I've mentioned before that I'm on the board of an organization called Arise, Inc. It works with disabled people to help them live independently, and offers so many services that I can't do them justice, so I'll just ask you to follow the link to their site. I'm actually the finance committee chairman, and I'll be moving into year number 3 come January.

I think I've been with the group 6 or 7 years by now. I have to say that I've never seen anyone act inappropriately within the entire organization, and that's saying a lot. This is a $12 million a year organization, which means they provide a lot of services. It also means there's a lot of people working for the organization, and that means that there are a lot of opportunities for someone to step out of line and either do or say the wrong thing.

I've never seen it occur, though. It all starts with good leadership, and the executive director, Tom McKeown, is a wonderfully adept man and nice man who seems to enthuse everyone else to follow his lead. He gives credit where credit is due. He allows everyone to shine and to make decisions for themselves, and yet he's still very involved in every aspect of the organization.

I really believe it's because he's so nice that the people are so nice as well. Yeah, I'm sure that every once in awhile someone probably loses their mind and does the wrong thing, because that's only human after all. But in general, these folks really do understand the principles of great customer service, no matter who you are or what you do. And, with the community we support, it's even more important to treat people with dignity and respect, and they do that wholeheartedly.

It's always wonderful when you can interact with an organization that actually lives their own principles. I wonder how many of you can say that about your company; that is, if you're not working for yourself, since I'd love to say that about my company, which is only me. 🙂