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In the last 10 years, we've gone from sharing nothing to sharing full financial statements with every top manager. All employees see an overview of our financials (admittedly, without many hard numbers). It's scary for owners to open their books like this. But, so far, I've seen nothing but good come out of it. People make better decisions when they have the information they need.
We are also working to build "public company" responsibility. For starters, we have a legal board of outsiders who have the power to fire me or any other family member. And, there are no "owner-only" benefits; every benefit is dictated by corporate policy alone.
"It's results that count."
Although he didn't say it to me, I've heard that he sometimes tells others the importance of results using a Biblical warning, "You reap what you sow." He was proud to point out that his company has consistently beaten its peer group by any financial measure. And, he went out of his way to make sure I knew that this applied equally well to any of the prior CEO's in the history of his company.
[caption id="attachment_3260" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="My father, Jay Lehman, myself and my sister, Glenda Ervin in the cafe at Lehman's"]
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In non-public, family-owned companies, relationships often matter more than ability. In fact, many would say that the priority given to relationships is what makes family businesses strong. I personally believe that we exist to have relationships. It's the way we are made. But, when it comes to work, our family embraces the concept that qualifications count more than relationships. We hire based on qualifications, not relationships. We promote based on qualifications, not relationships. In fact, we have a written policy in place which was signed by every member of my family acknowledging our commitment to these principles.
I like to think of it as "acting with your head even while feeling with your heart."
Values Matter
His final point was to have some central values. The way he described them, I envisioned them as the beams that hold up a barn. Those beams cannot be unstable, under-sized or placed on a weak foundation. They must be owned and cared for by every employee.
[caption id="attachment_3269" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="These beams (part of Lehman\'s front entrance) have stood for nearly 200 years."]
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He told me he spends most of his time communicating their values and their vision for the future. He said, with force, "It's a full-court press." The company's values should be committed to in writing. He said he expects every employee to carry a copy of those written values with them every day. The corporate values should be woven into every meeting and every communication in some form.
At Lehman's we're getting this concept. We've documented our key values. We talk about them often. But, we probably need to do even more. At a recent employee meeting, I found that most employees still could not recite them from memory.
What are our values? It's nice of you to ask. But, although I'm sure anyone at Lehman's will talk with you about them, we've made it a part of our policy not to print or distribute them. Why? Because we believe we should be living those values actively with honor and consistency, not hanging them on the wall in a dusty picture frame where they receive little more than lip service! We want to demonstrate our values by how we live, not by how we talk.
How do you think we are doing?
I walked into that meeting with a deep-seated admiration for the CEO and for the company he helps run. My hope is that you have the same admiration for Lehman's and for the folks that work here. If you don't, please let me know. I'd like to set it right.
Galen Lehman, President, Lehman's
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PS - Sorry I can't share the name of the person I met with. I'm sure he wouldn't mind. But, I didn't formally ask his permission if I could publish this account.
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