
Your decisions grounded in belief prove how much you honor customers and employees. They say how fearless you are in suspending cynicism. They indicate whether you nurture people and relationships to their full potential. What you decide to believe defines the spirit inside your organization.

It took 20 minutes for Johnson & Johnson’s board of directors to decide how they would protect the people during the Tylenol catastrophe in 1982. With the Golden Rule firmly strapped to their back, they set to work.

For beloved companies, customers’ lives inform and inspire company behavior, actions, and operations. Beloved companies think and rethink how to conduct themselves, so they earn the right to their customers’ continued business. The “experience” they deliver is far more than the execution of an operating plan.

Beloved companies lock customers in their corporate memory. They honor them by ensuring continuity for serving their needs. At Edward Jones, freshly minted advisors are paired with a successful veteran for at least a year, allowing them to share in the operation of the branch, receive invaluable mentoring from the veteran, and assume responsibility for some of the veteran’s accounts. This assures the advisor has modeled the best behavior and has built relationships with clients he or she will take over from the veteran.

Griffin Hospital decided to make medical records available to patients and their families. They wanted to mend years of a perceived imbalanced relationship, so Griffin made the total transparency of patient medical records an olive branch. Anything the hospital knew, the patient and family could know. In doing so, Griffin Hospital patients could spend all the time they wanted with their records, have them explained, and consider them their “own.”

Beyond the banking experience, Umpqua Bank believes in customizing experiences by community. Umpqua’s mission is to become a destination for customers. They offer a warm environment customized by community interests and a banking experience personalized to every customer who walks through their doors. They want customers to think of the Umpqua Bank in their community as a gathering place.

“Let’s make sure we do the right thing,” CEO Harry Kraemer told Alan Heller, president of the Baxter International Inc. division responsible for dialysis equipment, when dialysis patient deaths began in August 2001 in Madrid, Spain, and Croatia. Rather than waiting to know if they were at fault, Baxter took accountability immediately, with a global recall and a hold on distribution of product.

Zane’s works to deliver at least seven “wow” moments for each customer. They believe that seven powerful interactions prove to customers that Zane’s is consistently good to them, and the best (and only) place to go for anything regarding bicycles. Zane’s “pays it forward” consistently with their customers, and it grows their business.

Newegg.com knows customers start watching the clock as soon as they place the order. So Newegg.com commits to delivery reliability. If you can place an order for an item on Newegg.com, you are guaranteed that it is on its way to you.

Beloved companies take the time to be clear about what their unique promise is for their customers’ lives. They use this clarity when they make decisions so they align to this purpose, to this promise. Clarity of purpose guides choices and unites the organization.