Last month while discussing employee engagement and culture, I mentioned David Friedman and his company, High Performing Culture.  David provides his clients with a practical, sustainable way to identify and build cultural behaviors (he calls these fundamentals).  At QIC, we refer to our fundamentals as “exclamations,” as they exclaim our high standards and commitment to excellence.

QIC’s first exclamation is: Do the Right Thing.  This post by Scott Hoover resonated with me because it’s a good read and holds several life lessons – one of which is an example of doing the right thing.  The title definitely drew me in – “My Only Customer Called and Told Me 44% of My Product Died”and as I began reading I became intrigued and wanted to see how things turned out.

Perhaps another reason for the post’s appeal had to do with the calves mentioned.  You see, they remind me of my greyhound, Fuzzy.  Fuzzy is a retired racer and happens to be a “cow dog,” due to his black and white coat.  Fuzzy’s racing career was cut short because of an injury – he suffered a compound fracture of his right rear leg.  He also had to have a toe amputated.  Thanks to great vet care, Fuzzy’s owners treated his leg and made him available for adoption.  He’s been part of our family for almost two years and has settled in to a very comfortable retirement.

Faced with a “train wreck,” as Scott describes, he made the decision to “do the right thing” and give his customer credit for the animals that were lost.  In the end, his willingness to be flexible and empathetic strengthened the relationship.  By taking a rational approach to the situation, he was able to talk things through with his customer, who decided to continue purchasing from him.

He also made changes to his process to hopefully prevent further problems.  As he put it – he didn’t need to plant more lemon trees – he had enough lemons!

Good stuff.