10. Join the Company; Join the Cause

On a bright Monday morning in a rented warehouse in East Liberty, Quinn, Alex, and the senior team prepared to greet their guests. More than two hundred people would be present, including all of Beckley’s management members and many other key stakeholders, would be present. As the guests flowed in, they passed a table stocked with tea, coffee, juice, bagels, and fresh sliced fruit. Fuel in hand, they made their way to the auditorium-like section of the warehouse, where dozens of microphones and a circle of chairs had been arranged. On the other side of the warehouse, Quinn and a half dozen facilitators had set up a forest of tall, movable whiteboards, laptops, projectors, wireless keyboards, rolling chairs, and tables. Images from Beckley Medical’s past successes were moving across the walls in time with high-tempo music.

When everyone was seated, Alex stood up from his wheelchair and grabbed a new pair of Beckley ultralight aluminum crutches. Quinn sat nearby holding a giant to-go cup with a tea-bag label hanging over the side. Kevin Jordan sat in the front row with an iPad that would control the multimedia.

Scattered throughout the audience, the senior team watched Alex with smiles—and some worry hiding just below the surface of their faces. What had they gotten themselves into? Alex could feel his heart pounding under his ribs. He took a deep breath and began.

“It’s good to be here. Frankly, it’s good to be anywhere!” Anxious laughter rippled through the room. “My accident was both a stop and a new start for me.” As Alex talked, Quinn watched the crowd. Every eye was intent on the man hanging on the crutches.

“When I woke up in the hospital,” Alex said as he slowly raised his arm, still in a Beckley blue cast, “I found Beckley medical products all around me—and some in me. I know for a fact, we make great stuff.”

Applause and smiles came from the people in the crowd, Dan Myers, Beckley’s CEO, among them.

“We’re good,” Alex went on, “and we make great products. We actually help restore people to life and health.” The applause was louder this time. “In fact, I believe we are all caregivers here.” With that, the phrase appeared in ten-foot letters on the wall.

“Woohoo!” shouted a big man in the back. He didn’t need a microphone. Others joined him in long and loud applause.

Alex grinned and said something into the microphone, but it was lost.

When the noise subsided, Alex began again, “We are all caregivers—through our world-class products and services. We propose this as part of our Greater Goal.

“Many of you know my friend Quinn McDougall. He’s here to introduce you to a process by which we’re going to consider and confirm our Greater Goal today—together. Quinn?” Alex gave a nod to his copresenter and then hobbled back to his wheelchair.

Quinn stepped forward. “Thanks, Alex and all of you, for inviting this outsider in. The Greater Goal of Beckley Medical should describe the best you aspire to for customers, yourselves, and indeed, the world. It represents what you value and your values. It should call each person and team in the organization to give their best in pursuit of purpose and performance.”

He continued, “A goal is great when it is enduring and full of high purpose. It is great when it calls all of us to align and work together.” Quinn swept his arms about widely. “Finally, it is great when it calls each of us individually to be great and to give our best in service of something bigger than ourselves. Your Greater Goal should represent the North Star by which the company can navigate through both good and challenging times. Now to go over today’s agenda, I’m turning the floor over to Kevin Jordan.”

While Kevin walked to the front, music surged and a video showed Kevin’s pro football highlights. The last clip showed him acrobatically catching a football over defenders in the end zone in a famous shot. This was a die-hard football town, so the noisy cheer got even louder. Kevin asked for quiet and advanced the slide presentation.

He began, “This is the game plan. We will today consider and confirm a Greater Goal for the company. This will stretch us to think about where our products and services are most needed, what work we can be world-class at, and reconsider what businesses we should be in to add the most value. This may provoke us to reconsider our positioning and our strategies. Next, we will construct shared goals, linking all our departments and teams together in a common purpose. Then in the weeks to come, your teams and departments will create breakthrough initiatives to reach for our Greater Goal. But this is also personal.” Kevin walked to the front of the stage. “As Quinn said, this is also about signing up for something that only all of us can accomplish together.” Kevin clicked the remote, and up came a slide: “One of the most powerful forces on earth is an organization fully aligned, team by team and individual by individual, to achieve a shared Greater Goal.”

Alex struggled to his feet, faced the crowd, and spoke the words on the slide from memory, with feeling. “This is an invitation to join our cause. Together we will be one of the most powerful forces on earth … for doing good and doing well. The choice to join is yours.”

Someone whistled and cheers broke out in the warehouse again.

“Let me extend a special welcome to some of Beckley’s strategic suppliers,” Alex said. The applause continued. “Perhaps you have noticed that we have posted some remarkable pictures of patients, clinicians, and others using our products. You will also find letters of thanks from around the world. Enjoy these reminders of the great things Beckley’s products are doing.”

Kevin cut in, “By the way, every picture and letter is authorized and compliant—there are no HIPAA privacy violations here.” The legal folks groaned and others chuckled.

“We’ll be gathering around these walls to deliberate about the Greater Goal for Beckley,” Alex continued. “Facilitators will be around to capture your comments in real time, and we will be using this input to modify the draft Greater Goal statement so that we can confirm it, individually and collectively.”

Quinn took the lead again, “Tomorrow’s work will be developing strategies, breakthrough initiatives, and shared goals in pursuit of the Greater Goal. Facilitators will guide you through the process. You will also take time—and this is crucial—to write your own personal Greater Goal mission statements. That’s right, each of you is going to come up with a statement explaining what you want to do personally to achieve the company Greater Goal.”

Alex noticed people look at each other with smiles and delight.

As Quinn continued, a few Beckley team members were lining up along the outside aisles with stacks of paper. “You knew this was coming. These handouts summarize the input you gave us into our strategies and shared goals. You’ll also see data about customer needs, experiences with our products, and aspirations. And at your tables, you’ll see charts that show what we see as our comparative advantages and where our opportunities lie. You all provided this data. Get familiar with what others are thinking, ask questions, get clarity. Now we are going to put this all to work.”

Kevin, every bit the former pro football player, exclaimed, “It’s game time! Check your notebooks to see what discussion groups you are in.”

The rest of the day was a fast-break but organized progress. Teams formed, worked, unzipped, reformed, and worked further. They debated, deliberated, and disagreed. But then more agreeing and aligning to a Greater Goal slowly emerged. The new Greater Goal included the idea of proactively enhancing health. That would put the company into new businesses with new kinds of products and services, such as home health care, monitoring, and prevention.

Alex, Kevin, and the senior team were everywhere, listening, leading, and encouraging alignment. Amazingly, within the space of a day, hundreds of people aligned to a Greater Goal. Each person—including Alex and Dan—wrote his or her own personal commitment to the Greater Goal.

The Greater Goal for Beckley Medical that emerged at the end of the day was reflective of the initial draft. But now it was their Greater Goal. Every person had been given the chance to reflect and create a personal picture of what these words meant to him or her. The new collective version was projected on the screen.

We Are Caregivers and Life Enhancers for the World
Through Our Innovative Products and Services.
This Is Our Company and Our Cause.

Now the Greater Goal belonged to everyone.

When Alex arrived home that night, Rachel was on the porch swing waiting for him. She moved over on the swing to make room for her dad, patting the spot where she wanted him to sit. The two sat quietly swinging for a while, watching fireflies in the yard. Alex waited for Rachel to start the conversation.

“Daddy, would you tell me something about what you did all day today? What did you like about your day?”

“I will,” Alex said, scooting over a little closer to her. “I really like the people I work with, and today we got the chance to plan our future together. Tomorrow we are going to make plans to do good and great things.” He stopped with that.

Rachel looked over at him. “I like that. Tell me more tomorrow when you come home. I’ll be right here.”