Blog
December 14, 2004
Values
Ever so often I try to write down what the values of our company are. We have more than most, because our company has some relatively unusual values, and they seem to work well for us. Values change some, but basically we have had about the same values all along. Some of these could be wishful thinking, and there may be others. Any comments on the following? (Maybe some of these are not “values,” but the list tells us who we are and how we operate.)
1. We have a fairly democratic company, and we try to include everyone we can in decisions. The executives do not get big bonuses or many perks.
2. Our ethics are pretty strong, and we have a load of religious people in our company.
3. We respect education, but there is usually not much credence given to degrees. We are just looking for people who can do a job and keep learning.
4. We try to respect the land, and we try to take care of it as best we can.
5. We deal with a broad range of customers, and we try to treat them well, whether they have mobile homes or mansions.
6. We are attempting to learn more about our product and our management issues, so we respect curiosity and study.
7. We want to be the best at our business, so we attempt to excel at each job we have to do.
8. We prefer to develop in house expertise rather than outsource to expensive consultants.
9. We try a great number of experiments, and we tolerate odd attempts to improve our skills and practices.
10. We attempt to take advantage of trends and technological change, including the internet and website opportunities.
11. We try to come through on what we say we will do, even if it hurts a little.
12. We hold down on costly benefits and try to make up for it with reasonably good salaries and commissions.
13. Even though we do have stars, we tend to work in teams and do not pay the stars disproportionate salaries and bonuses.
14. We try to respect and preserve the rural culture that is so attractive to us and to our customers.
15. We don’t expect anyone to take care of us, so we are very careful with our relationships. For example, we do not rely on any one bank for credit, and we don’t trust banks who offer lines of credit and cash collection assistants. Also we do not trust the legislature to look out for us, so we belong to several groups for political reasons, and we have both an outside and an inside lobbyist.
16. We do not wish to have outsiders control us, so the ownership is close and the investors are not shareholders. Our trust structure shields us from future family interference (so far).
17. We expect a real estate bust eventually, and we have a plan for a bust, we have a sizeable cash reserve, and we are likely to go into an emergency mode if sales and values start to free fall.
18. (This is a controversial one.) We value productivity more than seniority, so a rookie who does well is not discriminated against as much as in a more traditional company.
19. We prefer employees to have a rural background, or seek a rural life. We are not looking for people who feel we are just a step to put on their resume.
20. We are looking for people who love people and land.
21. We are somewhat CHEAP, so we don’t usually have the most attractive offices, cars, lots, signs, etc. But the trend is up.
22. We try to avoid risk whenever possible, and we try to hold down potential losses from calculated risks we take.
23. We try not to be secretive, and we try to include everyone in the stores for both successes and failures.
24. We tolerate mistakes so long as they aren’t repeated.
25. When we make a mistake, we try to take our losses or settle the dispute as fast as possible. We try to stay out of hassles and litigation. We try not to get hung up on one problem or one deal. We sell over 1000 lots per year and we have to move fast.
26. We try to take care of both our prospects and our employees, as well as our lenders, investors, Realtors, appraisers, surveyors and other venders and friends.
27. We have not been interested in stealing employees from competitors.
28. We are pleased that some employees want to bring relatives and friends to the company, but they have to compete with others to get jobs and keep them.
29. Management tends to operate by consensus rather than by edict, and managers have to respect their subordinates as well as earn the subordinates respect for themselves.
30. Hard work is great, but teamwork and delegation is also important. A leader shares the load.
31. We try to give some slack to personality quirks in employees. This includes some slack to creative folks who may not otherwise fit smoothing with out system and with our people. (This is a tough one to follow.)
32. We attempt to live up to our word, whether verbal or in writing. So we have to be careful about what verbal commitments we make that we may have to live up to.
33. We have employees we can trust, so we don’t have many checks and balances. If we can’t trust an employee, we don’t want them around.
34. We try to have tolerance for people who have family commitments or distractions that are temporary. The idea is that eventually the employee may be in a better position to go full blast. This includes building a new house or remodeling an old one.
35. We try to be equal to employees about our extra benefits such as profit sharing and trips.
36. We appreciate the history of our properties, and we understand that this heritage is quite important to the neighborhood. Therefore we think twice before we tear down buildings, and we often remodel the homes that we buy with a farm.
37. We respect our neighbors, and we try to avoid any hassles with them concerning our development. We have deeded disputed land to neighbors even though we felt our claim to the land was superior.
38. We enjoy the county fairs, and we respect the role that 4H plays in rural areas. We sometimes bid on animals at the fair raised by 4H members.
39. We realize that sometimes local ads are not productive, but we make them sometimes just to support an organization or paper that is valuable to the community.
40. We may be mostly Republicans, but we try not to be too partisan in elections. We don’t contribute much, but when we do, we are more likely to contribute to our friends rather than those in a particular party. We have been known to make a contribution to both sides. We realize that meager contributions are not going to earn us any favors, but we are interested in having long term relationships with politicians in townships, counties and state government.