Turn Your Threats into Opportunities

Passion for Performance
by Stephen Rutan

We all know that business success depends to a great degree on the people you have on your team. What are you doing in your workplace to make sure that you have the best people giving their best to make themselves and your business more successful? Do your employees share your passion for the mission of your business?

In Jim Collins' book, Good to Great, one of the basic tenets of superior business performance is having the right people on the bus. The third chapter, First Who…Then What, gets right to the importance of having a workforce of high performing individuals:

The good-to-great leaders understood three simple truths. First, if you begin with 'who' rather than 'what', you can more easily adapt to a changing world. ...Second, if you have the right people on the bus, the problem of how to motivate and manage people largely goes away...Third, if you have the wrong people, it doesn't matter whether you discover the right direction; you still won't have a great company. Great vision without great people is irrelevant.

So what can you do to make sure you have great people on your bus? The creature comforts of competitive wages, generous benefits and an attractive workplace are a natural place to start, but are these things going to be enough to motivate individuals to strive for true greatness?

Wegmans is a regional supermarket chain headquartered in Rochester, New York. It has consistently been recognized by FORTUNE magazine as one of the 100 Best Companies to Work for in America. Wegmans has been on the list for 9 years, 4 times in the top 10. They finished #1 in 2005 and #2 in 2006. With this kind of consistency, it is clear that something special is going on at this business.

You might be thinking, "But it's just a supermarket!" How can anyone get excited in a business where most of the activities involve stocking shelves and running a cash register? A single visit to one of their superstores will convince the average customer that this is no ordinary supermarket – nor are the stores merely a more attractive version of traditional grocery stores. The décor and layout of the Wegman's Superstores are brilliant examples of how to welcome each customer to the store and provide them with a satisfying shopping experience. The employees are in uniform, clean-cut and cheerful and are genuinely interested in helping you find what you need. Long-time Rochester residents whose careers or family lives take them from the area find one of their biggest regrets is losing access to their supermarket. Current residents make sure that out of town guests include Wegmans on their "must see" itinerary during their Rochester visit!

Part of the secret to why employees enjoy working there is because of senior management's passionate belief in the value of their employees. They back up this belief with superior benefits, employee scholarship opportunities and a clear commitment to investing in the quality of the work environment and the continuous training and improvement of the individuals that work there. This philosophy was summarized by the late chairman, Robert Wegman: "No matter what we have invested in our people, we've gotten more in return. I have always believed that our path to great customer service began with that investment. That philosophy has proven itself many times over." It is clear that getting the right people on the bus involves a deeply felt interest in the welfare of those people and leading them to value the customer experience as much as you do.

Another sterling example of a company that has made themselves a magnet for passionate employees is Patagonia, Inc. A manufacturer of clothing and gear for "silent, human-powered sports done in nature", Patagonia enjoys better than industry average financial performance while inspiring its workforce and attracting highly qualified, hard-working, creative individuals that share the corporate vision:

For us at Patagonia, a love of wild and beautiful places demands participation in the fight to save them, and to help reverse the steep decline in the overall environmental health of our planet.

Their corporate goal is to build products and work with processes that cause the least harm to the environment.

In the world of blasé mission statements, this approach might have all the impact of a wet sponge, but at Patagonia, this passionate belief is felt throughout the company. It is backed up with significant corporate resources committed to environmental causes, time available to employees for pursuing their individual passion for outdoor sports and uncompromising standards for quality in their products. The result of this commitment: An average of 900 resumes for each job opening and the ability for management to be extremely selective about the talent they take on board. Candidates literally beg for the opportunity to work for this organization, often passing on other job opportunities that pay more and offer greater initial responsibility. With this many "right people" on the bus, Patagonia continues to occupy a very desirable high-end niche in the dynamic world of sports apparel.

Good to Great cites the transformational power of finding something you and your employees can pursue with passion. Both Wegmans and Patagonia have created organizations filled with passionate performers through decades-long commitments to their corporate philosophy. You cannot change your business overnight. Identify the principles that will ignite passion in your business and reward the people who use this positive energy to help you transform your organization.

Steve Rutan is a Consultant with Center for Simplified Strategic Planning, Inc.

He can be reached via e-mail at

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