Our Culture
Have you ever married the wrong person? (Yikes!) It all starts out innocently enough but quickly deteriorates into the kind of party only lawyers enjoy. We made a similar mistake when we hired an employee who could easily do the job but who eventually revealed an attitude which was pure poison for our corporate culture.
Through nefarious means, this person wreaked havoc upon our entire company - eventually causing the demise of several crews within our organization.
Robert I. Sutton describes these individuals clearly in his book The No Assholes Rule where he informs readers what to watch for when attempting to ferret out these undesirable employees before they crater an entire company.
Our L. Kennedy Rule agrees with Sutton's rule which depicts the following unacceptable behavior;
1. Personal insults
When corporate culture is "working", the people who make up the organization will respond to circumstances and situations with the values and beliefs of their particular organization in mind.
Every company has culture whether they acknowledge it or not and for that reason we would like to inform you of some of the philosophies which form the basis of our business.
Alright people, buckle up & pay attention because there's gonna be a test when we're done!
Integrity
Nothing else affects everything like integrity. In the book It's Not the Big that Eat the Small, It's the Fast that Eat the Slow, authors Jason Jennings and Laurence Haughton tell the story about a banker who gave them this advice about integrity:
"Sometimes you have to bullshit your friends and tell them everything is okay when it's not; it's not right, but that's the way it is. Sometimes you have to bullshit your employees by telling them that everything is alright when it's not; it isn't right but that's the way things are. But show me someone who bullshits themselves and I'll show you someone who is headed for trouble."
For us, Integrity is about not bullshitting ourselves and this philosophy must originate with the owners and managers of our company. We work diligently to understand and respond to reality by keeping our ears to the ground through regular meetings with owners, managers and supervisors. Beginning in September 2007, we will also be holding general meetings with all employees to spread the good word and to keep them in our progress loop.
Continuous Improvement - Kaizen
As long as we're being honest with ourselves, how about contemplating our willingness to admit mistakes, learn from them and then adjust our actions to produce better outcomes.
We pride ourselves in focusing on being a learning organization. The environment which surrounds our people is one of zero blame & 100% responsibility. The way we see it, blame looks to the past while responsibility is a guide for the future. Responsibility simply means that we expect full disclosure when things go wrong and that we will not climb anybody's frame because they made a mistake. Hey, sheet happens and the only way to avoid encountering mistakes is to do nothing... and that's not an option in our company.
Safety First (okay, third... ;-)
We want our kids to play safe which means somebody better be looking out for them at all times. That's the reason for us having a full time CSO (Certified Safety Officer) and why we invest a ton of resources into fall restraint systems, Personal Protection Equipment and the training which is required to keep our folks safe. The way we figure it, there isn't much sense in us focusing on building self esteem in our employees if we don't keep their bodies intact.
No Hierarchy
W.L.Gore and Associates is a company we want to emulate. Bill Gore was the first to set up a company that is able to operate effectively without hierarchy. They describe their structure as a "flat lattice" interpersonal network and it works much better for their organization than the typical top down arrangement which most companies rely upon. We see this leveling aspect of our company to be an equalizer which will generate more integration and understanding of the challenges our productioneers face on a daily basis.
We believe that leveling the playing field in our business will allow for a more productive flow of information from the people in planning to the people in production and for everybody in between.
Respect, man - that's what life is all about!
After Rodney King got the crap beat out of him by some ambitious police officers he asked "Can't we all just get along?"
We ask the same thing and we try to do it before we need to beat the hail out of anybody. Most people would agree that respect should be the norm but sadly, that's not the case. We have snagged many employees from other companies because the old employer didn't have a clue about how to treat humans with a wee bit of courtesy or a dab of dignity.
We are the World
Keeping tabs on how we're affecting the environment is high on our list of things to do. Our processes must be sustainable and our plan is to plant trees to replace the ones we utilize in our construction process. The pros in our business do everything they can to utilize each piece of lumber to it's fullest and the remaining wood is given away to anyone who can use it.
The L. Kennedy Rule
No Jerks. Period.
Every company has culture whether they acknowledge it or not and for that reason we would like to inform you of some of the philosophies which form the basis of our business.
Alright people, buckle up & pay attention because there's gonna be a test when we're done!
Integrity
Nothing else affects everything like integrity. In the book It's Not the Big that Eat the Small, It's the Fast that Eat the Slow, authors Jason Jennings and Laurence Haughton tell the story about a banker who gave them this advice about integrity:
"Sometimes you have to bullshit your friends and tell them everything is okay when it's not; it's not right, but that's the way it is. Sometimes you have to bullshit your employees by telling them that everything is alright when it's not; it isn't right but that's the way things are. But show me someone who bullshits themselves and I'll show you someone who is headed for trouble."
