GREAT 22 IDEA: Cross-Train Your Employees

With so many online options for buying office supplies, why would anyone pick up the phone, place an order, and wait for a Magee's truck to deliver?

“We have 25 trucks on the road every day,” said Peter Winslow, who bought the Randolph, Vermont–based company in 1963. Customers from 70 miles away rely on Magee's to keep their shelves stocked. One way they compete with office superstores is by belonging to a purchasing cooperative that serves 250 small office supply dealers.

Another secret of their long-term success is cross-training all employees to do multiple jobs. That way, people can fill in for each other as well as understand what it takes to get every job done. “The more and different jobs you can do, the more valuable you are,” said Todd Winslow, Peter's son, who runs the company with his father's counsel but does not have a title.

“We don't have job titles,” said Todd Winslow. “Everybody has a job to do, but they can all do more than one job. That's how we survive during recessions.” (Bloomberg LP is another company that frowns on job titles.)

The Winslows also believe in rigorously testing people, from the time someone applies for a job to the day they leave the company. They rely on a variety of personality and aptitude tests, including Meyers-Briggs. “You never know what people are good at until you test them,” he said. “We tested a guy for a sales job but he ended up being great at collecting (money).”