Herman Miller, Inc. - My Camelot Experience

Today when we think of corporations more than often we only see darkness. It is important to know  that there have been and still are companies that understand the power of tapping into the collective genius of their people to create greatness. These leaders have the intelligence, insight and foresight to understand that it is possible to do good and do well. They know the great potential that lies within people and they know how to unleash that potential to create win/win/win results – win for the shareholder, win for the employees and win for the communities and environment. Herman Miller was one of those companies. I was blessed to have worked for Herman Miller for 13 years, most of which were under the leadership of Max De Pree – a phenomenal leader. I believe that the leadership philosophy and the core values and principles practiced by Herman Miller, transcends time and circumstances. I also believe that in this era of chaos and confusion, people everywhere are hungry for vision-led and values-based organizations. 

After serving nearly nine years in the Michigan Department of Corrections I was burning out so I made the difficult decision to leave. My office was located within the prison population, between the chow hall and the yard. While this proved to be a great advantage in gaining the trust of the inmates, it also wore my spirit down. Everyday I had to go through several layers of gates to get to my office, so to some degree, I felt I was “doing time”.  I witnessed the daily verbal and physical abuse prisoners subjected on each other. More disturbing, I witnessed the abuse the custody staff imposed on the prisoners. Everyday we worked hard to create healthy, strong programs to help the inmates gain new skills and perspectives, and build their self-esteem. But sadly, there was a group of security staff that worked just as hard to break them down. I also saw too many of my fellow civil servants who appeared to be marking time, waiting for retirement. It was time for me to get out.

I decided to give the private sector a chance. Being a baby-boomer I was very skeptical about corporations. I held the belief that all companies made money at the expense of people, families and communities; and they had no regard for the environment. In my search process, I was very careful and deliberate about the kind of organization I was willing to contribute my time, energy and gifts. I was not willing to compromise my core values. I found an extraordinary company that was vision-led and values-based. 

Herman Miller was the kind of place anyone, anywhere, in any era would want to contribute their time, energy and skills. Ironically, the place where I saw one of the greatest examples of the collective power of mobilizing a community of people around a shared vision and shared values was a Fortune 500 publically traded global office furniture company.

Why I Chose Herman Miller

I was fascinated by Herman Miller because of its’ people and the leadership. My university degrees are in sociology, so an important part of my research of companies included talking with the people that work there. Everyone I talked to at Herman Miller lit up when they talked about the company. They rarely talked about their title or rank. They talked about “my company” like I talk about my family- with pride, honor and love. I remember the day I decided to work for Herman Miller; it was my eighth interview. I was taken on a tour of one of one of their manufacturing plants. To my amazement, I saw fresh flowers in the break areas; the floors were so clean they shined. Everyone was on a first name bases with my tour guide and they greeted me with welcoming smiles and waves. The positive energy was palpable. As a probation officer in Detroit, I had visited many manufacturing plant operations and witnessed their drab conditions. I saw the despair and anger in the factory workers eyes. There was no joy in the places I had visited, so I was very suspicious of Herman Miller’s “model factory” and I thought this must be a showroom for customers.  

On my way back to the interview room, I ducked into an auditorium where a meeting had just ended and observed a member of the housekeeping staff at work. She was not only putting the chairs back into place, she was meticulously working to ensure that the legs of all the chairs were perfectly aligned. I remember asking myself, “What kind of culture and environment engenders this kind of ownership in someone who is on the bottom realm of the pay scale?” - that clinched the deal! I wanted to work there. I took an entry level job, making significantly less than my job at the prison. I also turned down three lucrative offers from other companies. I gave up my leadership and management role to join this unusual company – basically, I started all over.

My journey at Herman Miller was a powerful learning experience. It not only taught me that corporations can be successful and ethical, it also confirmed my belief that people everywhere are extraordinary and capable of achieving remarkable things. That experience solidified my belief that mobilizing people around a compelling shared vision that is rooted in deeply held shared values and aligning decisions and actions and the organization to serve the vision and values, produces amazing results. Herman Miller had an international reputation for quality and design. It also had a reputation for participative management – a culture of employee participation, ownership and teamwork. Max De Pree, the CEO and Chairman practiced a rare and beautiful form of leadership that created a healthy, nurturing organization - a place worthy of people’s commitment, participation and respect. 