For us, Integrity is about not bullshitting ourselves and this philosophy must originate with the owners and managers of our company. We work diligently to understand and respond to reality by keeping our ears to the ground through regular meetings with owners, managers and supervisors. Beginning in September 2007, we will also be holding general meetings with all employees to spread the good word and to keep them in our progress loop.
Continuous Improvement - Kaizen
As long as we're being honest with ourselves, how about contemplating our willingness to admit mistakes, learn from them and then adjust our actions to produce better outcomes.
We pride ourselves in focusing on being a learning organization. The environment which surrounds our people is one of zero blame & 100% responsibility. The way we see it, blame looks to the past while responsibility is a guide for the future. Responsibility simply means that we expect full disclosure when things go wrong and that we will not climb anybody's frame because they made a mistake. Hey, sheet happens and the only way to avoid encountering mistakes is to do nothing... and that's not an option in our company.
Safety First (okay, third... ;-)
We want our kids to play safe which means somebody better be looking out for them at all times. That's the reason for us having a full time CSO (Certified Safety Officer) and why we invest a ton of resources into fall restraint systems, Personal Protection Equipment and the training which is required to keep our folks safe. The way we figure it, there isn't much sense in us focusing on building self esteem in our employees if we don't keep their bodies intact.
No Hierarchy
W.L.Gore and Associates is a company we want to emulate. Bill Gore was the first to set up a company that is able to operate effectively without hierarchy. They describe their structure as a "flat lattice" interpersonal network and it works much better for their organization than the typical top down arrangement which most companies rely upon. We see this leveling aspect of our company to be an equalizer which will generate more integration and understanding of the challenges our productioneers face on a daily basis.
We believe that leveling the playing field in our business will allow for a more productive flow of information from the people in planning to the people in production and for everybody in between.
Respect, man - that's what life is all about!
After Rodney King got the crap beat out of him by some ambitious police officers he asked "Can't we all just get along?"
We ask the same thing and we try to do it before we need to beat the hail out of anybody. Most people would agree that respect should be the norm but sadly, that's not the case. We have snagged many employees from other companies because the old employer didn't have a clue about how to treat humans with a wee bit of courtesy or a dab of dignity.
We are the World
Keeping tabs on how we're affecting the environment is high on our list of things to do. Our processes must be sustainable and our plan is to plant trees to replace the ones we utilize in our construction process. The pros in our business do everything they can to utilize each piece of lumber to it's fullest and the remaining wood is given away to anyone who can use it.
The L. Kennedy Rule
No Jerks. Period.
Have you ever married the wrong person? (Yikes!) It all starts out innocently enough but quickly deteriorates into the kind of party only lawyers enjoy. We made a similar mistake when we hired an employee who could easily do the job but who eventually revealed an attitude which was pure poison for our corporate culture.
Through nefarious means, this person wreaked havoc upon our entire company - eventually causing the demise of several crews within our organization.
Robert I. Sutton describes these individuals clearly in his book The No Assholes Rule where he informs readers what to watch for when attempting to ferret out these undesirable employees before they crater an entire company.
Our L. Kennedy Rule agrees with Sutton's rule which depicts the following unacceptable behavior;
1. Personal insults
2. Invading one's personal territory
3. Univited personal contact
4. Threats and intimidation, both verbal and non verbal
5. Sarcastic jokes and teasing used as an insult delivery system
6. Withering email flames
7. Status slaps intended to humiliate their victims
8. Public shaming or status degradation rituals
9. Rude interruptions
10.Two-faced attacks
11.Dirty looks
12.Treating people as if they are invisible
Wolfe Brothers Rule or You Can Fool Us, but Not Forever
You know how everybody gets more talented when they're applying for jobs? Well, this phenomenon kicked into high gear in our last business when we hired the Wolfe Bros.
They looked like they could do the job, they said they could do the job and they had verbal and written recommendations which portrayed them as achievers. Alas, achievers they were not.
The Wolfe Brothers taught us that everybody needs supervision - even if we think we don't have the time or assume that they don't require it. They taught us about how much time can be saved by doing jobs right the first time and the importance of listening to our gut feelings.
We learned plenty from those brothers!
The Laverty Rule
Mr. Laverty is an angry person and he wants everybody else to suffer from high blood pressure, too. He rants, he raves and he is one of those despicable scoundrels that hates to see people acting in a sane manner.
