I like this. Don’t know the source however.

“The people we surround ourselves with either raise or lower our standards. They either help us to become the-best-version-of-ourselves or encourage us to become lesser versions of ourselves. We become like our friends. No man becomes great on his own. No woman becomes great on his own. The people around them help to make them great.

We all need more people in our lives who raise our standards, remind us of our essential purpose, and challenge us to become the-best-version-of-ourselves.”

I was digging through my laptop today and found a PDF of this email.

I worked at Baseview for a number of years. Don was a great CEO. In the email below he listed out his philosophy for running companies (of which he ran several). 

Enjoy.

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From: Don Rogers
Date: 9/25/1995

Some of you have known me for a number of years, but most of you have only known me for a short period of time.

I have a [general] philosophy of how business is to be conducted.

This has a good side and a bad side and I will start with the good side:

1. Employees are a companies most valuable asset.
2. Earning a living should be as much fun as possible.
3. The company should do whatever it can to improve an employees self worth.
4. The company should provide an above average benefits package.
5. Wages should be fair.
6. The company should provide ongoing education.
7. The employee should know on a frequent basis how they are performing and receive constructive criticism from their supervisor.
8. The customer should be left with the feeling that Baseview was the best company they ever had the pleasure of doing business with.

The bad i.e. things that tick me off:

1. Playing politics – I have known this to cost an employee their job.
2. Not being user friendly to co-workers or customers.
3. Removing items from co-workers work area without leavinq a note stating who took it and when you plan to return it.
4. Not cleaning up after you have had your meal i.e. washing dishes, wiping down table and throwing out trash.
5. Using refrigerator for archival storage.
6. Talking all but 1/8th of an inch of coffee and not putting another pot on.
7. Missing your 2 point shot at the trash basket and not picking it up.
8. And last but not least – please flush the toilet after you have done your business.