Why we Exist, and what we Value....

I’ve been so fortunate to have worked with an incredible group of talented and engaged employee-owners the last several months as part of our strategic planning initiative. We’ve dug deep, soul-searched, touted passions, and faced brutal facts. We’ve raised our voices at times, but we’ve elevated our thinking even more. I believe we are, in ways, different people after codifying what makes us, US.

I believe our Core Purpose and Values, as stated here, have always existed in this company, though never written down. They were felt in the handshake of my predecessors when making a deal; in their tone when improvements could be made; and in the solemn refusal to dignify an error on their part by committing another on top of that error.

It’s difficult to get it ALL right, EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. I admit our Core Purpose and Values don’t reflect exactly who we are now. We’ve made mistakes.

But if there were no aspirations – no values to reach to – things would get dull, wouldn’t they? So our team drilled and pounded and kneaded until they came up with values we believe respect our past; values that will never change in the future; values that are worthy of our incredible workforce, clientele, and communities. Values we identify with and yearn to master.

When our team said we’ll “manage every resource with the respect it deserves”, regardless if it’s yours, ours, or Sargent Corporation’s employee-owners, they said, in effect, we can never rest in improving our processes, our communication, our commitment to safety and quality – in our deep respect for all of us, we can never rest.

 So, to the slice of our company that makes up our Strategic Planning Committee, thank you for your engagement, your intellect, and your respect for each other as employee-owners. Especially, thank you for taking ownership as stewards of our history, and our future. Your insistence on including respect for the “Sargent legacy” humbles me greatly, though it was established long before I was born.

Hardly a day goes by now that I don’t measure some task – sometimes rather menial – to this code we’ve given ourselves. And I’m not saying in the past we’d have approached things much differently, but the direction prescribed by the words on this document seem to give it all greater meaning.

Respect every resource.

 Invest in people.

 Hone our craft.

 Do the right thing.

 Win in the field.

 It’s so us. And it’s going to be more so us.

My grandfather, Herb E., had no idea what he was getting started, way back in 1926. 

Or maybe he did….he was always a great believer in the strength of his people.