Travel has a way of stretching the mind. The stretch comes not from travel’s immediate rewards, the inevitable myriad new sights, smells and sounds, but with experiencing firsthand how others do differently what we believed to be the right and only way.

I can’t agree enough with this quote by Ralph Crawshaw.  I am always fed by seeing the world from the different perspectives that come with traveling around it, being temporarily away from the routines, habits and comforts of my home.  Indeed, many of my best life choices and decisions have sprung from the thinking and reflecting that I’ve done while experiencing some other part of the country or the world, engaging in new conversations and reacting to new landscapes. I’ve often had my notion of “the right and only way” challenged and redefined by seeing how others live, work and play.  I’m appreciative of the privilege to have had these experiences.

I’m currently having another one.  For several weeks this summer, I’ll be spending time in Portland, Oregon and in other areas of the northwestern U.S.

The trip is a combination of professional development, research in community building and city governance, and personal adventure and reflection.  Because a number of friends and colleagues have asked me about the trip, I thought I’d say a little more about these three areas of focus.

Professional Development

While continuing to work full time at Summersault I’m also exploring how other technology companies do what they do, and seeing what I can bring back to our office in Richmond, Indiana to do what we do better.  In many ways I have exhausted the professional development and training resources available to me in east central Indiana when it comes to leadership, management and building a business, and so I’ve been looking for other opportunities to build those skills.

As I meet with other entrepreneurs and technology workers in the northwest, I’ll be trying to answer questions like:

• How do other technology businesses keep their business model strong and relevant in the evolving landscape of the information age?
• What kinds of environmental factors contribute to having a happy, engaged, creative team of staff members?
• How does the version of managing a team that I’ve cultivated over the years stack up to how other companies do it?  What can I do better or differently, and what have I got all wrong?
• What kinds of things do other cities do to successfully attract and retain technology workers?
• How does Summersault’s community involvement compare to what other companies do for their communities?

Community Building and City Governance Research

As a part of my campaign for City Council in Richmond, I’ve talked a lot about the need to help Richmond think differently about what it’s capable of, and to help the community move forward with a fresh perspective.  I’ve lived in Richmond a long time, though, so it’s just as important for me to step outside “the way things are usually done” there as it is for other community leaders to do the same.  We know that there are other cities around the world that are thriving and growing; some of them are similar to Richmond, some very different, but I think they all have something to offer when it comes to imagining new possibilities for a thriving Richmond, Indiana.

As I attend City Council sessions and meet with politicians and community builders in Portland, and as I travel to other cities in the region (while still working on my campaign back in Richmond), I’ll be trying to answer questions like:

• How are thriving cities operating their city governments in a way that balances quality of life with economic realities?
• What relatively inexpensive, high-impact changes could Richmond, Indiana make to be a more vibrant and self-reliant place to live?
• What are the relationships like in other places between government officials, community activists, non-profit organizations and business leaders?
• What kinds of things do other cities do to successfully attract and retain technology workers? (As above for professional development.)
• If I’m elected to City Council in Richmond, what can I learn from others about how can I be the most effective in that role?

Personal Adventure and Reflection

My life and identity are deeply rooted in Richmond, Indiana.  As a small business owner, community builder and property owner, and just as someone who has come to love that place and that land so much, I don’t spend much time wondering what life would be like if I lived elsewhere.

But I also know that it’s important to me to continue to challenge my own understanding of my identity and sense of what home is, if only so that I don’t become stagnant in my thinking about how to improve and refine those things.  And as I noted above, there’s nothing more perspective-bringing for me than to see my life from the outside for a bit, to put it in contrast to how others live.

So, as I live somewhere else long enough to be more than just a tourist and to get a picture of myself in a different setting, I’ll be reflecting on questions like:

• What is it about Richmond, Indiana that makes it home for me?  Why do I live there and not some other place?
• What things about a neighborhood, a community, a city are important to me to have, and what things can I let go of?
• What parts of my identity and sense of self are done evolving, and what parts do I need to explore more, push on, challenge?
• How can I be the best possible member of the community I live in, the best possible friend to the friends I have, the best possible partner to Kelly, all while balancing my own hopes, dreams and goals?
• How can I have fun and adventure in ways that aren’t available to me in Richmond, Indiana?

