” People would be so happy to see an owner interested in what they were doing, and it made them feel important. You know why? Because they were important. Every person, every machine, every operation was important. Everything absolutely fascinated me, and people knew it. When they saw me , they would say they were seeing my granddad, Fred. I was proud of them and what they were doing. Do you think my uncles at the country club cared about these people? Not a chance. They used to laugh at me for talking to them. Once my father saw me in the factory talking to people and he pulled me aside and said ” What are you doing? Those are workers, we don’t talk to them!”
Some friends recently wrote a book about the power of communication in business. It’s entitled “The Power Within Internal Communications, An Executive’s Edge In Business Strategy. ( http://bookstore.xlibris.com/Products/SKU-0109912049/The-Power-Within.aspx) “In modern business or any organization, there is no such thing as a second class citizen. Everyone has a critical role and shares in the failures or success.”
It’s too bad that my father and uncle didn’t have a chance to read it. If they had then perhaps they could have appreciated how very critical communication with workers was to the success of Colonial Knife Company.
MY FAMILY BUSINESS, COLONIAL KNIFE 