A Daily Dose of the American Dream Sample 8

Ken Olsen and DEC

"We have committed the Golden Rule to memory, now let us commit it to life."

-Edwin Markham

Ken Olsen, founder of Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC), was a nuts-and-bolts engineer who maintained a down-home approach to product quality and ruled his empire with a well-defined set of beliefs and values. In an era when computers were gigantic machines, DEC created a relatively small computer that was rugged and well designed. When Olson started his company, he struggled to define his own managerial style. For years Olsen began Tuesday mornings by attending a breakfast organized by Thompson Phillips, the CEO of Raytheon Corp. The morning discussions often revolved around applying Christian principles to the business world. Olsen's learned his management principles from Christian teachings, and he was sometimes known to quotes hymns to make a point. Some may call this approach simplistic, but is was good enough to turn DEC from a small, obscure company into the second largest (behind IBM) computer manufacturer in the world.

    Olsen's heroes are the early American Puritans. To him they were tough and well equipped to cope with failure. They never expected too much from sinful man and never blamed others for their mistakes. Olsen lived his beliefs. He often ate in the company cafeteria, welcomed advice, and encouraged employees to voice their opinions. When he felt his executives were too far removed from the end users of the company's products, he "invited" twenty-four managers to a warehouse where they put together computers from morning until dusk.

CONSIDER THIS: What are the basic values that drive you to succeed? Are your choices and decisions based on character and integrity or on whim and opportunism?

This story is adapted from A Daily Dose of the American Dream, by Alan Elliott, published by Rutledge Hill Press. The book contains 366 stories, one for each day of the year.

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