We wondered if we should be doing business with him right from the start because he verbalized that everyone else who had worked for him were idiots, crack heads, and just generally retarded people.
It turns out that we were dorks and lamebrains of the first order. Laverty raked us over the coals and then took us to the cleaners. He was SMOOTH!
From him we learned more about how we should never ignor our gut feelings and that we should pay attention to that "still small voice within." Mr. Laverty showed us how vulnerable we were to being bullied and coersed into doing the wrong thing.
Never again Mr. Laverty, never again!
Anticipation
Watch out! That's usually the last thing you hear before you get cracked on the noggin with something hurtful because you weren't paying attention. This is a great example of how NOT anticipating future events can have an impact (no pun intended) on the color of your eye sockets.
We learned the value of anticipation only a few short years ago and it has worked wonders for us. This philosophy causes us to see a lot more of reality because we're always looking ahead to see what might be coming down the pike.
And things are always coming...
The fast pace of life and business today means that we must be ever more vigilant about the potential futures we might be living. So whether its strategic thinking or dodging a bullet - our ability to anticipate is one skill we can't do without.
Reciprocity
This is the Golden Rule in action. Someone helps you, you help them. A person smiles at you, you return the good deed and smile right back. A stranger does something wicked to your in-laws, you buy that thoughtful person a nice gift... ;-)
Reciprocity is a great philosophy to convey because our employees and business partners will come to understand that their good deeds will not go unrewarded. We could use a lot more of this "pay it forward" kind of attitude in the world.
People need to know that beyond all the hocus pokus there are a pile of grand schemes and big dreams that are just waiting for some small sign of empathy and understanding. We are constantly on the lookout for folks who care enough about their neighbors to actually do something good and true and right.
Maybe love does make the world go round and if it does, reciprocity is the fuel that keeps it going!
We understand the Learning Process
We're all stupid about something and being clued out is a bewildering emotion we can identify with. In the beginning, not one of us had a hint of what we were doing and chances are that when you first join us you won't know what you're doing either. (don't try to understand this... it's too deep...)
So you know that we know... here are the four levels of human comprehension:
1. Unconscious incompetence - You don't know you don't know. (Duh...)
2. Conscious Incompetence - You know you don't know. (D'oh!)
3. Conscious Competence - You know you know. (Uh Huh)
4. Unconscious Competence - You don't know you know. (Hmmm)
Many employees who come to us are at level one of comprehension - they don't know what they don't know. Through asking questions and plenty of 'splainin', we can easily move them to the second level were they begin to understand what they don't know.
See how easy this is?!
Once we are able to show people what they don't know, we can move them to the next level - to knowing something. After a very short time, they know that they know - Level 3. Before we know it, this person who didn't know squat is now showing other people what they know. What the...?
There comes a time when the knowledge we've gained becomes a part of who we are and we stop recognizing that we're so dang smart. Bingo! Level 4 - We don't know that we know!
And therein lies the rub - you might be one smart cookie but not think you have anything to offer. Well, I'm here to tell you that you do have something we're looking for - and you know what it is! (now I'm confused...)
Change Your Mind, Change Your Life
Its quite possible for people to go their entire lives without changing their minds.
These folks are larger, older kids who think the same way they did 20 years ago. Constantly on the defense, these fake adults are easily distracted, effortlessly go off the deep end and will switch teams in a minute if it appears that a loss is looming. "It wasn't me!" is the oft heard refrain from these sore losers.
Not at Modern.
We encourage personal responsibility from our people and to be successful at this game we must be willing to recognize new methods of interacting between ourselves and reality. Recognizing, attempting and adapting - over and over, it never stops.
In our leadership courses, we inform our folks about homeostasis and how it attempts to drown us in our own comfort zones. Hail, just knowing about this wondrous aspect of being human allows our people to work around any issues of resistance to change.
At Modern we recognize that change is inevitable so we might as well learn to adapt by controlling how we respond to it and then plan properly so we can direct the changes we encounter.
Regardless, Press On
Building this company is one of the toughest things any of us have undertaken.
This journey requires our total commitment to overcoming the serious challenges which plague anyone who tries to operate on the edge of their abilities. We make mistakes, correct them and apply our new found knowledge in the pursuit of better methods of dealing with lumber or people. Continuous striving is so demanding that its not hard to think of quitting but as soon as the urge to pull in our horns occurs, we regroup and pour on the coal to reach the next level of our dream.
Terry Williams (our president) is fond of reminding us of a quote from Mike Ditka. Mike said: "I've never seen anyone get what they want by quitting." We agree with him.
