(Editor’s note: We asked our main editorial contributors to write about a key lesson – or lessons – learned in 2024. BIG Media Ltd. has a policy precluding promotion of individual businesses, so you will have to do the research if you wish to see which company Mr. Wilde has been leading.)
Involvement in a successful employee-owned organization for over 30 years has taught me many things about the benefits to all involved in the business, sharing in the wealth creation of the business. That is not to be taken for granted, as it only happened because of the founders’ vision, or what I now like to call “founders’ energy”, ignited 61 years ago.
It has been a gradual realization over the years – and finally made completely clear in this, my final year leading the organization – how the initial spark and corresponding energy imparted by the founders of an organization create the potential for long-term success. The energy that forges a company’s initial values and principles sets the foundation for a strong, resilient, and enduring culture.
In our case, it was a combination of the importance of the people within the organization, the quality of the ‘product’ they produce, and, ultimately, the lasting profits that they generate for each other. These three simple founding elements are what continues to set our organization apart from so many others and an important lesson for all those starting something new.
In my experience, it was our founders’ energy that inspired an organization that values and respects the individual, the relationships they share, and the contribution they make. One that recognizes competence and continuous pursuit of knowledge as critical to long-term success.
Our organization supports connection with fellow workmates as core to mutual achievements, which continue to exceed expectation through good times, by reaching new heights, and adapting when conditions are tougher. Together, our people are winning, losing, solving problems, creating solutions, working through issues of the day, and fostering each other’s success with an entrepreneurial spirit – all for the benefit of customers.
Whether producing a product or service, the energy to create new ways of doing things, solving problems, or finding ways to optimize and improve results, came from the founders. They believed success came from relentless pursuit of better methods of achieving positive outcomes for customers. They established a focus on quality that continues to resonate today, with solid reputations built over many engagements, business earned with each opportunity, and accountability to execution being paramount.
The founders brought an energy of abundance to the business. They knew that sharing profits earned “by the sweat of each one’s brow” across the organization would bond the culture of owners together in a better way; imparting on each owner the responsibility to have each other’s back and participating in the financial benefits of doing that.
The founders also understood that creating wealth across the enterprise would serve not just the individual, but their families and communities – creating a legacy of positive energy on the world around them.
Each year brings new lessons, and I am eagerly looking forward to what 2025 will bring.
