“The growth and development of people is the highest calling of leadership.” That was a statement made in the early 1900s by Harvey Firestone who apparently knew a thing or two about leadership and business; after all he was the founder of Firestone Tire and Rubber Company. What’s interesting is that corporate America is still agreeing with his assessment of leadership today! In the last five years corporate spending on learning and development has increased by double digit amounts each year. To further magnify the importance of investing in leadership development, consider this: heading into 2016, 57% of companies listed leadership as an urgent problem! Research also shows that culture and leadership are 3x more important than salary when it comes to someone recommending a place to work. The reality is if you’re in business and you’re not investing in the growth and development of your people, you quite frankly might not be in business very much longer.
Investing in Our People is About More than Success
At PacMoore we believe that investing in our people is foundational to our future success as a food contract manufacturer. Yes, this is important when it comes to getting better at dry blending, extrusion, spray drying and taking care of our customers. However, at PacMoore the real purpose behind why we invest in our people goes far beyond that. It’s not just the culture we want to create; it’s an answer to our calling to love others.
Life Transformation When We Invest in Each Other
The executive team at PacMoore believes that our employees have been given to us as a gift. We are responsible for how we treat them and for the truths we instill in them. For many of our employees this is a foreign experience. Sadly, many of them have never worked in an environment where they have felt valued or been treated with respect. Many come from broken homes and only know the pain and suffering of broken relationships. It is our responsibility, and quite honestly our greatest joy, that we are able to help them understand their God-given value. We work hard to create an environment where they can experience life-giving relationships as God intended. Like many other companies that means an investment in dollars to train and teach our people in areas of technical expertise and leadership. But the transformation comes when we also invest ourselves…our time, our energy, our minds and our hearts. Ultimately it’s about people investing in other people!
I believe Harvey Firestone was right, investing in the growth and development of your people is the highest calling of leadership. And like much of corporate America we are making financial investments to help us do that well. But it’s the reasoning behind that investment, a call to love our people, which renders it the best investment we make each year. And of course the one with the greatest return!
