DEAR iSERIES USER
It's hard for me to believe that I have been working in this industry—and at Help/Systems—for more than twenty years. It's been an incredible experience to be part of a startup company and to see it evolve over time. This continuity has been a blessing because it has allowed me to avoid making the same mistake more than once. By staying at the same company, I have been able to put into practice many of the lessons I’ve learned. Here are my lessons—I hope you will find them fun and a little different from your standard business school classes!

Don’t be afraid to take risks. Always be willing to push the boundaries, try a new way, and stand up for what you believe in—whether in your personal life or speaking for your company.

Go with your gut. Your first instinct is usually right. This is especially true when you are hiring employees.

Treat people with kindness. Our philosophy is, “we don’t care what you buy; we just want you to like us.” And, that line of thinking builds good relationships between our employees and our customers.

Find the right people. Don’t settle. Look for passionate people who can learn. Set the bar high and refuse to lower it—even if it takes longer than expected to fill the position. Interview and test, over and over again. Don’t compromise to cut your losses.

Create fun in the workplace. Invest in developing a positive, life-affirming culture, and it will come alive. Create and fund a “fun committee” to conduct stress-busting activities that keep Jack and Jane Employee from becoming dull or burned out. Build community and celebrate successes.

Offer the best service in the industry. Spend money and reward your staff. Remember, service is King.

Don’t try to teach happy. Find people who have positive attitudes and can-do spirit. Get rid of the bad apples.

Happy employees equal happy customers. Happy product support people are nice and helpful. Happy programmers write elegant code quickly. This makes our customers happy by giving them great products and great support. Happy customers are loyal and buy more. This helps our company grow, allowing us to do more of all this good stuff. Keeping everyone happy ultimately lets us give back to customers, employees, and the community as a whole. (For more about this lesson, see our Good Neighbor Activities.)

Communicate. Avoid surprises. Tell your bosses and your employees what they need to know.

Continual improvement. Never sit still. This has to be the most important lesson of all. If you have been a Help/Systems customer for more than a year or two, you already know we never sit still. You have seen entirely new products, new features developed for new technologies in existing products, new services, and new people-friendly approaches to customer support. This lesson is the foundation of our ISO 9001-certified quality system.

In applying these lessons to my life and Help/Systems, I have found a great deal of personal satisfaction. Although some of the lessons aren’t easy to execute, it’s comforting to know that they have helped me build the best staff around and positioned us to meet our goals and build our business well into the future.

I welcome your feedback on this article!