Leadership and Longevity; keys to long term success

I was thinking about what I wanted to blog about today and I realized that this
Box Brothers Blog, is a great way for those of us in this business, to highlight some
things about us, that make us the best packaging and shipping firm in the world.
I am being totally serious.

It is because of our people. The same people who put a face behind the name Box Brothers.
We have been blessed with some great people here, but what is amazing, is the longevity of
our people, and how long they have been with us.

So I thought that it might be a good idea to pay homage to these "family members of Box Brothers," but including them in 10 Year Club and our 15 Year Club and our 20 Year Club.
What is this club and do we have to pay dues or something?

It is, simply put, a way to show us and the world who we really are and what we are about.
I am so proud that we have people in each of our locations that really want to help people get
their possessions, gifts, business items, artwork and furniture, to another place.

While we do this each and every day, we do it with vigor, dedication and with confidence that we are the best at what we do. It is not even all of those other guys who talk the talk, but they
are not on their knees packing for the customer, or they are not the ones who go the extra mile for our customers--at all of our locations.

In our 25 Year Club, is Goody, as we affectionately call him. Robert J. Goodman, the founder of Box Brothers, over 25 years ago. Does anyone out there have any idea how much economic activity Goody has created since he started Box Brothers? How many people did we provide
a place to work, a place with medical coverage, a place with heart and concern for our family members.

I am proud to have even known Goody, as for a guy who only completed the 6th grade, with no
formal schooling or training, who has achieved honors from business organizations, carried Box Brothers twice to being honored for best new company and fastest growing company in southern
California, but he has touched the lives of so many that it is hard to even figure it all out.

His leadership led to our growth and his foresight into companies and customers and employees
have led to the growth of our firm to become a family name in many, many circles along with a
reputation that has created economic activity for us and our employees in places like Texas,
New York, Chicago, Florida, Washington D.C. and so many other places, but the heart is here
in California, his home.

I could tell you stories about his sacrifices, the risks he took to get us to this point, but I know there are limits to how much anyone can blog, but I just wanted to let everyone know that we owe so much to him, or we would not be here today. I know we are busy, we have kids, and bills,
and illnesses, and relatives and vacations and school, and you name, it, but I just wanted to give
credit to our founder.

We have so many great people who are part of this family, and by mentioning them, it is a tribute to them, but to Goody as well. Chris Long, a 17 year old kid, who now has three kids;
Jorgen Gilcrease, our old manager of our Burbank location, who is now our manager in Santa Monica Coastal or as we call it, SM2, who brings his son to work; to Cesar Calderon, another 15 year veteran, who has never ever left a job early or who had something else to do when a customer needed us; Steve Garrigan, and Dave Collins, both long term, over ten year employees
who have been there and back and back again. How about Shera Eddy, who came here out of
high school, and is a proud mother, and she has done every job, from forklift driver, to a rescuer
of injured people, to store management and into accounting, and no matter what job she did,
she was always for the customer and the well being of our firm, for all.

We have so many great employees, like Ganzo in Oakland who has also been with us over 10 years, and whose committment to excellence is stunning. There is our recent retiree, Pops, as we called him Mr. Long, Chris's dad. Pops was such a fixture of our business and now he loves retirement, but I have an offer to him to help us in the holiday time and like all our family members, I know he will want to be there as much as we want him to be with us. Don't forget
Barry in Sunset (LV) and how about Daniel Schwartz, who is now approaching ten years with us.
What a blessing to have such a great employee.

I could go on, as I am so proud, and if I left someone out, it was not my intention, as we have so many great people here and we owe it all to our founder, Robert Goodman. I always say it is not
the products, nor the services we offer, but how we do what we do, with our people, that makes us the best. It is because Robert Goodman had a vision and was dedicated to it and to the people that make it happen.

Lets salute Box Brothers by taking a moment to give thanks to the man who made it happen.
Our only member of our New 25 Year Club.