I remember when I first met Max. It was the day before Thanksgiving and everyone met in an open area of one of the manufacturing plants. Vice presidents stood next to plant workers, accountants stood next to housekeepers. Everyone was there to celebrate Thanksgiving together. Max went to the podium and rather than read platitudes, he spoke from his heart. He talked to us about people, families and communities. He used words like love and trust. He challenged us to reach for the best in ourselves. I had always felt pressured to compartmentalize myself at work. I thought the workplace, especially the private sector, would be a difficult place to express my values. I was stunned to hear the CEO and Chairman of the Board, telling us that it was legitimate to bring our whole self to work. When I heard Max speak about “love”, “beauty” and “trust”, I knew on a very deep level that I was in the right place.

Living The Values 

While at Herman Miller, I had a life changing defining moment; a vision of life. My second year there, I discovered I had five fibroid tumors in my uterus that were growing at an alarming rate. I was advised by my doctor to have a hysterectomy. On my final consultation before the surgery, my doctor informed me I was pregnant. He told me, "You will surely die if you go through with this pregnancy". Without any discussion or even a pause, he picked up the phone, dialed a number and started talking with someone. He looked at me and said “ I am scheduling you an abortion with a colleague of mine - I can’t do it because I am Catholic”. While he was talking on the phone I got up and left. On my drive home I went inside myself – much as I had many years ago in that gymnasium during the fifth grade play. I envisioned bringing my baby home and listened to my heart. I experienced calmness and I knew all would be fine. Committing to this vision changed my life forever.

During my very difficult pregnancy, I heard of a job opening that reported directly to Max De Pree, CEO and Chairman. The position, Director of Corporate Relations, was responsible for government, media, community and shareholders relations. It was the opportunity I had been waiting for; a chance to demonstrate the leadership and management competencies I had gained while serving in the Michigan Department of Corrections. I was 8 months pregnant at the time I applied (you could do that at Herman Miller). On the day of my interview, I went to the doctor and discovered I had developed toxemia - another serious health threat to my baby and me. My doctor immediately admitted me into the hospital. When I got to my room I called Max to inform him that I was withdrawing my bid for the job. When I explained the situation Max said, “Are you in labor?” I said “no”, then he asked “are you in pain?” I said “no” – to my surprise, he said, “Let’s interview”. I got the job - and thank God, I also had my baby! 

I found Dr, Derrick Lenters of Holland Michigan, who had the courage to partner with me when all other doctors I contacted had refused. Against all odds, this partnership fueled by our shared vision and commitment enabled my daughter find her way into this world. Once again, by trusting the power of my own vision and values, a lesson my parents taught me, I received the greatest gift of my life - my daughter Nicole

Max comes from a community that strongly believes in traditional family values, yet he respected my decision to pursue a job while on maternity leave knowing I would have a young infant and a job that would require travel. I know that it was difficult for Max to hold the tensions, just as it was for me. After three months of maternity leave, I started my new job. 

I soon learned a very valuable lesson; with great opportunities come great challenges. Within several weeks of starting my new job, Max asked me to go to Washington to defeat a bill that had a good chance of passing a subcommittee of the United States Senate. It was discretely attached to an anti-Japanese bill and given the climate of the country at that time, it was likely to slide through the Senate and become law. The bill, the Retail Dealer Agreement Act, would have granted a hundred-mile exclusivity rights to independent dealerships in the office equipment and furniture industry. This would have limited Herman Miller to one dealer per large city and crippled our distribution capacity. Shocked and in disbelief of what Max was asking me to do, I asked Max if he was serious – he responded “I hired you because I have high expectations of you and I have confidence in your abilities - Go kill the bill!”. 

Two years later, by galvanizing the support of multiple constituents, we defeated the bill. My success was due in large part, to Max’s high expectations and belief in my capabilities. It was also because Max had accepted my decision and commitment to both job and baby, and I had accepted full responsibility for that decision. By doing so, we created a win-win situation. Herman Miller won, I won too. Nicole has brought me great joy and love. She is my teacher and best friend. Given who she has become today, it’s apparent Nicole won as well.

