Therein lies the secret, if there is one. Great companies are built on a foundation of respect. They respect their customers, they respect themselves, they respect their relationships. Most important, they respect their peopleā people at all levels, and from all backgrounds.
Related Quotes
In Billās view, entrepreneurial success shouldnāt be primarily about what you do but about who you are. Just as a great painting or piece of music reflects the inner values of the artist, so, too, a great company reflects the core values of its entrepreneurial leaders.
Great companies have great relationships: relationships with customers, with suppliers, with investors, with employees, and with the general community. The emphasis in all dealings is on developing and nurturing long-term, constructive relationships.
If you want to build a great company, you should expect excellence from every part of it. The output of every team can make or break the customer experience, so they should all be a priority. [See also: Chapter 3.1: Making the Intangible Tangible.]
There canāt be any functions that you dismiss as secondaryāwhere you casually accept mediocrity because it doesnāt really matter.
Everything matters.
And itās not just about you.
True integrityāa sense of knowing who you are and being guided by your own clear sense of right and wrongāis a kind of secret leadership weapon. If you trust your own instincts and treat people with respect, the company will come to represent the values you live by.
ITāS THE PEOPLE: People are the foundation of any companyās success. The primary job of each manager is to help people be more effective in their job and to grow and develop. We have great people who want to do well, are capable of doing great things, and come to work fired up to do them. Great people flourish in an environment that liberates and amplifies that energy. Managers create this environment through support, respect, and trust.
Support means giving people the tools, information, training, and coaching they need to succeed. It means continuous effort to develop peopleās skills. Great managers help people excel and grow.
Respect means understanding peopleās unique career goals and being sensitive to their life choices. It means helping people achieve these career goals in a way thatās consistent with the needs of the company.
Trust means freeing people to do their jobs and to make decisions. It means knowing people want to do well and believing that they will. - Bill Campbellās mantra