Google

Search giant Google was recently named as the best place to work in America.

Google capped a year when it hired about 7,000 people, the most intense growth spurt in it's 13- year history.

"Employees wave about their mission, the culture, and the famous perks of the plex: bocce courts, a bowling alley, and loads of other cool things.

"What people often focus on are the flashing showy things like that and the food and the massages"
But that is NOT the real story about what makes the Google culture work.

The real story is that Google treats employees as the owners of the company, that is has an ethic of open transparency that allows rank and file workers to question and expect honest answers from their superiors- even CEO Larry Page, at the company's weekly "TGIF" all hands meeting- and the company tries to empower employees to feel that everyone can have an impact, both internally, and in the larger world.

A company's most important investments is NOT the tangible things like your building, vehicles and cars or trucks or your office supplies and equipment - IT IS YOUR EMPLOYEES- they are your most important investment of time and money.

Invest time in them and you will succeed.

More from our agent in VA...Hampton Roads

The way I became an Arpin agent in the beginning is somewhat interesting. I had a very small operation in mid coast Maine. So small that I was Mr. Mom quite often, having fashioned a “crib” for Chad out of a 6.0 cube in my little office. I was looking for a carrier to work with, and after calling all of them, Arpin was the only one willing to talk to me. Jack Cotter came up to see me, but I had to meet him in Bath, ME as I guess he didn’t want to drive the rest of the way up. We meet in a Holiday Inn restaurant and signed right there. Why I didn’t turn and run then I’ll never know.

I had a job out of Rockland, Maine. It was for one, if not the last fish canning companies to can sardines and herring in the state. They were moving their corporate office to Anderson, SC. We had to load on Friday and have them all set up by Monday morning. The last piece on and first off was a ticker tape type of a machine that their worldwide orders came from. One part of the office stuff was a “lab” that they used to test the canning process. They would deliberately try to spoil the contents, causing botulism. That way they knew what abuse the can could take I guess. Well any way, I had an overflow of non-priority items that I asked Arpin dispatch to try and cover for me. So a few days after I get back from SC, I get a call from Don H. saying he has a driver for the shipment…but there is a problem. Seems the drivers ex-wife lived in Maine, had some kind of a restraining order on him and he wasn’t allowed in the state. Don wanted to know if I could meet him in New Hampshire. By now the customer was looking for the “non-priority” stuff, so Brenda and I, with Chad in a car seat between us, travel to Portsmouth and in the parking lot of the state liquor store at Portsmouth circle, we transfer this shipment. Well part of the non-priory stuff was 8-10 cases of canned sardines and herring steaks. These never made it to South Carolina. As a matter of fact, you could still find a quick lunch of sardines at the warehouse at corporate for many months after that. I never did know if those cases were from the “lab” or not.

My Very First Moving Experience

Below is from one of our elite agents located in the Norfolk VA area, Don Queeney...

My very first time on a moving job was quite by accident. In the spring of 1978 I hitch hiked across the country with a long time friend. We were out on the road for over 8 weeks. We traveled through 17 different states and had our share of “experiences”. The day I got home, back to Long Island, NY I was describing my “experiences” to a neighbor while he readied his straight truck moving van for a trip. We talked and he asks me if I wanted to run down to DC with him to help him unload. What the hell, I had been away from mom for 8 weeks, she probably wasn’t looking forward to me re-entering her empty nest anyway. So off we went. At this point I had never touch a stick of furniture in my life. By that next morning, along with 2 landscape guys my neighbor grabbed from the apartment complex we were delivering to, we delivered 12,000 lbs to the 30^th floor of a high end apartment. I was in charge of unloading the elevator and placing in the customer unit. I will never forget when an 18^th century secretary desk came off the elevator with one leg completely broken off and laying on side of the desk as it laid on a 4 wheel dolly. That was my introduction to the business. Why I didn’t turn and run then I’ll never know. I worked with this neighbor for two years and to this day I use skills from him and that time.

Leadership

"GET OUT OF YOUR IVY TOWER AND GET TO KNOW YOUR PEOPLE!"

To truly lead, you need to know your product and your people.

Abraham Lincoln knew this and that is how he led. During the civil war, he would even set up camp with his troops in the field to observe how his Generals operated.

