A number of years ago I was sitting in the office of the president of a Midwest cutting tool distributorship, interviewing him for an upcoming article. As I talked to him, I read from his published mission statement, which emphasized the importance he placed on his employees and their ability to meet customer needs.

"What is that?" he asked. "Where did you get that?" I told him it was his own mission statement that he had written a few years before. He was embarrassed, to say the least.

Mission statements and business slogans often aren't worth the paper they're printed on, unless you (and your employees) believe in what they say.

The problem facing management today is a failure to communicate its vision to all the employees in the company. All too often decisions are made at the senior level without getting input from the employees who are closer to the situation and are clearly affected by mandated changes.

Over the years, we've written extensively about the lack of communication between manufacturers and distributors. But often the problem is internal communication within their own companies.

Every employee is working harder today than at any other time. Many are filling the losses created by layoffs of other employees but their extra efforts are not recognized. Meanwhile, CEOs come and CEOs go — with big severance packages – and the remaining staff is left behind to pick up the mess.

One of the major difficulties facing distributors today is their inability to adopt training programs for potential managers. Our 56 th Annual Survey of Distributor Operations shows that most distributors rely on "on the job" training for employees. And that's often unsuccessful. Have you ever seen what happens when a company's top salesperson is promoted to sales manager? He may have been a great salesperson who knows products, but he doesn't have any managerial or people skills. The results can be disastrous.

Managers today don't need slogans and vision statements. Instead, they need to develop a sense of teamwork and appreciation for those who work for them. People are still a company's most important asset and can grow – or sink – your business. We never should lose sight of that fact.

Jack Keough Editor/Associate Publisher jkeough@reedbusiness.com