You may have noticed the tagline on recent advertising for Walker: "Independent, Family Owned Company, Designing and Producing Commercial Riding Mowers since 1980." It's obvious we think of our family-owned and -operated business as a strength and distinctive advantage. Some might suggest we are advertising a "weakness" in contrast to the strength and stability of big corporate business. However, as the "pendulum swings" with mergers, consolidation and downsizing in big corporate America, it is becoming apparent that "big corporate" is not necessarily synonymous with strength and stability. This is particularly true when a big company has lost "family focus" and begins to treat people like a commodity.
Family focus, in my definition, is a business philosophy that recognizes the importance of each person's contribution to a company. There is a concern not only for your own interests, but for others with whom you are working... there is giving credit to others when due... there is a commitment to stick together in good times and bad. Many small family-owned businesses start out with family focus; the challenge is to keep it as the business grows.
In our company, we have set policies (e.g. no shift work) to strengthen families. The principle we follow is "strong companies are built by strong persons, strong persons come from strong families (and strong families come from God's hand)." This is not to say that we only have strong family people working, but we try to operate the business to strengthen employees' families.
Of course, the family focus within our company spills over to our relationship with distributors, dealers and end-customers. We are particularly pleased that many of our customers are private owners and small businesses where the family focus is important to them. We're proud when outside observers have reported the Walker Mower owners are "like a family," sometimes even when they're competitors. It comes down to this - people make businesses and people like to do business with people.
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