Dan Blanchard, the author of the One Minute Manager, says that those that are not in the pits with their people daily are  "swoop down managers." They simply swoop down when mistakes are made, chastise their staff and then disappear again.

If you want to make a difference, if you want to properly train and be a part of a team, you need to lead from within. Whether you work in a business environment or are a household goods operator, you must stay involved on every step and take charge.

How can you improve the process if you do not know the process?

It is even more difficult for the household goods operator because you have to deal with different help and labor almost on every job. It is even more imperative that you have a process down and that you oversee all aspects of the move at all times. Absolutely difficult...absolutely necessary.

For those of us in a business environment, you HAVE TO get out of your office, listen, help, and be a part of the day's events. From there, you can help train more on a one-to-one and improve what your team does overall.

They will respect you more and you will respect what they do.

No matter what your title is, you need a team...you will only succeed together.

"GET OUT OF YOUR IVY TOWER"

Vince Lombardi

" To achieve success, whatever the job we have, we must pay a price"...
         Vince Lombardi


Vince went on to say- " Success is like anything worthwhile. It has a price. You have to pay the price to win and you have to pay the price to get to the point where success is possible.

Most important, you must pay the price to stay there."

" Football, he said, is a great deal like life in that it teaches that work, sacrifice, perseverance, competitive drive, selflessness and respect for authority is the price that each and every one of us must pay to achieve any goal that is worthwhile."

Career Highlights/Honors

• Began head coaching career with the Green Bay Packers in 1959
• Was named NFL Coach of the Year in 1959, his rookie season
• Won 5 NFL Championships, including Super Bowls I and II, during his tenure with the Green Bay Packers
• Inducted as a charter member of the Fordham University Hall of Fame in 1970
• Shortly after his death in 1970, the Rotary Club of Houston established the Lombardi Award, an annual honor that recognizes the nation's best collegiate lineman
• Posthumously inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1971
• In his honor, the NFL renamed “The Super Bowl Trophy” to the “Vince Lombardi Super Bowl Trophy” in 1971
• Inducted into the Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame in 1975
• Was a member of the famed “Seven Blocks of Granite”, the nickname given to Fordham University’s famous offensive line

Funny story.....

From Don Queeney, agent owner in Norfolk VA ( and past recipient of agent of the year)

The first time I really got to meet Mr. Arpin was at the 1990 convention in Boston. For a year or so before this, at convention or some other event, he would see me, break into a big grin and say “So Richie how’s your mother and father?” thinking I was Richie Greenberg. I don’t think I look like Richie, but Paul must have. Anyway, in August of 1990 I was talking to Dave Arpin about leaving Maine and opening something in Maryland or Virginia. At the convention Paul walks up to me and says “You’re not Richie Greenberg are you?” smiling and laughing at his own joke. “You have been talking to my son David, come see be at the next break”. So at the next break I go down front to talk to Paul. We get into a long conversation and turns out the moderator (Jack Cotter) is holding up the restart of the meeting on us, and everybody knows it, but us. Eventually he speaks up and says that if you two school boys would stop gabbing we can get started. As I’m headed back to my seat, everyone’s saying OOOHHHH your in troubleeee!! The convention was in October, by that February I was in Norfolk laying down the ground work for that company store. Why I didn’t turn and run then I’ll never know.

How would you like to be remembered?

About a hundred years ago, a man looked at the morning newspaper and to his surprise and horror, read his name in the obituary column. The news papers had reported the death of the wrong person by mistake. His first response was shock. Am I here or there? When he regained his composure, his second thought was to find out what people had said about him. The obituary read, "Dynamite King Dies." And also "He was the merchant of death." This man was the inventor of dynamite and when he read the words "merchant of death," he asked himself a question, "Is this how I am going to be remembered?" He got in touch with his feelings and decided that this was not the way he wanted to be remembered. From that day on, he started working toward peace. His name was Alfred Nobel and he is remembered today by the great Nobel Prize.

Just as Alfred Nobel got in touch with his feelings and redefined his values, we should step back and do the same.

What is your legacy?

How would you like to be remembered?

Will you be spoken well of?

Will you be remembered with love and respect?

Will you be missed?