She’s worked there for about 35 years.
Clients ask for her by name. Often, they will speak to no one else. They’ll call back just for her.
The “boys” in the warehouse follow her suggestions, though she’s not their boss. Her co-workers admire her. And the business owners consider her to be one of their very best assets.
She heads to work each morning happy, with a smile on her face and a naturally positive attitude. It’s contagious.
Now there’s nothing particularly unusual above any of that. I trust most small businesses have at least one…if not many…employees just like her.
Here’s the kicker: she’s 90 years old.
And, truth be told, she’s my mother-in-law.
This is actually not a story about my mother-in-law, though I’m amazed every day by her spunk and desire to work. She says it keeps her young. Who am I to argue?
This is a story about a role model for all of us small business owners. The owners of the business she works for.
This business knocks me over. How many companies are not just willing but totally on-board with keeping a 90 year old for as long as she wants to work there?
Small businesses get to do these things. We get to “color outside the lines.” We get to take unlikely actions for the benefit of the business. We get to choose to integrate the good of the business with the good of the employee or the contractor.
Sometimes these choices are what make our businesses special.
I, personally, have nothing but admiration for this company. Their willingness to do the unusual…frankly, their courage…has delivered a great company asset, a wonderful business atmosphere, a role model for their other employees, and at least one very happy 90-year-old woman.
If you’ve got that one thing you want to do, but it’s not “the norm,” not what your competitors do, not what makes sense on papers…yet, it’s you and what you stand for…make the choice.
Freedom to run our business in alignment with our values is one of the finest liberties we have.
Be free.
Go forth and do great things,
Martha Hanlon and Chris Williams