Get On With It Already

That’s a lot of questions to try to answer at once, and who knows what I’ll have time for in between working in the “Portland branch of Summersault,” bike rides through the city, trips to the Farmer’s Market, gathering with the surprising number of friends and business colleagues who live out this way, and just enjoying what the days bring.  But I’ll be posting some here about what I learn along the way, and you can also follow my adventures through Twitter and the photos I’m posting to Flickr.

If you have connections in Portland, OR or the Northwest and/or live here and want to connect, please get in touch!

Some observations on walking to work:

1. Since walking has become my usual mode of commuting, I’ve found myself noticing even more what complex and sometimes onerous machines automobiles can be.  There a feeling of lightness I have in walking out the door and propelling myself down the street, feeling my muscles working and pace changing, saying hi to people and noticing changes in their moods and dispositions from day to day, just being out in the open air of the world.  This is much different from the protocols for entering, activating and safely operating my internal combustion go-go machine from one place to another; it’s just a much heavier and more isolating experience, and while it still has its place, I’m quite glad to partake in it less often.
2. The walk takes about 15 minutes or less.  My prior residence was less than 2 miles from my office, which took about 30 minutes.  Even though Richmond tends not to be all that pedestrian-friendly, the previous longer route was especially obnoxious in the loud and busy roads I would walk, and so it became a bit of a psychological barrier to wanting to do it every day.  The 30 minute mark was just long enough to create some stress about how much of the day I might “lose” to walking back and forth, even though other calculations show we lose a good part of our day/lives to earning the money to be able to drive in.  In any case, 15 minutes feels like a great number for me right now – just long enough to make the walk enjoyable, and short enough that I feel close  to all the places I want to be able to be quickly.
3. I’ve certainly saved a little money, between several hundred and a thousand dollars in gasoline expenses depending on what past year I compare it to.  The drive to work obviously didn’t use a whole lot of gas in itself, but not driving my car every day also means lower automobile maintenance costs.
4. This winter season found Richmond with more snow on the ground for longer periods of time than it’s had in recent history.  Local residents and businesses are generally not very cognizant of the impact on pedestrians when they leaving their sidewalks unshoveled; it means that people either have to walk in the street, which is dangerous, or take alternate routes, which is inconvenient.  This didn’t stop me from walking, even if I had to transport an extra pair of shoes along with me, but it’s still disappointing to see the significant resources expended on making paths clear for cars and so little attention given to keeping pedestrian walkways usable.
5. I live in an Indiana Enterprise Zone, which means that the local governments have designated it as a “distressed or blighted area” that could benefit from some economic development incentives.  What it really means is that my employer and I both get tax credits for me living there – close to a thousand dollars on my return this year -  the idea being that I’m helping to make the area less distressed and blighted.  What’s that have to do with walking to work? The goal of having a walkable, bike-able city lines up nicely with the goal of having a vibrant downtown business district surrounded by vibrant, well-established residential neighborhoods.  When we remember to plan communities around the needs of people instead of around what’s best for automobiles, we almost always inevitably also build a stronger local economy.
6. I have to recognize the relative ease with which I – a tall white male – can wander out into the streets past dusk on my walk home after a late night at the office, not thinking too much about being vulnerable or unsafe.  I know some of my downtown co-workers wouldn’t find it desirable or even acceptable to put themselves in the same position.  There are things Richmond could do to help with this – e.g. fix the streetlights that don’t work on Main St. – but there are also a broader set of cultural issues that need work before the pedestrian lifestyle is truly “safe” and normal again.  In the meantime, I’m privileged in a way that I’ll keep taking advantage of, but won’t take for granted.
7. I usually listen to music while I walk (and lately I’m listening to courses on learning Spanish).  Sometimes I don’t listen to anything and just enjoy the sounds around me.  The sounds I listen to often set my mood for the day, and can inject a burst of creative energy that stays with me as the melodies or lyrics echo around in my head.  It’s perhaps no different than listening to the stereo in the car, but dancing, tapping your fingers to a beat, absorbing a powerful verse – they’re all a little more fun when you don’t have to keep your eyes on the road.

