Most of us started our businesses for very right-brained reasons: “I want to run a company the right way! I want to treat my customers and employees the way I wish I’d been treated. I want to deliver real value to my customers and community.” Unfortunately, the last decade worked hard to undermine that motivation. Unsustainable expectations from Wall Street trickled down into our own consciousness. The unrelenting spread of the warehouse store forced us into a bulk and volume mentality. The unprecedented growth of the Internet depersonalized our customer relationships. We forgot technology delivers tools; it does not replace good sense. We ignored or undervalued the capabilities and qualities of our businesses that differentiated them, and instead got dragged into the cut cost fray.

“Yeah, Yeah, Yeah” says the spreadsheet brain. “That’s a bunch of feel-good hogwash! It’s an impersonal world now. Numbers don’t lie!”

No, they don’t. In their 2006 release, Firms of Endearment, Sisodia, Sheth & Wolfe take a hard look at company performance over the last decade. They identify 30 companies – ranging from global behemoths to non-public chains – that demonstrate intuitive thinking. These companies place equal value on meeting the needs of their employees, customers, suppliers, communities and shareholders. They pay higher wages, give more benefits, go above and beyond to meet customer needs, work to improve their suppliers businesses and donate more time and money to the community. In other words, they run their companies they way most of us set out to run ours – with their whole mind. How did they do?

• Public companies adhering to stakeholder value principles over a 10-year period out performed the S&P 500 by a ratio of 8:1.

In the case of regional non-public chains the results are equally compelling:

• Full time employees turnover of less than 6 percent vs. an industry standard of 20 percent

• 50 percent higher sales per square foot than the industry average
• Inventory turns of 13 times a year vs. industry average of 1-2

It’s time for businesses to take “Right Makes for Business Might” to heart. Instead of sinking to the level of price slashing, small businesses must play to their strengths: family-like cultures, deep customer knowledge and tight community relationships. Today’s customer is hungry for satisfying buying experiences which extend far beyond the purchase. Small business is inherently relationshipdriven which gives it an advantage against competitors of all sizes. The key to success is remembering to value and engage your whole corporate mind.

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