Vice President For People – Who Does That?

A couple of years later Max asked me to serve in the position of Corporate Vice President For People, responsible for global “HR”, Leadership Development, Quality management and Communications. I was thrilled to become an officer of the company; however I was very uneasy with the title. I felt it was frivolous and a little corny. When I expressed my concerns, Max told me “People ought not to be regarded as human resources. Money, facilities and equipment are resources, people are the heart and soul of this company”.  He also told me that I was not the Vice President For People, but rather – “You are in the state of becoming, the Vice President For People”. It took years for me to understand the deep meaning and awesome responsibility inferred by that title. It was an honor to serve in that capacity.

My learning curve was steep; however I had an abundance of teachers. Not only would Max guide me with “tough love”, his father, D.J. De Pree, founder of the company, was 90 years old at the time and still came into the office several times a week. I was very fortunate that his office was close to mine.  He would remind me that my newborn baby was my priority. He told me stories about how special people had influenced his values and his leadership philosophy. I watched Max honor his father’s legacy. Max not only became a responsible steward; he continued to grow and deepen that beautiful legacy.

Nothing Fails Like Success

I had been in my new position just under one year when the company got into trouble. We looked around and there were over 300 global companies in our markets, making our products better, faster and cheaper. This was threatening over 25 years of continuous growth and over 60 years of success. Herman Miller was regarded the best in class. We were unmatched in design, innovation and quality and in sustainable financial performance. Our products were in the permanent collection of the Louvre, MOMA; we had earned a global reputation for quality and excellence. But we learned the hard way that nothing fails like success, when you fail to continuously learn, change and adapt. We had become comfortable, complacent, and even developed a touch of arrogance - a very dangerous place to be. We took our success for granted and became isolated and insulated from the changes occurring in our markets and in the world around us. We became out of touch with our customers; the changing workforce and changes in the environment. Most damaging, we got off mission and abandoned our values

We had grown so fast we were not communicating a clear direction, a vision to our employees and we were not passing on the company values. When we were small, we were intimate and could pass the vision and values through stories and relationships. Now we were large and complex and we had not adapted quick enough. We had lost our way. We had drifted away from the core values that sustained the company. Participative management and ownership was a very important value at Herman Miller. The company had practiced employee participation since 1950; it had greatly contributed to the company’s success in the past. We also had failed to continuously renew the systems, processes and measurements necessary to sustain an effective participative management environment. We were headed for disaster. 

Renewal and Transformation

Max called for a companywide renewal. He charged five of us on the senior leadership team to lead the renewal and made this initiative our top priority. These were people with big jobs; the SVP of Manufacturing, SVP of Sales and Marketing, SVP of Research and Development, the CFO, and me, the Corporate VP For People. Max asked us to take the time to reflect on an important question:  “What do you believe this company ought to become" - Our vision for Herman Miller? 

We secluded ourselves in our training center on Lake Macatowa in Holland, Michigan. After a few days we finally came up with a vision. We proudly took our vision to Max. In his wisdom, Max knew that our vision was not sufficient. Our vision included market share, profitability, EPS… but was not the kind of vision that would get people up in the morning. It would not energize them to contribute the best of their hearts, minds and imagination to make the vision a reality. So, Max asked us to develop a disciplined process to engage everyone in a management role worldwide to enhance the vision. 

The vision got better. We took it back to Max and he gave us another mandate - to develop a highly inclusive visioning process that would engage every team and every person in the company. We did it and the vision came alive! Working in teams, the people took the management vision and illuminated it. The vision got richer, deeper and better on every level.  The people throughout the organizations were closer to the customer and they were closer to the work; they produced, sold and made the products; they ran the infrastructure and did the work. Most important their involvement created a high sense of ownership for the vision. That ownership engendered commitment, energy and excitement. 

