When the times get tough, the elves get going

<p>A Letter from an Old Friend: The Gift of Giving:</p><p>Dear Mark,</p><p>Hey, it’s Santa. I hope you and your family are well. I am sure my reach-out comes as a bit of a surprise given the time of year. Springtime typically calls for in-depth production planning and preparation, with little time for anything else. </p><p>But as we all know these are unusual times ... so I thought I would reach out to you and give you an update on some recent developments up here in the North Pole. </p><p>Elf production was up for 2008, yet, not surprisingly, inventories remain high, due to lower than expected demand. The need for our services and products diminished dramatically compared to prior year. However, in spite of the deterioration in demand, I am happy to say that we have not had to lay off any elves. Given all that is happening in the world, the Claus family (and this includes elves) feel very, very blessed.</p><p>We are one of the fortunate organizations, I guess. </p><p>I think part of it has to do with our structure and values. We have always run a pretty lean ship even during boom times and, when things get slow, our mentality and values of giving take on all sorts of new shapes and forms. We are trying to be as creative as possible.</p><p>Through that creativity, we are finding new ways to help subsidize and assist some of the other businesses, nonprofits and governmental entities up here in the north with non-traditional giving. </p><p>Typically, Mrs. Claus and I, and all of the elves, are so busy with the business our personal gift giving is usually limited to check writing to our favorite charities and nonprofits.</p><p>In our frantic pace of production and building our business, even we here up in the North Pole can temporarily forget the foundation of giving that got us where we are today. </p><p>With the slowdown in the economy, our entire philosophy on the power of giving back to community has been rediscovered.</p><p>As an example, understanding that production will be slower this year, we have decided to commit 5 percent of our work force time to different types of community endeavors. This will indeed hurt our short-term profits, but we think long term it will provide goodwill and positive energy in our community, creating a stronger market reputation and a more sustainable long-term enterprise.</p><p>Geeky, our Chief Technology Elf (CTE), and his team of elves are spending between 10 percent to 20 percent of their time helping out the nonprofits in town. I don’t know what it is like down there in Northern California, but the nonprofit community up here in the Pole expects all three primary revenue streams (foundation grants, government grants and individual donations) to fall off dramatically in the coming months and years, and they can use all the help they can get. </p><p>Our recruitment and retention department, which in prior years has been significantly under-resourced, is now spending almost 25 percent of its time working with the local county government on recruitment (pretty slow to no activity), redeployment (the community is under-resourced) and outplacement (this is a huge area of need).</p><p>North Pole County is looking at a $5 million shortfall in 2009 and is currently scrambling to find ways to balance the budget.</p><p>As one of the largest and oldest businesses in the world, with huge market share, Claus Enterprises has been very fortunate, and we need to remind ourselves of how we got to where we are ... put simply “the gift of giving.”</p><p>And during these difficult times, when some elves have been despondent, many of their friends laid off and feeling isolated, we have taken it upon ourselves to count our blessings and do what we can do to give even more. And it is no longer just money, but it is time, care, compassion, service, etc. – all of the things that make for a stronger community. As one of the blessed business leaders that have built up tremendous intrinsic and extrinsic wealth, it is the least we can do.</p><p>These times remind me of something an old friend said to me almost 50 years ago, “Ask not what your community can do for you, but what you can do for your community.”</p><p>Please, Mark, remind all of your friends, family and community members about “the gift of giving,” particularly during these challenging times. It has always worked well up here in the North Pole.</p><p>Your good friend,</p><p>Nick</p><p>•••</p><p>Mark Nelson is the founder and principal of the Mark Nelson Group, a business advisory and consulting firm dedicated to “Building Businesses for a Better Tomorrow.” Formerly the president and chief operating officer of the Nelson Family of Companies, the largest independently owned staffing and human capital service firm in Northern California, Mr. Nelson built and grew the business for more than 20 years. </p><p>Mr. Nelson can be reached at mark@themarknelsongroup.com.</p>