While there's always some point at which we should take an informed look at where we're heading - this is an alteration of course, not the end of the trip. There will always be obstacles to whatever we're attempting and its how we handle those hurdles that allows us to develop into whomever we need to be to achieve our goals.
Besides, what we consider to be tough slugging can be a cakewalk to so many who went before us on the road less traveled. How about promising yourself today that you're gonna keep on keeping on no matter what happens? You'll be pleasantly surprised at what you achieve when you take that leap of faith! Say it... Regardless, Press On!
Everybody Gel Now
Call it synergy, cooperation or teamwork - when like minded people get together, there's no force in the world that can stop them. We are so fortunate to have attracted some of the best minds on the planet to the country of Modern and we are honored to witness these folks expanding their capabilities through coordinated effort.
Clear direction coupled with purposeful action is the catalyst which moves mountains and begins legacies. Our role as owners of Modern gives us the incredible opportunity of surrounding ourselves with people who are smarter than us and who can produce awesome results through their combined efforts. Its a job we take very seriously because if we do this right, the stage will be set for the development of an unstoppable company which provides a proving ground for anyone who feels the urge to change the world.
C'mon dear reader, Lets get Gelling!
The Main thing is to keep the Main Thing the Main Thing
Stephen Covey is one smart fella.
He uses his intelligence to implore others to use theirs and he achieves this through simple directives like the one above. His book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People should be mandatory reading for anyone who desires a better way of living. This simple system has provided much needed guidance for millions of people who want to better understand their potential reality.
Following Stephen's simple guidelines will keep you on the straight and narrow, too. Take a gander at this simple process:
1. Be Proactive
2. Begin with the end in mind
3. Put First Things First
4.Think Win / Win
5. Seek First to Understand, then to be Understood
6. Synergize
7. Sharpen the Saw
Hail, even old codgers like me can follow seven simple steps, how about you?
Wolfe Brothers Rule or You Can Fool Us, but Not Forever
You know how everybody gets more talented when they're applying for jobs? Well, this phenomenon kicked into high gear in our last business when we hired the Wolfe Bros.
They looked like they could do the job, they said they could do the job and they had verbal and written recommendations which portrayed them as achievers. Alas, achievers they were not.
The Wolfe Brothers taught us that everybody needs supervision - even if we think we don't have the time or assume that they don't require it. They taught us about how much time can be saved by doing jobs right the first time and the importance of listening to our gut feelings.
We learned plenty from those brothers!
The Laverty Rule
Mr. Laverty is an angry person and he wants everybody else to suffer from high blood pressure, too. He rants, he raves and he is one of those despicable scoundrels that hates to see people acting in a sane manner.
We wondered if we should be doing business with him right from the start because he verbalized that everyone else who had worked for him were idiots, crack heads, and just generally retarded people.
It turns out that we were dorks and lamebrains of the first order. Laverty raked us over the coals and then took us to the cleaners. He was SMOOTH!
From him we learned more about how we should never ignor our gut feelings and that we should pay attention to that "still small voice within." Mr. Laverty showed us how vulnerable we were to being bullied and coersed into doing the wrong thing.
Never again Mr. Laverty, never again!
Anticipation
Watch out! That's usually the last thing you hear before you get cracked on the noggin with something hurtful because you weren't paying attention. This is a great example of how NOT anticipating future events can have an impact (no pun intended) on the color of your eye sockets.
We learned the value of anticipation only a few short years ago and it has worked wonders for us. This philosophy causes us to see a lot more of reality because we're always looking ahead to see what might be coming down the pike.
And things are always coming...
The fast pace of life and business today means that we must be ever more vigilant about the potential futures we might be living. So whether its strategic thinking or dodging a bullet - our ability to anticipate is one skill we can't do without.
Reciprocity
This is the Golden Rule in action. Someone helps you, you help them. A person smiles at you, you return the good deed and smile right back. A stranger does something wicked to your in-laws, you buy that thoughtful person a nice gift... ;-)
Reciprocity is a great philosophy to convey because our employees and business partners will come to understand that their good deeds will not go unrewarded. We could use a lot more of this "pay it forward" kind of attitude in the world.
People need to know that beyond all the hocus pokus there are a pile of grand schemes and big dreams that are just waiting for some small sign of empathy and understanding. We are constantly on the lookout for folks who care enough about their neighbors to actually do something good and true and right.
Maybe love does make the world go round and if it does, reciprocity is the fuel that keeps it going!
