No Copy + Paste Function for Culture

It’s a brisk Saturday morning. The wind is cutting through my jacket like a hot knife into butter. The good news, it’s a short walk. As I make my way up the steps, I pass by our “LOGO BRANDS” awning. I smile. Even as I go into work on a weekend, just the name Logo Brands inspires a moment of pride.

 

When you walk into our door and enter the warehouse, you are hit in the face with our logo – it stands at 26 feet tall and reaches from floor to ceiling. It was added in 2016 when we rebranded from Logo Chair to Logo Brands. More than just a chair company now, we wanted to be your first thought when you needed blankets, coolers, and bags. The people that came to your mind when you wanted something you couldn’t find anywhere else. So we thought, new name, new logo, but same us. Same service expectations, still the category leader, same core values, same people - just a new look. On this Saturday morning though, I look at that larger than life logo and I see more than four letters. I see a mark that represents our entire team. I see family. I see a logo with a promising future. The logo of a company that is determined to be great.

 

As I enter the office door, my hand fumbles for the light switch in the dark. When the lights come on, the entry sign reflects red and black onto the hardwood floor. As I walk to my office, our core values are prominently printed on the wall. They are positioned next to a wall-hanging with a list of what our company endearingly refers to as “Bill-isms”. Memories begin flooding my brain. Just the mere sight of this list reminds me of why we are who we are. This list of things we learned from our founder, Bill McCauley, still guide us today.

 

I think back… To the great tent debacle, when we earned the trust of our retail partners by issuing credits for hundreds of tailgate tents. To the one time we accidently violated a non-disclosure agreement. To the countless times we refused to take “no” for a final answer. To all of the naysayers who said we would never make it. But our team always believed. We believed in our mission. We believed in each other. I hope that when outsiders look at the Bill-isms and our core values, they think, “This company is different.” Because we are. The difference isn’t in our strategy. It isn’t in the quality of our products, although we are proud of that. It isn’t in our processes. All of these things can be replicated, and trust me, our competitors have been copying us for years. But copying what we do, what we make, and even hiring some of our teammates won’t make them more like us. To this I also smile. You can’t duplicate culture. We believe the famous saying, “culture eats strategy for breakfast” is true. You want to know why? A group of people who believe in their mission, in each other, and in the core of a company is so, so hard to stop. There is no copy and paste function for culture.

 

In these early days of January as I walk into the office, it fills my soul knowing that 2019 is a new year but Logo Brands is the same ole us. We still believe in the core of Logo Brands. We believe in our direction. Biggest of all, we believe in each other. We are the team of a lifetime. I have seen outsiders come aboard and question how good we really are (thinking we don’t compare to great teams), then six months in, realize the truth. How awesome it is when I see our name, I think of people. This is the kind of pride and belief that make us a force. So 2019, get ready. We are coming!


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