by Jack Ruffer

Going through my closet the other day in an effort to find more space (actually, my wife wants part of my side of the closet for her “Imelda Marcos” inventory of shoes), I found I'd accumulated a large collection of baseball hats, tee shirts, rugby style jerseys and ski jackets that I hadn't worn in a long time and they all shared one thing in common - they bore the logo of the Fortune 50 company where I worked throughout the eighties. While they differed in style, they also differed in the message which had been embroidered or silk screened on the front, the back or both and the messages brought to mind how the items had come into my possession in the first place - they were given to members of particular teams or, in many cases, to all employees to celebrate the achievement of a major (or minor) company goal or milestone, i.e. a successful product introduction; reaching $1B in sales; $5B in sales; $6B in sales, etc. My rediscovery of these items prompted me to give some thought as to why it had been important to celebrate those achievements along the way. Now, we were a highly profitable company and the subject of innumerable case studies at the Harvard Business School and Wharton, and, of course, these shirts and hats were a proverbial drop in the bucket. After all, we had over a billion dollars in the bank and no long-term debt. And the bucket offered even more. Benefits amounted to a generous 40% plus of payroll. There was profit sharing that amounted to as much as 23% per quarter. There was a company matched 401(K); a free computer for everyone; huge bonuses. All of this made up the golden handcuffs intended to hold us captive in an environment where every company attempted to bribe every other company's employees away. The Silicon Valley was, and still is, a headhunter's paradise.

With all of the company's largess, the tee shirts and jackets seemed rather trivial to me at first until I noticed how the shirts and jackets seemed to help galvanize individuals into teams and teams into highly effective groups, and I began to understand their purpose. We were celebrating achievement and what better to celebrate. We were successful. The Board of Directors was happy with us, the stockholders were happy with us and we were proud of ourselves as well. It was not at all uncommon to see these shirts or caps or jackets at the malls, theaters, restaurants or supermarkets throughout the Bay Area. The whole company took great pride in being part of an international success story, but I'm getting ahead of myself. My point is that what those simple tee shirts and jackets elicited was out of all proportion to their insignificant cost.

Was it exciting to work in such a company? Actually, we didn't call it work. We referred to it as, "the adventure." And, you bet it was exciting! But, it was different. It mattered little what day of the week you chose, but you could drive through the corporate campus at midnight and you'd see lights on in many of the buildings. Engineers might not come in until noon but then they stayed for several days, subsisting on ordered-in pizza and soft drinks and napping under the desks in their cubicles until they'd solved the next hurdle in an improved operating system or a new piece of hardware. This was not the exception, it was the norm. Product Managers and Product Marketers refined their projects in much the same way. There were breakfast meetings at the Peppermill at 6:00AM for me and late nights revising our business plan or working out expatriate compensation plans for our team members working in Japan or Ireland or wherever. As I've already pointed out, we were all well compensated for our work but the shirts/caps/jackets were something special and I guess that's why I still have them. The collection represents to me a nostalgic mini-history of one of the most successful high-tech companies of the eighties.

Why do I bring all of this up? Well, let me ask you: What's the last thing you celebrated with your team? Did you come in under budget? Did you celebrate that achievement? Did you land a major new account? Did you celebrate that achievement? Did you accomplish a major milestone contained in your business plan? Did you celebrate that achievement? It doesn't have to cost a lot; in fact, it's usually just a few pennies compared to the multi-dollar gains. It can be a tee shirt, a cap or a company lunch where you pick up the tab. It can be almost anything, but it's important that you do it together because it underscores that team spirit you've been trying to foster. It gives your people something to go home and brag about to their families and don't forget, employee families are an important part of your team. They'd like to know, or be reassured, that their family member is important and appreciated by you. It makes it easier when those family members (your employees) have to put in all those extra hours. And, it's even more important to celebrate those small victories when you don't have a billion dollars in the bank.