Hub Day: The Baldwin Room

Our Cira Centre location is adjacent to Philadelphia's 30th Street Station. You get to it by strolling up a ramp and taking a small escalator.

It's a gorgeous space, all light and glass and with a clear view of the trainyards, so we knew we needed to pay homage to one of the men who built modern locomotion as we know it today: Matthias Baldwin.
Now, Baldwin may look like your run-of-the-mill 19th-century bloke, but he was anything but. In fact, although his name is now synonymous with steam engines, he got his start as a jeweler and a silversmith, and it was only because of his partnership with a machinist that he became interested in building stationary engines (engines that don't move, but which power objects--we think of them as modern-day generators).

A stationary engine like this one would help Baldwin in his later endeavors to produce steam locomotives.
Photo: CraftsmanshipMuseum.com

Eventually, he built a miniature locomotive, just for kicks, and it that year that the Philadelphia Museum commissioned him to build a working 4-passenger train for exhibition. Baldwin was asked that same year by the Camden and Amboy Railroad to build a short-line locomotive.

His locomotive, assembled entirely by hand (most modern machinery and tools didn't exist in the early 1800s), was called "Old Ironsides."
Baldwin's fate was sealed. He went on to found the Baldwin Locomotive Company, which would assemble over 1500 locomotive engines before his death in 1866.

Although we think the fact that Baldwin's lifework with trains is a great reason for us to name one of our rooms after him, probably the thing we like most about him is the fact that he was an inveterate philanthropist. (He was a founder of the Franklin Institute for the Betterment of Labour, demonstrating a remarkably early concern for the welfare of workers.) And his charitable donations and insistence on racial equality were a key reason for a major boycott of Baldwin engines in the south as the Civil War became a reality.

For all of these reasons, we're proud that this room, a cornerstone of our Cira Centre location, bears Matthias Baldwin's name.
You can see this statue of Matthias Baldwin in front of Philadelphia's City Hall, and you can learn more about Matthias Baldwin here.

Hub Day: Meet Bill

On a recent day, Bill Decker, The Hub's President, was not in one of our facilities, but near them, taking some time to watch the World Cup with one of our staff in a local cafe. It can't be said that the man isn't diligent: As one of The Hub's founders, Bill has watched over the growth of The Hub from one facility to three in barely as many years, and is instrumental in keeping our staff happy.

Bill looks content. Read on to find out what's behind the Mona-Lisa smile.

Yes, that's right. Decker's title might as well be Chief Satisfaction Coordinator, and his insistence on watching the world's premiere sporting event is a key indicator of the way he runs the office: He runs it by paying close attention to his staff, all the better to figure out What Drives People.

One of the many things that interest our President is stewardship of the environment. Last year he engineered a cleanup of Philadelphia's Fairmount Park.

So what drives Bill Decker? Bill has a propensity for surfing. He loves community service and was elected to president of his Rotary Club for this year, only to pass the mantle onto someone else after he was elected to chairman of the board of directors for the international disaster-relief group ShelterBox. He's also an in-field volunteer for the same group.
What does it all mean? Just that Bill is a man of many different interests. (He minored in Russian during his undergraduate years and, worked in pharmaceuticals and energy while he was in business school.)
It also means that Bill wouldn't expect his employees to be one-dimensional people, either. From sales staff to operations staff to the environmental edict of The Hub, he's well aware that a well-rounded perspective is the best one to have.
All of which makes it not only okay to watch the World Cup in the middle of the day so long as you're on track with your work, because when the president asks you what you're going to do after work, or with your weekends, the answer had better be something interesting.

Philanthropy and business

Everyone likes to give. Even in this decade, in the worst recession some generations have ever experienced, corporate giving has varied by less than 5% between 2008 and 2010, according to news reports.
And some law firms have upped the number of hours they'd like to see their attorneys spending on pro bono cases, a trend that started early in the recession and continues to this day.
Why? In the case of law firms, experts say that working on pro bono causes helps young associates to feel brighter and better about their futures. And in many cases, corporations are looking for ways to help their employees feel good about the places they spend 40-60 hours a week.
PepsiCo, for instance, has pledged its advertising dollars to a crowd-sourced competition called "Refresh Everything" that allows true democracy to pick worthwhile causes: Once a month, you and your friends can vote for a cause to win $5,000; $25,000; $50,000; or $250,000. Yeah. Once a month. We know a Pepsi employee, someone who's been with the company for close to ten years now, and we now hear him say, almost daily, that he's proud to work for them. Pretty cool stuff.

At The Hub, we're proud of where we work for more than a few reasons, but we're particularly proud of our connection to philanthropy: One of our founders, Bill Decker, is an avid volunteer for, and a board member of, an international disaster-relief group called ShelterBox. When a disaster happens, Bill gets a phone call. And if he can take time off from his work and his family, he's off to the area of disaster within 24 hours, distributing aid directly into the hands of people who need it the most.


Why? What makes philanthropy such a great thing for corporations--and leaders of corporations--to get involved in?
The answer is two-fold. First, it builds community. If a company can rally around a cause, claim it as something it's deeply interested in, that cause becomes a focal point for all of its employees.
Second, it gives back to the community. We've explored before how important it is for us to support our local economy through simple steps like purchasing local; now apply that in a more tangible sense. If you can give back to your community as a business, you have pride of ownership in your community.
In the end, everyone wins.
At the Hub, we've started a new program that allows all full-time employees to take up to 16 hours per year of paid leave to provide volunteer services within the greater Philly area. That non-profits in Philadelphia, Southern New Jersey, and Delaware that focus on human, educational, environmental, or public safety community needs can benefit from our great employees.
We know why we do it: Our employees are happier for it. And it's the right thing to do.