In his final State of the Union speech last week President Obama said if a business takes care of it’s customers, employees, and community the shareholders will also be taken care of.
One of the nice things about working with small businesses and their owners is the majority of them understand this. Two of the most common results a business seller wants from his or her buyer are:
- The customers taken care of
- The employees keep their jobs
- And Rotary, Kiwanis, Lions, and other service organizations are filled with business owners (the community part).
Yes, the money is important but many, many owners won’t sell to someone they feel will get rid of their employees (second family) or mistreat their customers, driving them to the dreaded competition.
It’s not just small businesses. Boeing recently announced a long-term agreement with their engineers’ union, which surprised all the experts and pundits. It seems their new CEO values the people whereas the previous CEO was known to say things similar to, I plan to stay around and the employees will be shaking in their shoes.
Technology companies have non-traditional offices to create a culture employees will enjoy. The cost of replacing a good employee, especially a six-figure employee is tremendous. So take care of them.
A pretty simple statement buried in a political talk, but one that makes sense (no matter what your politics).
“Character is simply habit long continued.” Plutarch