Those are some of my experiences of getting to work.  Do you have any to share?

Summersault contacted them earlier this year about their network paging services as a part of our hosting infrastructure, and we certainly thought we’d found a service that was technically well done and reasonably priced.  After we signed up for the $50/month service and started using their system “for real,” we found that it lacked several key features that we needed (including some common sense security precautions), and that their user interface left much to be desired.  To be fair, they did offer us a free demo that we tried out a bit, but the way we were integrating their service with our systems meant that these issues didn’t come out in full until we actually started on the integration.

When we asked them if they could address some of our concerns, they basically said that we would have to pay for any work they might do to change their system.  This wasn’t surprising in and of itself, although some service providers are kind enough to say “hey, that’s a good feature idea, maybe we’ll add that in a future release.”  Not Interpage.

When we finally decided that the system was not going to meet our needs because of those concerns, we contacted Interpage to cancel our service, less than 2 months after we’d signed up.  You would think we’d announced that we were going to burn down their office building.  We got terse replies and no attempt to see if there was a way to keep us happy, just instructions on what paperwork we needed to send over. Okay, fine.

Until they kept billing us.  When I called to note what I assumed were erroneous charges, they said that they needed to bill us for the full length service period after the cancellation date (and they used the date we submitted the paperwork, instead of the date we first contacted them saying we didn’t need their service any more).  I explained how frustrating that was given that we’d never actually had any significant use of their system, but allowed them to bill our credit card for what they said was a final charge, just so we could be done with it.

And then another charge came in for the following month.  And then another charge for the month after that.  Two full months after we’d requested that they cancel our service, they were still billing us.  When I contacted them, they came up with some rationalization that their terms of service allowed for it, even though they’d told me that they were done billing us.

When I explained to Interpage that this seemed quite unethical and certainly not very customer-service-oriented, there was no backing down.  When I said that we might consider disputing the charges with our credit card provider, he literally said “You won’t win.”  The guy was challenging us to a fight.

We did dispute the charge, and during that process, Interpage started charging us fees and interest for the provisional credit that the credit card provider had given us – my understanding is that this runs up against the whole point of having a dispute process with your credit card.  Interpage was then somehow able to convince the credit card provider that we’d agreed to be charged well after our service had ended (I’m still trying to figure that out), and so the provisional credit was reversed.

So, Interpage got what they wanted, they were able to bill all of the fees that they thought they deserved according to their fine print, case closed, right?

Nope, they’ve now turned the $36 in penalties over to a collections agency.

I’ll spare you the remaining details, but it’s absolutely amazing to me that an business could have the gall to be so mediocre in its services provided, so insensitive in its relationship with a customer, and then so brazen in its thirst to “win” any kind of financial dispute.  Is this really the kind of company you want to do business with?

Some customer service lessons:

1. Just because you have fine print that says you’re allowed to take your customers to the proverbial cleaners doesn’t mean that you can treat them like dirt at the first sign of conflict.
2. You should at least pretend to care about making your customers happy for a few minutes before throwing down the gauntlet for a legal fight.
3. If a customer gives you feedback on ways your service can be improved, consider listening to that feedback for a few minutes before ignoring it.

Interpage Network Services, Inc. must have all of the income and customers that it ever wants, and it must not worry too much about what those customers think of it, because it certainly failed on all of the above counts in our experience.

If you’re considering doing business with Interpage for paging, fax, or other services, you’ll want to check and double-check that you aren’t setting yourself up for a billing nightmare.

