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“We want to be the best, not the largest. That’s the most important thing. We’re not trying to own the world. I think the challenge for us is to do things in a different way than the people and see smiling faces on our employees and smiling faces on our customers.”
The way Eliot measures the company success—“with smiles. And, if that’s your motivation rather than just bottom line, then the bottom line comes anyway. It really does.”
“There’s more than one way to skin a cat. You always think the way you do something is the best or the right way, but when we sat down and discussed how we all did things, we found out that even though other people might do things differently it can still be very successful.”
“Our biggest competitor right now is probably not in the furniture business, it’s companies that produce all kinds of consumer products.”
Excerpts from an interview with Robert P. Miles:
“It's totally up to each manager. Few meet with him in person. Most phone every few weeks if they need advice or want to report in. After the purchase of See's Candies, it was over 20 years before its CEO, Chuck Huggins, even visited Omaha.”
“….Bill Child of R.C. Willey Home Furnishings took a call from a dissatisfied customer right in the middle of our interview. He also lists his home phone on his business card. The Tatelman brothers of Jordan Furniture treat their employees like they are the customers. Executive Jet CEO Rich Santulli keeps his small corporate office near New York City while most of his employees and his operational center are in Columbus.”
