The Surprising Truth How Our Economy Can Thrive and Function Successfully
We know that relationships are what bring us the majority of our happiness...
all of our relationships, not just a romantic relationship...
our children, our parents...
extended family, and friends...
even our coworkers, bosses and employees.
The value of understanding how and where we fit in the society we live in is all too often trivializes and misunderstood.
I think that many people don't stop to think that learning that the same understanding that works to having a happy healthy working relationship with your spouse translates across to all human relationships.
(Except for the sex of course) I'm not going to go through all the parts but just for example; if you always treat your spouse with respect and understanding, rather than being demanding and selfish...
they usually respond in kind and you're happier and have less stress.
You can apply this principle to parent/teen relationships as well as boss/employee relationships.
The bottom line here is; better human relationship = more happiness/ less stress.
There is no exception to this rule no matter who you are or what station you have in life.
It's this broader view of relationships that I want to address in this section.
Understanding this is what determines how happy and prosperous we are as a society.
America has been prosperous to the degree that we have lived with a sense of fair play.
We have been losing our sense of fair play over the past 20 years or so...
our society is crumbling before our eyes.
Many CEOs used to believe if they took care of their employees...
this created loyalty that motivated employees to take care of the company because they wanted to...
and it worked.
Now that so many CEOs believe it is their right to be able to suck their companies dry to make themselves rich...
with no regard for their employees, destroying any reason for loyalty...
companies are falling like dominoes.
Relationship advice we can learn from Hostess.
The Hostess debacle was a messy one, and there was plenty of blame to go around.
Even though the unions did some things that seemed pretty destructive and unhelpful to most everyone involved.
Here are some clear facts that illustrate what I am talking about; While Hostess was trying to cut bakers pay by 8% and their benefits by 32%, the CEO gave himself a 300% raise and 9 executives received a 60% to 100% raises.
Meanwhile they stopped paying into the employees' pension fund, owing them over 160 million dollars.
The Joe Lueken story is a shining example of relationship advice to learn from.
This is a man that has earned the right to give "owner/employee Relationship advice" to the world.
Joe Lueken built 2 grocery stores in the 46 years he worked.
Now that he is retiring at 70, he has decided to give the ownership of both stores to the 400 employees who he says helped him build and make his business successful.
Most of the CEOs in today's world could take some business relationship advice from him.
In today's competitive world Joe paid higher wages to his employees than average, provided medical benefits and treated his employees with the respect he would like to be treated with...
and he did all this without a union making him do it.
Many of his employees worked their entire working life in his store.
Brent Sicard started as a janitor at Lueken's Village Foods and over the years, worked in every department ending up in management.
Today he is the one chosen to be the new CEO of Lueken's Village Foods.
Joe Lueken says he owes his success largely to the employees who helped make Lueken's Village Foods the success it is today.
Even though this may be true, the other part of this story is that Joe had the insight and desire to treat his employees like family...
because he wanted to...
and in turn motivated every employee to perform at their best...
because they wanted to.
Lueken's Village Foods is a place where the employees look forward to coming to work every day.
Joe Lueken created that environment.
Now isn't this business relationship advice worth listening to? Relationship Advice to learn from Wall Mart's bad decisions.
Contrast Joe Lueken's business model with the Wall Mart thinking.
I watched an interview of a man in the Midwest who worked for more than 40 years to build a family owed grocery store.
He had 150 employees with good wages, medical benefits and a 401k plan.
People had good lives and were happy there.
Walmart came in and forced him out of business...
many of his old employees ended up working for Walmart with an average income of $1380 per month.
No medical and no 401k.
Walmart doesn't work on less profit; they take it from us and others...
and I'll show you where and who they take it from.
You can pay 20 cents less for a gallon of milk and 4.
93 less for a pair of jeans or you can have a good job where you earn enough to have a life and dignity...
but you can't have both.
The choice is ours.
all of our relationships, not just a romantic relationship...
our children, our parents...
extended family, and friends...
even our coworkers, bosses and employees.
The value of understanding how and where we fit in the society we live in is all too often trivializes and misunderstood.
I think that many people don't stop to think that learning that the same understanding that works to having a happy healthy working relationship with your spouse translates across to all human relationships.
(Except for the sex of course) I'm not going to go through all the parts but just for example; if you always treat your spouse with respect and understanding, rather than being demanding and selfish...
they usually respond in kind and you're happier and have less stress.
You can apply this principle to parent/teen relationships as well as boss/employee relationships.
The bottom line here is; better human relationship = more happiness/ less stress.
There is no exception to this rule no matter who you are or what station you have in life.
It's this broader view of relationships that I want to address in this section.
Understanding this is what determines how happy and prosperous we are as a society.
America has been prosperous to the degree that we have lived with a sense of fair play.
We have been losing our sense of fair play over the past 20 years or so...
our society is crumbling before our eyes.
Many CEOs used to believe if they took care of their employees...
this created loyalty that motivated employees to take care of the company because they wanted to...
and it worked.
Now that so many CEOs believe it is their right to be able to suck their companies dry to make themselves rich...
with no regard for their employees, destroying any reason for loyalty...
companies are falling like dominoes.
Relationship advice we can learn from Hostess.
The Hostess debacle was a messy one, and there was plenty of blame to go around.
Even though the unions did some things that seemed pretty destructive and unhelpful to most everyone involved.
Here are some clear facts that illustrate what I am talking about; While Hostess was trying to cut bakers pay by 8% and their benefits by 32%, the CEO gave himself a 300% raise and 9 executives received a 60% to 100% raises.
Meanwhile they stopped paying into the employees' pension fund, owing them over 160 million dollars.
The Joe Lueken story is a shining example of relationship advice to learn from.
This is a man that has earned the right to give "owner/employee Relationship advice" to the world.
Joe Lueken built 2 grocery stores in the 46 years he worked.
Now that he is retiring at 70, he has decided to give the ownership of both stores to the 400 employees who he says helped him build and make his business successful.
Most of the CEOs in today's world could take some business relationship advice from him.
In today's competitive world Joe paid higher wages to his employees than average, provided medical benefits and treated his employees with the respect he would like to be treated with...
and he did all this without a union making him do it.
Many of his employees worked their entire working life in his store.
Brent Sicard started as a janitor at Lueken's Village Foods and over the years, worked in every department ending up in management.
Today he is the one chosen to be the new CEO of Lueken's Village Foods.
Joe Lueken says he owes his success largely to the employees who helped make Lueken's Village Foods the success it is today.
Even though this may be true, the other part of this story is that Joe had the insight and desire to treat his employees like family...
because he wanted to...
and in turn motivated every employee to perform at their best...
because they wanted to.
Lueken's Village Foods is a place where the employees look forward to coming to work every day.
Joe Lueken created that environment.
Now isn't this business relationship advice worth listening to? Relationship Advice to learn from Wall Mart's bad decisions.
Contrast Joe Lueken's business model with the Wall Mart thinking.
I watched an interview of a man in the Midwest who worked for more than 40 years to build a family owed grocery store.
He had 150 employees with good wages, medical benefits and a 401k plan.
People had good lives and were happy there.
Walmart came in and forced him out of business...
many of his old employees ended up working for Walmart with an average income of $1380 per month.
No medical and no 401k.
Walmart doesn't work on less profit; they take it from us and others...
and I'll show you where and who they take it from.
You can pay 20 cents less for a gallon of milk and 4.
93 less for a pair of jeans or you can have a good job where you earn enough to have a life and dignity...
but you can't have both.
The choice is ours.
Source...