1. Capitalism vs. The Environment: A small business perspective on doing well AND doing good. This coming Thursday September 24th at 4 PM at Indiana University East in Whitewater Hall Room 132 the Community Room, free and open to the public, no registration required.  I’ll be talking about our experiences at Summersault as we’ve tried to do the “right thing” when it comes to the environment and nurturing sustainable lifestyles, and examine whether it’s even possible to pursue a for-profit technology venture and not be in a harmful relationship with the land and life around us.
2. Get Techie, Get Social! A workshop to help non-technical people learn more about technical topics, especially social media like Facebook and Twitter.  Monday September 28th from 9:30 AM to 11:30 AM at Morrisson-Reeves Library, free and open to the public, no registration required.  If you’re at all intimidated by some of those “newfangled Internet trends” or the Internet in general, I hope you’ll bring your questions and frustrations so we can work them out together.  There’s a PDF flyer for the event.
3. TCP/IP topics in Introduction to Computers and Computing.  I’ll be speaking at this IU East class on Monday October 12th about things like DNS/Bind, network topologies and routing, e-mail technologies, and web technologies.  This particular class isn’t open to the public, but if you have folks interested in discussing these topics in technical detail, let me know and I’d love to speak with your group.
4. Communicating Through Technology. Friday October 23rd at 9 AM at a conference for women hosted by the Wayne County Foundation.  I’ll be speaking along with co-worker Jane Holman about social media and general technology topics.  You can view the conference brochure in PDF, and registration is required.

I hope you can join me for one of these events!

It’s something that I think about a lot (especially when we’re trying to hire someone), but I didn’t have a ready answer – partly because there is no simple answer, but partly because I hadn’t really ever taken the time to write one down.  Below is a list of ideas and comments, in no particular order, that came out when I put the question to the wider Summersault staff.  I hope that you’ll contribute your own thoughts and suggestions, and I’ll pass the list back to the Chamber and anyone else I can find who might be in a position to work on some of these things.

1. If there were more resources and locations in town that catered to the “do it yourself” computer builder/hacker, we might see an increase in people building up their own skill sets.  Opening a Freegeek location here would be a great start.
2. We need more social venues and public spaces that aren’t “the bar scene.”  Coffee shops with free wireless access and decor/atmosphere appealing to the 20s/30s crowd are usually ideal.
3. Technology toys are a luxury, and consumption of them is probably not going to flourish in Richmond right now, especially in a depressed economy.  But, there are a small population of people with dollars to spend on high tech stuff.
4. Some of the existing computer hardware businesses in town are geared toward fixing broken computers, instead of getting people excited about what’s possible with technology, or catering to “gadget lust.”   If a computer business could provide an experience more like what you get when you walk into an Apple Store (technology is fun/cool/interesting, not hard/frustrating), they might serve as a better gathering place or hub for local geeks.
5. Perhaps obviously, more technology-oriented businesses in town will yield a larger number of people, conversations, potential hires, skill-sets, etc.   Having more diverse businesses here in general adds to the appeal of Richmond, and allows geeks to find what they want locally without leaving for Dayton, Cincinnati, Indianapolis.
6. There’s a strong crossover for geeks with bike culture and people generally interested in alternative transportation.  Other hobbies that have a “do it yourself” quality to them are generally found thriving within geek culture, so promoting those (especially cycling) could help.
7. We need more opportunities for conversation and networking among geeks and people interested in technology.  Whether it’s classes or seminars or informal meals, tech people need low-pressure ways to gather. We noted that environment at events hosted by the “Young Adult Professionals” is generally not friendly to introverted geek types.
8. Younger children need to be encouraged to share and learn about any interest they might have in technology, and given opportunities to really explore it.
9. Local higher education institutions need to do a better job of incorporating the “Linux culture” into their programs.  A number of local technology businesses (including Summersault) have trouble finding qualified candidates for our technical positions because the local educational offerings are geared toward an entirely different paradigm.
10. Richmond sometimes needs more “presentable” spokespeople for different parts of its geek culture.  Sometimes the awkwardness and relaxed attire and unique personal hygiene standards that come with being a geek are not conducive to effective public relations and messaging.
11. Richmond needs to generally be more open to a culture of subcultures – it’s okay for people to  have hobbies, interested, specializations that don’t fit into some single notion of the “mainstream” way of life here.  We should support and encourage that, not alienate it.
12. The creative arts are a huge part of encouraging a strong geek culture – when there are artistic endeavors like theater, music-making, film-making, etc. going on in a community, geeks have more opportunities to thrive.

