The Business of Business

“The business of business is people.”

Herb Kelleher
Retired CEO & Founder Southwest Airlines

I’ve Been Thinking . . . about something a lot of companies talk about – people.

We’ve all heard the company mantras like:

“People are our priority.”
“We can’t do it without our people.”
“People are what really matter.”
“(Add your own favorite).”

Sometimes actions are not necessarily consistent with proclamations. Herb Kelleher is right, “The business of people is people.”

One of my favorite scenes in the Academy Award-winning film As Good As It Gets, is where Carol (portrayed by actress Helen Hunt) becomes so infuriated with Melvin (portrayed by actor Jack Nicholson) that she finally gets up from the restaurant table and is ready to leave. Melvin looks at her quizzically and quite stunned. He doesn’t have a clue that he just insulted her. He asks her to sit down; she obliges and responds, “Melvin, pay me a compliment. I need one and quick. You have no idea how much what you just said hurt my feelings.”

Melvin is paralyzed. He mutters something and Carol lets him know that it’s not even close to a compliment. She demands, “Now or never!” Melvin pauses for a moment, goes into a confusing description of his ailment and then ends his disjointed comments with: “You make me want to be a better man.”

Shocked, Carol responds: “I think this is about the best compliment of my life.”
In my heart, I believe there is nothing more important than people. The way we see people. The way we interact with people. The way we lead people. And, our attitude about people’s abilities, motivation and potential. Like Melvin, people are grateful for leaders who help them grow, develop, blossom. . . become better people.

As Walt Disney said, “You can dream, create, design, and build the most wonderful place in the world . . . but it requires people to make the dream a reality.” Every day leaders have the privilege of looking for lives to change, hearts to encourage and minds to stimulate so they can make dreams a reality.

Leaders possess the incredible opportunity to touch people’s lives. Every day, in some way, we can add value to people and impact their effectiveness. It all begins with our willingness to “hemorrhage” our energies into making a difference in people’s lives. Dynamic leaders have an open mind and big heart that continually look for the absolute best in other people. Our highest honor is to instigate and nurture the growth of our people.

Peter Drucker would support this leadership tenet. He observed, “Leadership is the lifting of a man’s vision to a higher sight, the raising of a man’s performance to a higher standard, the building of a man’s personality beyond its normal limitations.”

People know when an organization values them. People know when a supervisor has their back. People know when teams are created to cooperatively achieve uncommon results. People know when a leader believes in them. People know when someone wants to help make them a better person. It is the ultimate compliment.

That is what business is all about.

“The growth and development of people is the highest calling of a leader.”

Dale Galloway