you will be better off. I am not a Methodist follower and I don’t know if this is still part of the religion’s thoughts. It seemed to me, though, that these thoughts are valuable in the current holiday season.
Forty-two years ago, I learned a great management lesson. Elaine and I were married; I worked for C.R. Laurence and Elaine worked for a small food brokerage in the Boston area. The year was 1976 and there were great festivals celebrating our country’s 200th anniversary. The owner of the brokerage purchased 50 tickets to an ideal park site in Boston harbor to see the tall ships sail in. He could have offered these to their top customers. Instead he invited the entire company and their families. The employees had a wonderful time realizing this was a once-in-a-lifetime event. It was these very happy and proud employees who made the brokerage a success.
Keep this in mind, do all the good you can, when deciding on your holiday bonus plans and holiday events this year.