The leadership team listened to all the ideas and settled on a vision that reflected the essence of what we were hearing – To be a Reference Point for Excellence. People wanted the company to return to a position of leadership, not purely in financial terms (although growth was essential); the emphasis was on quality, excellence and innovation. We believed our financial performance would be a result of our collective efforts. But once again Max was not satisfied

                                   “Without moral purpose, competence has

                                     no measure and trust no goal. This defining 

                                     thought gives me a way to think about the place 

                                     of moral purpose in our organization”

                            

                                                                                 Max De Pree

Max believed that a vision, no matter how compelling, was not sufficient to mobilize the hearts, minds and imagination of the people. He believed we needed a moral purpose. We repeated the participative process, engaging every person through their work-teams to identify our core values. With the help of the people we came up with seven core values that would serve to shape our culture, guide our decisions and behaviors and align our orgaization. We also engaged everyone in companywide dialogues to insure we had shared agreement on the interpretation of those seven values. Our core values were:

Customer Focused Vision – Put the customer at the center of our vision. 

Participation & Teamwork – Recognize the individual and collective genius of people. People have the right and responsibility to contribute their gifts to achieve the vision, and business goals within the boundaries of our values. 

Ownership - Treat employees like owners emotionally and financially. Employee-Owners” are responsible and accountable for the decisions that affected their work. They have the right to share in the risk and rewards of the business. 

Valuing Uniqueness - Encourage people to bring their whole self to work and to contribute their uniqueness to help achieve the company’s goals. Value differences and celebrate the richness of diversity. 

Family Social and Environmental Responsibility - Work, family and communities are inextricable connected. Our management decisions should aim for innovative solutions that support these important stakeholders.

Learning Organization - Invest in developing employees, leaders and teams. Continual learning is a shared commitment.

Financial Soundness - is essential, however is not the single aim of our work. It is the result of our commitment to our mission, vision, values and goals and our collective efforts.  

The leadership team looked at the vision and values the people of Herman Miller had recommended. This led us to struggle with some very serious questions: Is it possible to achieve these vision & values? Are they appropriate for a public company? In light of our economic challenges – do we have the time and resources to do this? We concluded that we must. We had to garner the courage to renew and transform the company and we needed everyone’s help to get there. We developed a very disciplined companywide transformation process and named it “Renewal”. In two years we witnessed phenomenal results. We went from the road to disaster, to the road to greatness. We became:

• Fortune Magazine’s Most Admired Company 

• Fortune Magazine’s Top 10 companies in America To Work For

• The Best Company for Women

• The Best Company for Working Mothers

• The Best Products by Business week

• The Best Managed Company in the world by the Bertelsmann Foundation

• Sales increased 20%. and we returned to double digit growth

• We had 2 stock splits over the next 3 years

• We were awarded numerous environmental awards including: The White House Presidential      citation for outstanding environmental management and Fortune's 10 most environmentally responsible corporation

The most powerful result was in the people and cultural. The energy, excitement and commitment this transformation unleashed in the people was palpable (as well as profitable). People were using their hearts, minds and imagination to rethink, renew and recreate the company. We felt great, we looked great and our results were amazing. We had returned to greatness and it felt wonderful! 

Now our vision and values looked like others you see on banners in corporate headquarters, in annual reports and in marketing brochures however, the difference was the process that got us there. We engaged everyone in the company in the development of the vision and company values and then Max had the courage to liberate the people in the organizations to make the changes. We asked the employees to work in cross functional, cross level teams to help us change and align everything to serve our new vision, values and business goals. We also encouraged everyone to identify anything needing to be changed through a powerful suggestion process. This process enabled the people and teams to make changes without going through the laborious hierarchy. 

 We moved from an organization where “Quality” was a function called  “quality control” to a corporate culture where “quality" and "excellence" became a mindset that was the standard embraced by us all. People took the vision and values very seriously. They used their minds, hearts and imagination to realize the vision. They were determined to become “A Reference Point for Excellence”.  The employee’s pursuit of excellence was relentless. They came up with highly innovative ideas and created amazing results all across the company. In effect, we created a movement.

                “A movement is a collective state of mind, 

                  a public and common understanding that the future

                          can be created, not simply experience or endured”    

                                                                   Max De Pree

(to be continued)

May all your beautiful hopes and dreams come true!

Michele

www.dreammakers.org