The Corporate Ladder
Learning from the culture at companies like Costco
Last month Costco announced a long standing succession plan to their CEO role. Their current CEO Craig Jelinek was stepping down to hand the reins to Ron Vachris.
What you may not have seen is the story of the path that Ron Vachris has taken to be the CEO.
Beginning as a forklift driver, Ron Vachris has worked his way up the Costco corporate ladder for over 40 years. What stuck out to me is that he has served in every major role related to Costco’s business operations and merchandising activities. Talk about working your way up the Costco corporate ladder.
The outgoing Costco CEO Craig Jelinek started out as a food stocker for Costco predecessor FoodMart. For over 43 years he also worked his way up the Costco corporate ladder to eventually become president and CEO.
Stories like this aren’t only seen from Costco. You can read more about the promote from within culture at companies such as.
Chipotle
Whole Foods
Home Depot
Trader Joe’s
John Deere
Another common trait among these companies is that they also frequently appear on the most loved brands lists as well as the best places to work lists.
There are many professional sports franchises that you can also study and see their promote from within corporate cultures as well.
This goes against most of what is preached in today’s society and business world. We constantly hear that there is no loyalty anymore. That you’re supposed to keep switching jobs to further yourself professionally. To not stay at a company too long.
Yes every company operates differently and we see and hear about companies not returning that loyalty to employees. But are you making yourself irreplaceable to your company? Do you make it so you that you have to be promoted? Are you making it so they can’t afford to lose you?
The difference is in companies with cultures like Costco is that they’re hiring people for a career, not just a job. People start working at these places expecting it to be a career, not a job.
If you work at Costco you see the promote from within culture. You see long time loyalty rewarded. You see things in the light of a career, not just a job.
I will bet those people work differently knowing that working their way to the top of the corporate ladder is possible.
Companies can have nice flashy websites that talk about their mission, vision, values and company culture. But what are the results? Is it just words on a page?
Or is it Costco-like results? Is loyalty and hard work rewarded?
Is the corporate ladder a ladder leading to nowhere? Is it a who you know company and not a results based company? The employees of a company know. They see it play out everyday.
Ask the employees of a company if you want to get a true reading. Ask the employees of your own company. Will they tell you it’s Costco-like?
The culture just like a corporate ladder is created by a company’s leadership.
Are you creating this type of culture at your company? Does the company you work for have this type of culture?
Where is your ladder leading to?
The Coffee Table ☕
I’ve been following the federal jury verdict in Kansas City related to the National Association of Realtors (NAR) and some of the largest real estate brokers in the country guilty of colluding to inflate real estate commissions. This could cause a major shake up in the U.S. real estate market. Two great pieces to get caught up and understand what’s going on are below from Jacob Knutson and Emily Peck.
Federal jury verdict on broker fees rocks real estate industry
Readers of Spilled Coffee know how much I love The Bear on Hulu. To my delight this week they announced that there will be a season 3. If you haven’t watched it or aren’t caught up yet you have time to do so.
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