I was watching a special on the life of Milton Hershey on the Biography channel the other day, and it struck me how a man who is a business icon and household name handled things back in the day.
The special told of his life and how hard he worked and how he dedicated himself to candy making. He had a lot of failures before he hit upon the formula for Hershey’s Chocolate, but when he hit it big – he hit it big! Most of all he remained true to himself, his nature, and his upbringing. Even though he made a fortune he always used it to help others who were not as fortunate. The Hershey Industrial School that he built is still in use today in the town that bears his name: Hershey, Pennsylvania. He always preached loyalty to his workers and his workers were in turn, loyal to him. He built the town of Hershey with it’s public transportation and school system, HersheyPark, The Hershey Hotel, and left a legacy that few around the world can match. I would venture to say that it is eclipsed by only Walt Disney.
But there was one story that struck me and that really resonates…
One day during the Depression, Mr. Hershey was observing construction of his hotel with one of the Foreman. They were watching one of the new steam-shovels at work moving a tremendous amount of earth. His Foreman remarked: “Just look at that beauty, why I’ll venture it can do the work of 40 men!” Mr. Hershey considered this for a few seconds, tuned to his Foreman and said:
“Let’s get rid of this thing and hire 40 men.”
During the Depression people!!!!!!
I heard this and I thought “where is the magnate in today’s business world who has that kind of consideration? Who is the businessman or businesswoman who would take it upon themselves to set aside a machine in favor of employing physical labor? Where is that business owner and how can I apply for a job with them?”
Then it hit me: “There’s no one like that today. In this economy everyone is cutting jobs to save themselves. No one is doing what Mr. Hershey did.” What Mr. Hershey did was instead of letting people go after the Stock Market crashed, he hired more people and put them to work. True there were some lean times but he still took care to look after the welfare of his workforce, and would hire as many as he could to help as many as he could. As a result his business did not just survive – it thrived!!! People were more than willing to buy products from a company that cared not only about its own people, but people in general.
The fact that he made the best chocolate in the world didn’t hurt either.
Now I know that most of you are thinking about tea parties, torture memos and keeping one step ahead of the collections departments, but the fact remains that we are in a crisis which requires a good business leader to help pull us out of it. Sure we have a good political leader now in the White House, but that’s only half of the picture. We need a business leader to step in and announce “hey, I’m not going to let any of my people go and I’m going to start finding ways to create more jobs so that I can hire more people.”
The unfortunate part is that so far business hasn’t done squat, in fact business has done more to make this economy worse instead of making it better. Business needs to take its head out of its ass and start doing the right thing, and start puting good people, who need jobs back to work instead of acting like a High School clique and treat jobs as if they were a seat at the cool kids table.
In the long run it will help their bottom line because they will have more customers, and it will help their image because right now their image is in dire need of rehabilitation.
Seriously, how many of you “Captians of Industry” would like to be as well thought of as Mr. Hershey? Well it’s quite simple…
The next time you have a resume come across your desk from someone who is unemployed, underemployed or underutilized don’t be so quick to toss it into the recycle bin. Take a look at it – a good loooong look at it – and see if there is a place where this person might be able to fit into your company. If there is a job out there for them, then hire them to do it! Don’t be afraid that you would be “enabling” someone or giving them some sort of handout, you wouldn’t! You would be giving them the means by which they can support themselves and their families on their own without having to ask for assistance that so many of you Conservatives are whining about.
In other words, don’t be afraid to ditch the machine and hire 40 men because the 40 men will be loyal to you as long as you are loyal to them, and they don’t need to be taken apart and given a lube job as often as a machine does.
And here’s another thing that business needs to do…business needs to start thinking about the things that they do want instead of the things that they don’t want. You want stability? You want a robust economy with people spending their money on your products, well start visualizing that. Mr. Hershey knew “The Secret” and used the “Law of Attraction” and look what it got him!!!! He is loved the world over !!! He got it!!! He understood!!! Today’s business leaders can do the same thing!!! Don’t be afraid to ask the universe for what you want!!! You want customers? You want people buying your services? All right then, get the process started by creating some jobs and hire some people who need them!!! And when you have doubts, when you think this is crazy, when you start to waver in your faith that all of this is going to work out for every-body’s benefit just remember WWMHD.
What would Mr. Hershey do?
Start by ditching the machine and hiring 40 men, then go from there…
The problem with most companies today is that they think more of the OL’ MIGHTY DOLLAR than they do of their employees. What Mr. Hershey did was admirable during the recession. He knew people had to survive and he knew that people would also buy his products, providing they were getting paid to spend their money. Today’s society would rather build machines and robots to do the work of several men/women. Even the car companies have this equipment and when they were first introduced, several people were laid-off then because the robots and equipment were able to take their places.
I say get back to basics. People need to work but there just aren’t the jobs. People are too quick to throw out resumes from people who have been out of work for some time, instead of taking a chance on that person, who could very well bring in new ideas, be productive and be a hard working employee for that company. Today, the world no longer goes on the fact of taking care of your neighbor. It is based on the dollars that a company can save or bring in. Unfortunately, when the economy comes to a stand still, these same companies will eventually have to file for Chapter 13. It would be easier to create jobs, even the ones no one wants to take, than to downsize and eventually have a company go under for selfish reasons.
I totally agree with Mr. Hershey’s reasoning. He was a man with integrity, honor and compassion. He knew what society needed and he went the extra mile, gave employement to those in need and also became famous, not just for his chocolate bars but because he also helped his community and people.
Alot of companies could follow his example and in the long run, do their own companies good. Hiring more people could very well be beneficial to them in the long haul. During a recession or otherwise. Mr. Hershey set the example that he could do more for society than his selfishness, and by setting that example, was well admired. I would challenge more companies to follow his lead but it would be doubtful since greed has become their moto now than ever.