When I asked our group a more direct question about specific actions that an entity like the Chamber of Commerce could take to support geek culture here, we came up with a few ideas:

1. Fund a grant for expanding the existing Hardware Cooperative into a Freegeek location.
2. Provide sponsorship for events and gatherings geared toward geeks, but let some geeks organize it.
3. Work toward having reliable wireless internet access across the city
4. Include the geek demographic as a target in the marketing that you do for your organization and the city as a whole.

That was the result of our initial brainstorm.  What do you think it means to grow a geek culture in Richmond (or in your own community)?

The move brings with it a great expansion into a much more flexible and usable space, a whole new outlook on the world with natural light via second story windows, and a new beginning in the life of the company.  One of the tag-lines in our marketing materials is “World Class Services Without Urban Overhead.”  Well, now we have a bit more urban overhead, and I thought I’d share a few notes and reflections on the move:

Staying Downtown

As we noticed that our existing space on Main Street was feeling smaller and less of a good fit for our operations (think “cramming the new intern in the corner of a conference room because there wasn’t enough desk space”), we started with the obvious question: how can we make our existing space work without moving? Given how much time and money we had invested so far, and how much we liked the location on Main Street, the thought of relocating if we didn’t have to was not a fun one.  We spent time coming up with a list of wants and needs, and then re-envisioned both floors of our building as a blank slate for fulfilling those.  Unfortunately, the costs to rehabilitate a 2nd floor that pretty much hasn’t been cared for since the 1950s, let alone to turn it into the ideal office layout for a modern website development business, was prohibitive for us.

So, we started putting out feelers that we were searching for a new space, and began inspecting available properties in the area – there are a LOT of cool spots hidden away all around us!  We looked all over town, but I think we knew in our hearts that we wanted to stay in the center city business district.  It was downtown’s charm, accessibility, friendliness and vibrant community of small business owners that helped us decide Richmond was the place for Summersault to stay in the first place, so it felt right to continue our investment in this place as we grow (even if it meant waiting a little while to find the right space).

Eventually, through some serendipitous encounters and good fortune, we discovered the building at 708-714 East Main Street.  It’s one of those structures where you really can’t tell how expansive and amazing it is on the inside from looking at the outside, and we knew we were biting off a lot of building, but once we took a tour, we knew we had found the spot we wanted.

The Windows

One of the first things that was clear about the new space is that the windows were going to need replacing.  On two whole floors!  The default option for everyone, of course, is to install vinyl replacement windows, but if you’ve read my blog, you know that I have a bit of an aversion to vinyl windows and other vinyl products, and my business partner Mark shared my interest in finding alternatives.  We, along with the help of our office manager, spent MONTHS trying to make those alternatives happen.  We got quotes for restoring the old wood and re-glazing the glass, but we couldn’t justify the cost.  We got quotes for doing partial restorations and then using high quality interior storm windows, but we couldn’t get past the awkward effect it would create on the interior and the not so great stories some local building owners had about their experiences with the same.  We were really intent on preserving (or at least not totally destroying) the historic facade of the building, and we really wanted to do the environmentally conscious thing.

In the end, we chose vinyl replacement windows.  Even the wood restoration people were telling us that it was going to be our best bet in terms of value.  We figure that the fact that we’re shelling out significant dollars to replace the windows at all is a good thing, and that we’re occupying a historic old building that will undoubtedly need much more love and care over time, in a business district that needs businesses to locate here, will help make up for any concerns that it wasn’t a perfect honoring of the history.  We’re working with a great local window installer – Catron’s Glass – and we hope that you’ll walk by when everything is all done and tell us what you think.

Making the Space Our Own

Beyond the windows, we’ve done and will continue to do some extensive work on the interior of the space to make it our own. Roof repairs, brick work, electrical updates, new kitchen facilities, high efficiency furnace units, network wiring and more will all make this a great space for us and the building’s other occupants to use for years to come.   We had a great partner in Randy Kelly of Kelly Konstruction, who helped us make it all happen quickly and cost-effectively.

