I recently interviewed a gentleman for a position with our company, and I asked him why he was looking to make a change after having spent such a long career (17 years) with his current employer. Though he had various reasons, the one reason that made the greatest impression on me and appeared to have the greatest affect on him, was the change in his company's philosophy.

For the first several years his company emphasized the quality of their work; satisfying their customer by providing a quality job was the primary focus. But that had changed. The company had become more interested in how fast the job could be completed. Their incentive was to "save hours", therefore, improving the projects' bottom line, increasing profits - this had become their primary focus.

But aren't we all out to increase profits? After all, that's what business is all about, isn't it?

"Maximizing shareholder profit." How often, in today's business world, do we hear this as a company goal? It is after all, the American Dream; to make money and lots of it. And it truly is the primary focal point of most businesses.

But look at the problems that have developed when this becomes the primary objective. When making money becomes an obsession, unethical, fanatical and sometimes illegal behavior is often the result. It has recently contributed to the downfall of corporate America.

We all probably catch ourselves thinking this way at times, especially when work tends to slow. Business is so competitive - if we can't find a cheaper way to make a product or deliver a service, we think we'll be left behind. When there's a dip in the business cycle and shareholder wealth diminishes, cutting costs, not increasing quality or adding value, becomes the number one priority. And sometimes it should be. But the manner in which costs are cut is often questionable; laying off production and sales personnel, cutting back on maintenance, delaying capital investments, and sometimes even changing the company culture to deal with a downturn. 'How can we do things faster and cheaper?' is often the topic of the next manager's meeting.

While this may be shortsighted, it's tempting to do the same thing. 

But what about long-term quality and growth, doing things better, and following all those meaningful ideals and values outlined in our impressive Mission Statements? Shouldn't we ask ourselves how we can become better? Granted, that may often mean becoming faster and cheaper, but there is much more to it than that. There actually is more to business than profits and shareholder value.

James Collins and Jerry Porras, authors of the book Built to Last, studied the habits of long-term successful companies with at least a 50-year history. They refer to them as visionary companies. One of their findings: "contrary to business school doctrine, we did not find 'maximizing shareholder wealth' or 'profit maximization' as the dominant driving force or primary objective through the history of most of the visionary companies. The visionary companies have generally been more ideologically driven and less purely profit-driven. This is one of the clearest differences, yes they pursue profits . . . yet maximization does not rule. The visionary companies pursue their aims profitably."

I think they also make a great analogy regarding the pursuit of profitability. "Profitability is a necessary condition of existence and a means to more important ends, but it is not the end itself. Profit is like oxygen, food, water and blood; they are not the point of life, but without them there is no life."

So what is the point of a business providing a product or service if it isn't purely to make money? In a speech to new trainees, David Packard, one of the founders of Hewlett Packard, talked about why a company exists:
"I think many people assume wrongly, that a company exists simply to make money.

Recently, we had a company come to us inquiring about our services. Now roofing is normally not a building owner's priority unless the following occur:

• Roof leaks are costing the building owners time and money
• Business is good so there's money available to spend on roofs

This company did not want to reduce roofing costs, but more importantly, they were looking for a way to "add value" to their existing client base. This is a concept we hear a lot, but don't often use. It was good to see someone's primary focus actually on increasing the value to their clients instead of their shareholders.

If we provide real satisfaction to real customers - we will be profitable. If we can keep that idea in front of us at all times, our choices in the way we do business are easy.

We hired the gentlemen I discussed in the beginning of this article. We are hoping to partner with the company looking to increase their value to their clients.