Good Company: Caring as Fiercely as You Compete

In Good Company, Hal Rosenbluth and Diane Peters use the example of their own company, as well as an original survey of fifteen other best-practice companies, to show how businesses can manage change gracefullyand profitably. Drawing from Rosenbluths innovative human resources, training, and development practices, in addition to a wealth of information from other innovative organizations, the authors offer a lively, thought-provoking, and inspirational antidote to lean-and-mean thinking. Good Company goes behind the scenes at fifteen of the worlds best companies to reveal how they have met todays most pressing management challenges, and offers solutions that can be implemented in any companylarge or small. Like thousands of companies in the mid-1990s, Rosenbluth International and the other companies showcased here wrestled with the combined pressures of globalization, unprecedented growth, competition from technology, and an emphasis on speed and efficiency, by embracing uncertainty and learning to reinvent themselves to the benefit of customers and employees alike. In Good Company, Hal Rosenbluth and Diane Peters show how businesses can managed change gracefullyand profitablyby remaining steadfast to the fundamental principles of trust and respect and by maintaining a deep commitment to a corporate culture that brings out the best in everyone. Good Company demonstrates that companies can not only have a positive influence on the lives of the people who work for them, but that they have an obligation to do so. By creating an environment of collaboration, innovation, and joy at work, companies of any size can attract and retain the best employees, foster long-lasting relationships with customers and suppliers, increase profits, and compete successfully in a fierce and impatient marketplace.In Good Company, the authors take readers on a journey of discovery, describing Rosenbluths experiments with strategic planning, organizational design, and human resource programs during a period of rapid and radical transformation. Already known for its offbeat and non-hierarchical culture. Rosenbluth made a deliberate effort to discard outdated practices and created a work environment that promotes and rewards continuous learning, teamwork, flexibility, and leadershipat every level of the organization.Rosenbluth International has not been alone in forging a path to competitive success by investing first and foremost in its people. Hallmark Cards, Lands End, Mary Kay, and a dozen other pioneers showcased in the book are leading the charge to make the workplace a place where employees and managers alike come to build friendships, expand their minds, and contribute to their communitywhile performing to the highest standards expected from their customers and shareholders.A celebration of corporate spirit, Good Company offers a lively, thought-provoking, and inspirational alternative to lean-and-mean thinking, by showing businesses how to gain a competitive edge when they take greater responsibility for the welfare of the people and the societies they serve.

World-class companies are great to work for,as well as with.
Hi -- I'm Diane McFerrin Peters, one of the two authors of the books, "Good Company: Caring As Fiercely As You Compete" (Addison Wesley/Persius, 1998) and "The Customer Comes Second" (Morrow, 1992). I always wanted to write a book (actually as far back as I can remember) but I didn't know what path might lead me to do it.

I joined Rosenbluth International in 1987, and I knew from my first day at that company that it was truly special. It was creative, exciting, warm and caring, competitive, cutting edge and FUN. These are not words many people use to describe their jobs.

Companies from around the world came to visit Rosenbluth to see what inspired the company's astounding growth (from $20 million, when my co-author, Hal Rosenbluth joined the firm, to the $4 billion company it is today). The answer was simple (to say but not to do): put your customers second, and your employees first. The happiest workers give the best service, come up with the best innovations and find ways to contribute to a healthy bottom line. Hal (the company's CEO) and I were spending most of our time hosting these visitors, and one of them suggested we write a book. We did. We called it "The Customer Comes Second."

Since that time (five years ago), our company has lived through some profound changes: more than tripling in size; expanding around the world; completely redesigning itself, decentralizing into business units; moving from a 100-year, no-layoff policy and facing an industry turning point: commission caps.

Shortly after our first book came out, Rosenbluth International was named one of the 100 Best Companies to Work For in America. We began meeting annually with our 100 Best peers, and some terrific ideas emerged, so we invited fourteen of the companies to share their ideas in a new book that would answer the questions companies face today. Good Company is the result of this unique braintrust, and it offers an inside look into how some of the world's best companies handle some of business' toughest isseus. Rosenbluth International and friends like Hallmark Cards, Lands' End, Mary Kay, USAA and Southwest Airlines open their minds to the world.

Was writing these two books as fun as I thought it would be? YES! But it was also incredibly tough. We tell a story in Good Company about syndicated sports columnist Red Smith. It seems a young, would-be sports-writer said to him, "There's really nothing to sports writing, is there?" Red Smith replied, "You're right. There's nothing to it. Just sit down at a typewriter with a blank sheet of paper and slit open a vein."

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