We’ve remained connected to the history of the space throughout the process.  The most immediate previous occupant of the space was an architectural design services firm that was also a client of ours, and so we got to see how they used it and hear about the improvements they made and the quirks that came along with it.  We’ve talked to John Gephart of John’s Custom Framing, who used to have his studio in our space, and was standing in it when the Marting Arms sporting goods store that was just down the street exploded in 1968.  We’ve heard the stories from people who took dance lessons on the dance floor that currently spreads across the third floor, and how they remember walking up “all those stairs.”  I’ve got a thick book of title information in my office tracing the history of the land back to the early 1800s, when it was the Dougan Block. And we continue to find little traces of past occupants, great plans for how the space would be used, and inspiration for how it might be used again.

Making The Move

I’ve really appreciated the patience and flexibility that my co-workers have shown throughout this process.  Given that we’d had naive inklings of being able to move in January or February, and here we are finishing up in August and September, it’s understandable that it would be a little anxiety-inducing to wonder if and when your familiar routines and environment would change, and how.  In our usual style, we’ve tried to include everyone’s input at every step along the way, and while some decisions about a space are not made well by committee, I think we’ve had a really great transition that has benefited everyone. And if you saw us rolling office chairs or file cabinets down the street, now you know why.

As staff continue to work on plans for personalizing their spaces, adding artwork to our walls, discovering new views out our magnificent windows, and getting to know this particular part of the neighborhood, I think we are all appreciating that it was well worth the discomfort and hassle that comes with this kind of transition.

Next Steps

There’s still some more work to do before we’re ready for our grand opening – we’ve got some cleaning and unpacking to do, a few more renovations to take on, and some polish to apply.  We’re also figuring out the challenges that come with making a second floor space (or at least our services) accessible to those who can’t climb the 27 stairs. But rest assured we’ll have a party sometime soon, and we hope you’ll join us in celebrating this great new milestone in the life of Summersault website development.

Thanks to everyone at Summersault who helped make this move possible, to our clients who are quite literally the reason we can enjoy this positive change, and to our fellow community members who shared our excitement, asked how the move was coming, and encouraged us in our growth.

The dynamic duo have teamed up to do it again for Blog Indiana 2009, which starts later this week.  It looks to be an expanded and amplified version of the inaugural event – the conference will span three days with multiple tracks – blogging and social media, higher education, non-profit, etc. – and it sounds like there will be a lot more people there too (with great representation from Richmond).  Summersault has returned as an event sponsor, and I’m also presenting again, this time with a session on “Using Social Media for Real-World Community Improvement” and as a panelist in a session about “technology.”

I’ve apparently also been nominated for the award of “Best Hoosier Blogger” in the “2009 Blindy Awards,” and while I’m not saying that I will give you significant amounts of cash just because you click on this link and vote for me, I’m not saying I won’t do that either.

I’m looking forward to gathering with fellow bloggers and fans of technology, and sharing about how these tools can help us make life a little better for everyone.  I hope to see some of you there!

Recently, as a part of getting ready for some staff training, I tried to write down 10 things that might be helpful for a new member of the team to know about how I approach this role.  For better or worse, I now present them to you.  I don’t necessarily expect you to think that they’re good practices; I offer them as self-reflection, not advice.

