Painful to Watch: How did they pull this off?

Your Core Values should be about making your company great. But most companies confuse that with feeling good.

At HR Executive, Maura C. Ciccarelli ‘s post inadvertently reveals that the confusion is still rampant.

Caterpillar is listed as No. 16 on its list of the Top 50 Most Admired Companies for HR. How did they pull that off?

The gist

Caterpillar was honored for having “a strong set of values centered on integrity, excellence, teamwork and commitment.”

One of the key examples cited:

“The economic crash of 2008/9 led to Caterpillar’s rescinding of job offers to college students. Rather than just saying “thanks but no thanks,” the company followed up with phone calls to explain the situation and to send the graduates checks of a couple thousand dollars apiece for the inconvenience.”

Why it’s painful to watch

This is like being asleep at the wheel and slamming into people … and being honored for having the “values,” after-the-fact, to send flowers to the hospital.

It lowers the bar. For everyone. Better to honor those who were alert at the wheel before-the-fact to not slam into others — as an example for others to follow.

A company that zigzags as Caterpillar did will have a tough time fostering integrity, excellence, teamwork or commitment — no matter what their “values” say.

Yes, it feels good to say “sorry” after the fact. But that’s not what makes you great. What makes you great is being alert and attentive enough to not allow yourself to fall in a situation that requires you to say “sorry” at all.

The genesis of Painful to Watch

When Steve Jobs was asked about innovation, he responded — “We don’t think, ‘Let’s be innovative! Let’s take a class! Here are the five rules of innovation, let’s put them up all over the company!’ When told most people do just that, he retorted, “It’s painful to watch.”


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The problem with most companies — and Caterpillar is no exception — is they base their values on what makes them feel good rather than on what makes them great.

What they don’t realize is that when you shift your focus to becoming great, you inevitably feel good as a result. It’s a natural byproduct.

Intellectuals solve problems. Geniuses prevent them.

Albert Einstein

The reverse is not true. Caterpillar illustrates this. Their feel-good values make them reactive to unexpected events (not great), rather than alert and proactive (great).

Yes, it’s important to have values. But not any values. The right values.

How do you get to those right values? Make sure your organization learns to consider the right questions.

When you focus on the right questions, you become progressively more alert and proactive. Sadly, four years later, Caterpillar is still zigzagging — and postponing greatness.

Not furloughing is really a great discipline with respect to hiring.

Herb Kelleher
Founder, chairman emeritus, Southwest
Time to stop postponing greatness,

Aman Motwane

Make sure
your organization has “be great” values
and steers away from “feel good” values.
Start here ⇒



2 responses to “Painful to Watch: How did they pull this off?”

  1. Romjyn says:
    at

    Caterpillar’s values are similar to Enron’s “Integrity, Communication, Respect, Excellence” as their values.

    Reply
    • Aman Motwane says:
      at

      “Feel Good” again. Trouble.

      Reply

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