23. Think And Act Like An Owner.

We share in our success. Make decisions by reminding yourself, “This is my company and my own money.” Think globally about Famous Enterprises, not just about you, your department, your branch, district, or group. Ask yourself, “Will this help all of us succeed?”

Marc's Message:

The first sentence (“We share in our success.”) in this fundamental is an important one.   I say that because it seems most companies don’t always share in their success.  Conversely, they often strip away profits from their organization.  As you know, at Famous, our objective is to reinvest back into the company in many different ways to ensure long term success.  Whether it’s new facilities, implementing new technology, reinventing our counter and express will call operations, adding more breadth and depth of inventory at our branches and RDC’s, buying more trucks, improving our kitchen and bath showrooms, and most importantly retaining and hiring additional talent, it’s all about investing to strengthen our company.

However, as you know, in order to reinvest in Famous and all of you, including team bonus opportunities, we need to be profitable.  Since the housing and financial crisis seven years ago, we have steadily built our profitability.  In fact, the graph in this fundamental looks like our sales and profit growth from 2010 to 2016.  I am extremely proud of the fact that we have been able to invest in all the areas listed above plus many, many more, and of course, all of you, as training is also an important investment.  Training and development allows you the opportunity to learn more and apply the new knowledge that not only you acquire, but that is required by our customers to satisfy their needs.

Please remember that profit is not a dirty word.  Best in class companies within their respective industries are all extremely profitable, and their suppliers and customers wouldn’t want it any other way.  In fact, their customers want to do business with the winners that are providing the value and service that they require, so they can in turn do the same for their customers as well.  So how do we become more profitable?  That’s the magic question that needs to be answered.  However, I can only provide a few general comments, due to limited time and space in this message, which is, “think and act like an owner”.  It’s so important for you and your peers to make decisions like you own the company.  As we do that more and more each and every day and with every decision we make, we will continue to grow our profits and consequently share even more of our success.  In this message, it’s not practical to specifically address all the different ways that we can be more profitable, because there are literally hundreds, if not thousands.  However I am extremely confident that with your individual and especially collective capabilities to collaborate, teach and learn from one another, you will make wise decisions that are in the best interest of Famous.  And even when we stumble, let’s look at it as a learnable moment, which is an opportunity to enhance our ability to be even more profitable in the future.  Either way it’s a win-win, to become stronger and help move our company forward.

So many people at Famous have a great understanding of the importance of improving profitability, and the first way they do that is by thinking about the overall company, not themselves, their functional area, their branch, or their district.  They think about Famous Enterprises first, and how their actions and decisions will help our organization.  Some individuals that come to mind are Denny Reinbolt, Bruce Ondusko, Bruce Neubauer, Dawn Stonestreet, Kris Newton, Bill Shultz, , Dianna Dalton, Katie Sharrock, and Alan Turk.  Interestingly, some common traits among this group is that they have a lot of experience in multiple roles in the company, and therefore, understand the big picture of our business, and how profit is produced.  I’m proud of them for not only the work they do each day to help Famous, but their loyalty to the company and all of you as well.

In conclusion, I am so confident that we will make even greater strides in the future because when we will all think like owners, and make decisions that are in the best interest of Famous, everything will fall into its proper place.