A Foundation of Heritage

In the 1830s, a 19-year-old Vermont blacksmith resettled in Grand Detour, Ill., to establish himself in his trade. In the course of his work, he perfected a tool that would revolutionize agriculture and, literally, open the American Prairie and begin the settlement of the West.

John Deere’s 1837 invention was the steel plow – “The plow that broke the plains.” He formed his eponymic company in Moline, Ill., to manufacture and sell it. The company grew rapidly to become what it is today: the world’s largest farm and construction equipment company.

Imagine a line worker at a Deere manufacturing facility today. I wonder whether that hourly employee knows the origins of his company and, if so, what it means to him. If I were a manager there, I would use two recurring quotes in my internal communications.

The first would be the anchor phrase: “The plow that broke the plains.” It is the foundation on which the company was built, the pride of its founder, and the basis for its launch and initial success.

The second quote would be from John Deere himself (photo). From the beginning, he placed special emphasis on quality. He once said, “I will never put my name on a product that does not have in it the best that is in me.”

That attitude, no doubt, is what drove the company to its long-term success and what has sustained it through good times and bad.

That quote should permeate the company’s internal communications. Every employee should embrace the attitude it evokes.

Deere’s face to the public, to its customer audience, is: “Nothing runs like a Deere,” a clever and enduring pun that evokes reliability. That’s fine and that’s how it should position itself. But for the internal audience, there is incalculable value in connecting everyone’s work to the founder’s unequivocal attitude towards quality, in connecting everyone to that same fundamental value and the company’s heritage of that simple steel plow.

Numerous other companies can brag of a deep legacy like Deere’s. General Electric was founded on Thomas Edison’s invention of the lightbulb and related electrical generation and distribution equipment, as well as his unparalleled work ethic. IBM was built on the fertile mind and entrepreneurial genius of Thomas J. Watson.

McDonald’s was a local San Bernardino, Calif., short-order restaurant until Ray Kroc bought it and turned it into the world’s largest fast food eatery based on his “QSVC” principles — quality, service, value and cleanliness. Hewlett-Packard Development Company has enshrined the Palo Alto garage where, in 1939, William Hewlett and David Packard developed the company’s first product, an audio oscillator.

I’ll bet your company has a remarkable founding history, too, no matter how young or old it may be. Twenty-year-old entrepreneurs are dropping out of college every day, it seems, in a rush to bring their cutting-edge ideas to life. If they work hard enough and are persistent, their companies may become tomorrow’s IBM, General Electric or McDonald’s.

Over the weekend, a friend told me the exciting story of his company, a new business just getting off the ground on the basis of a compelling original idea. As he explained it, I jealously wished I had thought of it. It, too, will become a great company one day if he and his partners are persistent and work hard, and I’m sure they will.

All companies have histories – or, “stories.” By telling and retelling these histories, people can connect to, feel and understand the mission, values and passion that have built, grown and sustained their companies. Corporate brands reflect their company’s heritage. With successful brands, the pride and emotion they generate are shared with new employees like family heirlooms passed along from one generation to the next.

In a sports context, devoted fans honor the memories of their teams’ greatest stars and great moments of victory. The Yankees provide an excellent example, with their century worth of countless all-stars, and 27 World Series championships. Green Bay Packers fans recall the era of Vince Lombardi and Bart Starr, when they were invincible. Boston Celtics fans hark back to Bill Russell, Larry Bird, Bob Cousey, Bill Havlicek, and the team’s 17 NBA championships as they root for the latest edition of the Celtics.

In a time of radical shifts, as companies try to respond and adapt to the evolving marketplace, a company’s heritage provides a valuable foundation, a benchmark to guide the people through uncertainty.

Sometimes it’s a person and his/her performance, like John Deere, Babe Ruth or Thomas Edison. Sometimes it’s an event or point in time that gave birth to the company, or marked a significant turning point, such as the break-up of AT&T in the early 80s that gave birth to eight new companies. Maybe it’s the 1982 Tylenol poisoning case that changed the way that Johnson & Johnson engaged its customers.

Every company must hang onto and tap into its founding vision, its heritage so that employees can connect to its essential meaning. It gives employees a stronger sense of belonging, of continuity with something larger than themselves. It adds significance and value to what they do and their contributions to the larger whole.