I rarely respond to a Dick Mays post, but I'll make an exception for this post, for several reasons.
First, like geezerfreak I used to know Bill Witherspoon, and think it's wonderful that he's doing well. Second, I think it's worth pointing out that the admirable structure he's come up with for his business is the utter antithesis of the way that the TM movement is run. Third, I suggest that the question of where Nabby's holy crop circles come from is now settled. Bill made them: > In 1990 came a brush with notoriety when Witherspoon > carved the Hindu symbol for the forces of nature into > a dry lakebed in the desert. The design spanned a > square quarter-mile. Aerial photos from a National > Guard reconnaissance plane sparked a panic over aliens. :-) --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Dick Mays <dickm...@...> wrote: > > http://www.inc.com/top-workplaces/2010/how-to-build-a-beautiful-company.html > > Top Small Cpmpany Workplaces > How to Build a Beautiful Company > Employing open-book management and leadership by consensus, the Sky > Factory's Bill Witherspoon has set out to create the perfect business. > As Told to Leigh Buchanan | Jun 8, 2010 > Inc. Newsletter > > > Andy Ryan > Blue-Sky Thinking Bill Witherspoon's company manufactures high-tech > illusions. Its virtual windows and skylights use backlit images and > high-definition LCDs to replicate clouds drifting across perfect > skies. > > Related Articles > * The Sky Factory: Bill Witherspoon > * 2010 Top Small Company Workplaces > * Do You Have a Winning Workplace Culture? > > Small Business Success > Inspiring company profiles and best practices for smart business owners > > In the early 1970s, Bill Witherspoon lived for months in a school bus > parked in the Oregon desert. A hundred miles from the nearest town, > he spent day after day painting the sky and the clouds. He later sold > his work for tidy sums. Witherspoon would spend the rest of his life > alternating between painting and launching companies. His first > company experimented with new methods of agricultural management. In > 1982, he co-founded Westbridge Research Group, a developer of > ecologically friendly agricultural products that boasted Jonas Salk > as a board member. In 1990 came a brush with notoriety when > Witherspoon carved the Hindu symbol for the forces of nature into a > dry lakebed in the desert. The design spanned a square quarter-mile. > Aerial photos from a National Guard reconnaissance plane sparked a > panic over aliens. > > During one of his peckish artistic periods, Witherspoon offered to > tear out the ceiling in an orthodontist's office and replace it with > a skyscape made from painted tiles in exchange for braces for his > children. That act of creative barter provided the idea for The Sky > Factory, a $3.9 million, 34-employee company in Fairfield, Iowa. The > business makes backlit images of sea and sky that are installed on > ceilings and walls. Its products are popular in hotels, spas, > restaurants, and hospitals. > > When Witherspoon, then 60, launched The Sky Factory in 2002, he > wondered, Was it possible to create a company as beautiful as a work > of art? A beautiful company, in Witherspoon's mind, starts with the > elimination of hierarchies that impede and repress the expression of > people's natural curiosity and creativity. The Sky Factory's > organizational structure is as flat as its creator's beloved desert. > There are no employees, just owners, and everyone cares deeply about > doing what is best for the group. > > Both painting and company building start with a blank canvas. In a > painting you create beauty with the addition of each brush stroke. In > a company you create it with the addition of each talented, engaged > person and with each thoughtful act. I thought about how satisfying > it would be to build a beautiful company, and how much better for the > people who work there. > > I am an optimist and an idealist. In shaping The Sky Factory, I > started with the assumption that people are naturally curious and > creative. I wanted to craft an environment in which they would act > like entrepreneurs, not like robots. My first decision was to give > people the opportunity to purchase discounted ownership, and 100 > percent of employees have participated. The responsibility for > revenue and profit belongs to everyone. From that foundation, I > derived five principles. > > 1. Share information > > As a company of owners, everyone who works here is naturally > motivated to participate in important decisions. To do so, people > have to know everything. All information about The Sky Factory is > right out on the table -- with the exception of HR issues and > salaries. And not to reveal compensation was the decision of the > group. > > On Fridays, we have a two-hour meeting. For the first 30 minutes, we > go over all the metrics. In addition to the critical numbers, people > will raise questions about how many problems we've had that week or > how many architects our marketers visited. We track all of that and > maintain a historical record of the data that anyone can see at any > time. Everyone is trained in financial literacy so he or she can make > the best use of the information. > > Secrets corrupt cultures. Secrets cause backstabbing and power plays. > They signify disrespect. Secrets can't survive in an environment of > total openness. It cuts off their air. > > 2. Give everyone equal footing > > Leadership should arise innately from the drive to do well for the > company, exercise creativity, and serve others. It should not be > vested in titles and cascading organizational charts. There is no > hierarchy at The Sky Factory -- no managers or supervisors. Leaders > are those who, in a given situation, lead. We use facilitators for > the sake of coordination, and those roles rotate every week. Every > week, a different person runs our general meeting -- we go > alphabetically. People who see a job do the job, because they don't > feel constrained by their perceived place in the company. > > I believe great ideas come from everyone, and a flat organization > ensures that all ideas are heard and given equal consideration. By > the end of last year, we had accumulated a substantial amount of > cash, and we discussed how to make the best use of it. We decided to > pay off the mortgage on our new factory -- the idea of our newest and > youngest employee, who is primarily responsible for data entry and > international shipping. > > Where there is no authority, there is no fear, and people rise to > what is required of them. > > 3. Make decisions as a group > > Most people believe the quest for consensus inevitably ends in > frustration. That's true in an organization in which upper > management, middle management, and the workers have different agendas > and access to information. In a company in which there are no levels > and everybody knows everything, most people are already on the same > page. When an issue arises, someone presents the new information and > gives people a few moments to digest it. That's followed by some back > and forth, and we usually come to agreement in record time. No > decisions are made behind closed doors. Everyone is part of the > process. Everyone's intelligence is brought to bear. And by > definition, at the end, everybody buys in. > > When we don't achieve consensus, we don't go forward. We let it die. > Maybe it will come up later, when circumstances are different or we > have new information. At a meeting in November, I brought up the > notion of establishing a Sky Factory in Europe. The others did not > like that. I argued my case for 15 minutes and then said, "Clearly we > don't have consensus, so we'll forget about it." And we have. One > codicil: This works only if the person objecting offers an > alternative solution or reasoned point of view. You are always > welcome to say no. But you cannot just say no. > > 4. Serve each other > > I think of our factory as a community, and service is the core of > community. There are two kinds of service. One is: I do this for you, > and I expect a return. For example, I provide good customer service, > and I expect loyalty. The other kind of service is selfless. I do > something for you without thought of a return. I help you > spontaneously and without thinking about it. That second kind of > service is powerful. When someone has a moment of free time, how > wonderful if she automatically thinks, Now, what can I do to help > someone else? At the start of our Friday meetings, the leader for > that week tells an appreciative story about someone at the company > and presents the person with $25. Often, the story involves an > unselfish, unsolicited offer of help. > > This leads to one of my more idealistic notions: that everyone in the > company should not only know everything, but everyone should also be > able to do everything. At most companies, people take courses because > new skills make them more valuable, so they can get ahead. At this > company, we value people learning new skills so they can help others. > So if someone gets sick or goes on vacation or falls behind, no > problem. Another person can step in. For example, our accounting guy > is great on the lamination machine, which is a very expensive, > sensitive piece of equipment. The idea is that the more I can do, the > more people I can help. > > 5. Share the rewards > > We reward based on performance -- of the individual, of the group, > and of the business. Every month, we distribute 50 percent of net > profit to everyone, providing there have been no late shipments since > the last bonus, cash does not drop below six months' operating > expenses, and we have experienced positive cash flow for the previous > 12 weeks. The formula for the bonuses is salary divided by total > salaries. Needless to say, those criteria were arrived at by > consensus. > > The Sky Factory is an experiment and an admittedly imperfect one. In > the quest for collaboration and lacking lines of authority, we can > sometimes be inefficient. It takes time to hear and consider so many > ideas. Not everyone is equally comfortable with the lack of > constraints and the emphasis on stretching outside one's accustomed > terrain. I want this business to actualize every need that people > have, and that is not possible. > > Most Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings, we turn off the phones > and do an hour of training on subjects as diverse as photography, > ecology, and business grammar. Recently, we devoted a number of weeks > to a course I prepared in partnership with an art historian called > "What Is Fine Art: Building a Beautiful Company." We all viewed > hundreds of images and discussed how every brush stroke, every chisel > mark, every pixel is linked to every other -- nothing stands in > isolation. Then we talked about how at our company the rotation of > leadership and familiarity with one another's jobs give everyone a > deeper understanding of the product, the ability to see it as more > than the sum of its parts. > > That appreciation of what we are doing is what keeps great people > here, and great people will ensure that The Sky Factory endures. > After all, that's what great art does. Endures. > > Winners > * ALL4, Kimberton, Pa. > * Alternate Solutions HomeCare, Kettering, Ohio > * Biomark, Boise, Idaho > * Chroma Technology, Bellows Falls, Vt. > * Daphne Utilities, Daphne, Ala. > * Dealer.com, Burlington, Vt. > * Dixon Schwabl, Victor, N.Y. > * Ginger Bay Salon & Spa, Kirkwood, Mo. > * Maya Design, Pittsburgh > * New York Jets, Florham Park, N.J. > * Optimax Systems, Ontario, N.Y. > * Patagonia, Ventura, Calif. > * PortionPac Chemical, Chicago > * Red Door Interactive, San Diego > * Return Path, New York City > * The Sky Factory, Fairfield, Iowa > * Tarlton, St. Louis > * Tasty Catering, Elk Grove Village, Ill. > * Van Meter Industrial, Cedar Rapids, Iowa > * A Yard & a Half Landscaping, Waltham, Mass. > > Finalists > * Akraya, Sunnyvale, Calif. > * Azavea, Philadelphia > * The Booksource, St. Louis > * Cargas Systems, Lancaster, Pa. > * Cooper Pest Solutions, Lawrenceville, N.J. > * Fentress Architects, Denver > * Finelite, Union City, Calif. > * Gongos Research, Auburn Hills, Mich. > * Honest Tea, Bethesda, Md. > * LoadSpring Solutions Inc., Lawrence, Mass. > * M & E Painting, Loveland, Colo. > * McGraw Wentworth, Troy, Mich. > * McNeely Pigott and Fox Public Relations, Nashville > * Menlo Innovations, Ann Arbor, Mich. > * NewAge Industries, Southampton, Pa. > * Pool Covers, Inc., Fairfield, Calif. > * SnagAJob.com, Glen Allen, Va. > * StarTex Power, Houston > * Torch Technologies, Inc., Huntsville, Ala. > * Workplace Options, Raleigh, N.C. >