We understand the Learning Process
We're all stupid about something and being clued out is a bewildering emotion we can identify with. In the beginning, not one of us had a hint of what we were doing and chances are that when you first join us you won't know what you're doing either. (don't try to understand this... it's too deep...)
So you know that we know... here are the four levels of human comprehension:
1. Unconscious incompetence - You don't know you don't know. (Duh...)
2. Conscious Incompetence - You know you don't know. (D'oh!)
3. Conscious Competence - You know you know. (Uh Huh)
4. Unconscious Competence - You don't know you know. (Hmmm)
Many employees who come to us are at level one of comprehension - they don't know what they don't know. Through asking questions and plenty of 'splainin', we can easily move them to the second level were they begin to understand what they don't know.
See how easy this is?!
Once we are able to show people what they don't know, we can move them to the next level - to knowing something. After a very short time, they know that they know - Level 3. Before we know it, this person who didn't know squat is now showing other people what they know. What the...?
There comes a time when the knowledge we've gained becomes a part of who we are and we stop recognizing that we're so dang smart. Bingo! Level 4 - We don't know that we know!
And therein lies the rub - you might be one smart cookie but not think you have anything to offer. Well, I'm here to tell you that you do have something we're looking for - and you know what it is! (now I'm confused...)
Change Your Mind, Change Your Life
Its quite possible for people to go their entire lives without changing their minds.
These folks are larger, older kids who think the same way they did 20 years ago. Constantly on the defense, these fake adults are easily distracted, effortlessly go off the deep end and will switch teams in a minute if it appears that a loss is looming. "It wasn't me!" is the oft heard refrain from these sore losers.
Not at Modern.
We encourage personal responsibility from our people and to be successful at this game we must be willing to recognize new methods of interacting between ourselves and reality. Recognizing, attempting and adapting - over and over, it never stops.
In our leadership courses, we inform our folks about homeostasis and how it attempts to drown us in our own comfort zones. Hail, just knowing about this wondrous aspect of being human allows our people to work around any issues of resistance to change.
At Modern we recognize that change is inevitable so we might as well learn to adapt by controlling how we respond to it and then plan properly so we can direct the changes we encounter.
Regardless, Press On
Building this company is one of the toughest things any of us have undertaken.
This journey requires our total commitment to overcoming the serious challenges which plague anyone who tries to operate on the edge of their abilities. We make mistakes, correct them and apply our new found knowledge in the pursuit of better methods of dealing with lumber or people. Continuous striving is so demanding that its not hard to think of quitting but as soon as the urge to pull in our horns occurs, we regroup and pour on the coal to reach the next level of our dream.
Terry Williams (our president) is fond of reminding us of a quote from Mike Ditka. Mike said: "I've never seen anyone get what they want by quitting." We agree with him.
While there's always some point at which we should take an informed look at where we're heading - this is an alteration of course, not the end of the trip. There will always be obstacles to whatever we're attempting and its how we handle those hurdles that allows us to develop into whomever we need to be to achieve our goals.
Besides, what we consider to be tough slugging can be a cakewalk to so many who went before us on the road less traveled. How about promising yourself today that you're gonna keep on keeping on no matter what happens? You'll be pleasantly surprised at what you achieve when you take that leap of faith! Say it... Regardless, Press On!
Everybody Gel Now
Call it synergy, cooperation or teamwork - when like minded people get together, there's no force in the world that can stop them. We are so fortunate to have attracted some of the best minds on the planet to the country of Modern and we are honored to witness these folks expanding their capabilities through coordinated effort.
Clear direction coupled with purposeful action is the catalyst which moves mountains and begins legacies. Our role as owners of Modern gives us the incredible opportunity of surrounding ourselves with people who are smarter than us and who can produce awesome results through their combined efforts. Its a job we take very seriously because if we do this right, the stage will be set for the development of an unstoppable company which provides a proving ground for anyone who feels the urge to change the world.
C'mon dear reader, Lets get Gelling!
The Main thing is to keep the Main Thing the Main Thing
Stephen Covey is one smart fella.
He uses his intelligence to implore others to use theirs and he achieves this through simple directives like the one above. His book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People should be mandatory reading for anyone who desires a better way of living. This simple system has provided much needed guidance for millions of people who want to better understand their potential reality.
Following Stephen's simple guidelines will keep you on the straight and narrow, too. Take a gander at this simple process:
1. Be Proactive
2. Begin with the end in mind
3. Put First Things First
4.Think Win / Win
5. Seek First to Understand, then to be Understood
6. Synergize
7. Sharpen the Saw
Hail, even old codgers like me can follow seven simple steps, how about you?