Guiding Principles

  1. Do business by The Golden Rule: treat customers, artists, suppliers and each other the way we want to be treated.
  2. Have fun doing business.
  3. Go out of the way to create great presentations.
  4. Provide friendly and speedy service.
  5. Improve. Learn.
  6. Eat chocolate

John’s Philosophy of Business

I am writing this to clarify for myself and others my philosophy of business. Philosophy is too big a word for it, because it is pretty simple.

  1. Business is second to personal life and family.
  2. Our personal values should be the ones we use in business.
  3. The most important value is to treat others the way you want to be treated, with respect.
  4. Business is built on personal relationships among employees, customers, and suppliers.
  5. Employees are the most important part of a business. Employees deserve to be well compensated and to share in the company’s success.
  6. Employees owe each other excellent performance.
  7. We value tolerance, but ultimately the group of individuals is more important than one individual.
  8. 99% of all conflict and tension among people is the result of misunderstanding the actions, words and attitudes of others.
  9. I want to work with people who really want to be here.
  10. We should treat our customers like friends.
  11. Suppliers can be as important as customers, especially in our business when we talk about artists.
  12. It is more important to have a decent idea that you execute well than a phenomenal idea that you implement poorly.
  13. Profits are crucial to survival and growth.
  14. The things that got you to where you are today are not the things that will get you to where you want to tomorrow. (The world keeps changing!)
  15. Change is a good thing, in the form of improvement. We should continually improve - our product, our systems, and ourselves.
  16. To grow and to improve, we have to increase our knowledge and seek to learn.
  17. There is nothing more satisfying than being the best at what you do (as a company or as an individual), and being recognized for it.
  18. We have to do what we say we will do.
  19. Appearance matters.
  20. We should make the greatest effort possible to be fair, but understand that as a rule life is not fair.
  21. Everyone has the responsibility to make the job fun.
  22. When in doubt, do the right thing.