歪歪漫画

What makes one business successful and others not successful?

What makes one school successful and another not so successful? What makes one organization successful and another less so?

Is it the leadership? Is it budget management? Is it the mission? How about relationships? All of these are critical, but one overriding principle is an absolute must.

A kindergarten teacher asks her students to bring something for show and tell that represents their religion. The next day Benjamin gets up and says, 鈥淚 am Jewish," and he shows the class a Star of David.

Next, Sheri stands up and says, 鈥淚 am Catholic," and she holds up a statue of Mary.

The next boy, Robert, holding a dish, stands and says, 鈥淚 am Lutheran, and this is a casserole.鈥�

English-born American activist Thomas Paine said, 鈥淕ive to every other human being every right that you claim for yourself.鈥�

Paine鈥檚 quote is an excellent definition of respect. We wish every human has the same rights we claim for ourselves, even to approve of casseroles. People say relationships are everything, but respect would top that.

Without respect for one another, there are no meaningful relationships.

Jimmy Carter only served one term as president. He had a more than challenging job because of the Iranian hostage situation. Still, he was a person of respect and who was respected. His Middle East peace agreement between Israel and Egypt still exists.

He was able to negotiate such an agreement because he was well-respected on both sides and respected each country's values.

He was honest and a hard worker. He was a down-to-earth kind of guy 鈥� he was, after all, a peanut farmer. His 鈥渙h, shucks鈥� nature was especially evident when he left office. He built homes for people via Habitat for Humanity and formed the Carter Center, which helped many countries have fair and honest elections.

He also was instrumental in bringing safe water to underdeveloped nations. He truly cared about people because he showed respect for them.

Undoubtedly, he was or is the best former president we ever had.

My brother, who works part-time for Rapala Lures (Rapala is now the world鈥檚 largest maker of fishing lures), was telling me about the company's CEO.

Rapala was started in Finland in the 1960s, and its main headquarters are in Finland. The CEO was visiting their United States headquarters in Minnetonka while looking for their best Rapala salesman to get some ideas on what they do to be successful.

He interviewed one of their California top salespeople and asked him what his secret was. The salesman said, 鈥淚 respect the company.鈥�

Think about what he said, 鈥淚 respect the company.鈥� How can a company or organization be successful if its employees or members do not respect it? It is guaranteed to fail if the people do not respect it. This is true of a company, church, school, organization or family.

When my father turned 100, we celebrated him at the assisted living residence where he resided. We were surprised at the number of people that came to congratulate him. After all, his friends and associates had all passed away.

Still, the respect he earned trickled down to people who knew about him because their parents or friends knew he was a man to be respected and admired. This is the beautiful quality of respect; it can be passed down from generation to generation.

What does it mean to show respect for your company or organization? Answering these questions will help you decide:

Are you committed to the organization? Do you hold it in high regard? Do you speak well of it? Do you bring an attitude of hope to it?

Do you enjoy your organization? Do you laugh with others? Do you work hard for it? Do you care about it? Do you try to foster good relationships?

Do you believe in TGIF (Thank God It鈥檚 Friday), or are you a TGIM (Thank God It鈥檚 Monday) person? People who respect their company or organization relish the opportunity to be part of something.

We all have worked for a company or been part of an organization we didn鈥檛 respect, and our actions probably demonstrated it. On the other hand, consider those organizations that you were part of and that you did respect. Wasn鈥檛 it a lot more fun and rewarding?

Ask yourself this critical question, 鈥淚f you respect your family, your company, the organization you are a part of, or your country, do your actions show it?鈥�

Riddle: What is small, red and whispers? (Answer: a hoarse-radish.) People who respect their company shout it out through their words and deeds.

I want to thank Higgins Heating and Air Conditioning for putting a 100% poster and flyers in their office.

John R. Eggers of Bemidji is a former university professor and area principal. He also is a writer and public speaker.