1. I prefer to interact with you as a co-worker collaborating on shared goals, not as a boss telling you what to do or think; please try to do the same for me.
2. By default, I will have very high standards for your performance here.  I expect that you will always be open to finding ways to challenge yourself and grow.
3. I prefer to confront difficult or challenging situations head on and as early as possible.  If there’s a conflict, I want to work to resolve it, even if it’s hard or uncomfortable.  If there’s a problem, I want to analyze it until we understand it the best we can and know how to keep it from happening again.
4. I place a lot of value on practicing good communication and intentional framing – being articulate, concise, prepared, engaged, and knowledgeable.  If I see you being “lazy” about these things, I will try to call you out on it, and hope you’ll do the same for me.
5. I expect you to take the initiative in solving problems, answering questions, and being more effective/efficient as a staff member.  I want us to rise above the standard of “do my part and then wait for everyone else to do theirs” – we all have unique gifts to contribute, and we all share equal responsibility for finding ways, unprompted, to be successful.
6. There will likely be few times when I seem totally “available” for unscheduled conversations.  It’s still your responsibility to make sure you get what you need from me to do your job.  Unless I’ve explicitly indicated that I’m not to be disturbed, don’t be afraid to interrupt me – I will tell you if I need to defer a conversation until another time.
7. I will take it for granted that you are always acting in good faith, with honesty and integrity that serves the best interests of the company, its clients, and staff.
8. Sometimes I have very particular ways that I want things done, and sometimes it will feel like I’m micro managing.  I hope that eventually you’ll come to trust that I only do this when it’s important to the big picture, but you’re still welcome to challenge it.
9. I want and need your feedback.  If you think of ways I could improve and be more effective, or if you think I’ve done a good job with something, I hope you’ll tell me.  Even if your remarks are critical or uncomfortable, I’d rather talk that through than not have you share it at all.
10. I expect that we’ll engage each other as complex beings with more to us than just our lives at the office.   I’m happy to hear about things going on in your life outside of Summersault, and especially so if they’re affecting your life at Summersault.

That’s ten things about how I approach management at my business, and I think they’re serving me well so far.

What works for you?

Here’s a list of 5 business values that I think I learned via Earlham College:

1. You can do good and still do well. While it hasn’t been as black and white as Mark and I may have thought it would be when we started Summersault, we have found that it is generally possible to make ethical decisions and still make money.  When you do make ethical decisions and still make money as a result, it tends to feel better than other approaches.
   
2. It’s okay to fail. Traditional business culture sometimes tells us that failure is to be avoided at all costs (see: AIG bailout).  I’ve learned that experiencing failure – even deep, gut-wrenching, not-sure-I-can-do-this-anymore failure – is an important part of learning how to succeed, and while it may be difficult and even embarrassing to fail, it doesn’t have to be shameful.
3. Honesty and integrity is always the best policy, and isn’t to be taken for granted. I know it’s a bit cliche, but we’re still surprised at how often we encounter forms of dishonesty in the business world – through outright lies, subtle omissions, or other tactics – and so I try not to take it for granted when we meet someone – a client, potential employee, or vendor – who is honest through and through.  By the same token, no matter how difficult or awkward a business situation is, I’ve found that being brutally honest and taking responsibility for my part is the only way to get through it with integrity and relationships intact.
4. You don’t have to detach yourself from the humanity of doing business. Businesses are just groups of people sharing in some common activity or mission.  Those people have emotions, flaws, difficulties, struggles, nuanced joys and irrational, complex driving forces in their lives.  You can’t run a business and expect to ignore or detach yourself from these considerations, and in fact you may have a much better experience if you embrace them.
5. The universe will have its way. Some people think that good business is all about controlling every last detail of every process involved.  Believe me, I’ve tried that, and it doesn’t work – the universe will throw things at you that you cannot control, sometimes good, sometimes bad, sometimes you don’t know.  The alternative to trying to control everything that seems to work is to do really good planning, and then be ready to adapt and change (sometimes dramatically in a short period of time) and try not to take it personally.

Not all of these things were taught directly by Earlham (the panel today is in part to help convince students that it’s OK to make money – only at a small liberal arts college ), and maybe I’ve even figured some of them out in spite of my time there (I majored in Computer Science, not Management).  I’ll also note that I’m not by any means claiming to be perfect at living out these values all the time!  But I’m confident that had I not had that educational context and transformative four years, I would be a much different kind of businessperson today.

“If you read my previous post about 10 Reasons to Work at Summersault, you may have noted Reason #5: In-depth performance reviews provide you with concrete professional goals and feedback on your successes. As we wrap up our Fall review cycle for staff here, I thought I’d say a little more about just what that process involves.”

Continue reading Staff evaluations: giving feedback, building strong teams.