Hub Day: The Core Values

From time to time, we like to examine some of the things that make us tick. As a company, we mean. And yet, as we explore this idea and look for succinct ways to approach them and express them, it becomes obvious over and over again that it's not the way we operate as a company; it's the way the employees make up this company, expressly by the way they view it--and themselves.
That's really just a wordy way of saying that your employees make up your company, isn't it?
And yet, we think it especially true as look at the way our clients interact with The Hub. They come back again and again because of the service they get.
One of our core values is: Take Action. Sounds simple, doesn't it? Our president, Bill Decker, likes to illustrate this core value by telling the story of Tom Henderson, founder of ShelterBox, an international disaster relief charity. The story goes like this:
Tom was sitting in front of his television one night, a decade ago, when he spotted a news segment on some disaster relief efforts going on halfway around the world. He watched as the news crew showed footage of disaster relief crews standing on a truck as it drove slowly down the street. From the bed of the truck, the workers threw loaves of bread down to clamoring masses. Much of the bread fell on the ground. Now, people who had lost everything in the disaster had to further debase themselves by fighting for dirty loaves of bread. If they were lucky enough to get one, they went home, dusted off the bread, fed it to their families.
Tom thought, "I can do better." And then he did. He went to his garage and drew up the plans for a disaster-relief box. Ten years later, that box is still alive and in action all over the world.
On a more local scale, our girl Dana noticed a gum wrapper on the floor near our elevator banks. She didn't stop and stare and it; she just bent down and picked it up.
That's taking action, too.
Insofar as making sure our clients take advantage of our proactive personalities at the Hub, we just apply the in action theory to everything we do. We anticipate what our clients need or want. When a problems pops up, as they inevitably do, we try not to waste time being angry or frustrated. We just move on to the next step. Solve the problem.
We think reminding our employees to stay in action has another benefit, too: it keeps everyone here in the office moving forward.
What core values does your company employ? Find out more about Tom Henderson and ShelterBox here.