Mission Possible: Goodwill Values

David Lifsey, President and CEO

In our Goodwill Employee Handbook there is a section about the company’s Core Values. The second point expresses our promise to treat people with dignity and courtesy “at all times.” We don’t specify which people. We mean everyone, and we mean all the time.

Rules serve many purposes, but chief among them is the desire to ensure that all employees are treated with dignity and courtesy. Dignity comes into play as we strive to apply our rules consistently, no matter what an employee’s background, job title or time with Goodwill. Even when rules are broken, our policies make sure the individual who violated policy is treated with dignity.

Courtesy has to do with how we apply those rules. Our list of rules includes trying to reach resolutions that are respectful and courteous, allowing for different viewpoints to be expressed and heard. I like working in a respectful place. I like the fact that we treat each other with dignity and respect and with an eye toward courtesy. I think our Goodwill can serve as a fine example for other businesses.

What core values are important to you in the workplace? How do you practice these values every day?

Mission Possible: Success That Counts

David Lifsey, President and CEO

I wasn’t a Goodwill employee long before I learned that success means many things. Until I came here, I thought of success as having a lot of money, won/lost records and items that I’ve accumulated. But Goodwill has taught me that success is something very different, often not measured in money or things, but in accomplishments, confidence and hope.

Success can be learning to ride a bus on your own, getting to work on time everyday or hanging just one more piece of clothing today than yesterday. Success can also mean earning a fresh start and having paid for past mistakes. It’s gaining new friends who appreciate you for who you are, not what you can do for them, having your own home and supporting family.

Our Goodwill is in the success business. Sure, we open stores, hire more people and build new buildings. That’s really not so much success as it is accomplishments that allow us to achieve our real success which is measured in having more than 1,400 employees who work for Goodwill because of our mission. We served more than 11,000 people last year who turned to us for help finding and keeping a job and building a reputation that allows people to feel good when they donate to us.

There is a needlepoint piece framed on my office wall. It defines success. Among the measures it touts as signs of success are these, “To leave the world a bit better – by a redeemed social condition, (and) to know even one life has breathed easier; this is to have succeeded.”

Our Goodwill is in the success business; success that counts.

How do you define success?