redmond elevate - june 2012

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Redmond Equine Taking a look at one of Redmond’s newer divisions A Framework for Alignment What being aligned means at Redmond The Future of Elevate Help create the next issue Two Decades with Redmond Redmond associate Diane Stubbs June 2012 A magazine for associates and partners of Redmond, Inc. Redmond Incorporated 475 West 910 South Heber City, UT 84032 When you find that your life is out of alignment with your grandest idea of yourself, seek to change it.” ~ Neale Donald Walsch Shortly after Diane Stubbs joined Redmond, in the summer of 1993, CEO Rhett Roberts received a phone call from a grateful customer who explained how much he appreciated working with Redmond, and with Diane in particular. “That call meant more than the customer probably realized,” Diane says. “I had just moved back to Utah, suddenly divorced and not feeling that great about myself. It was a great boost to my esteem.” Before long, people started calling Diane “the voice of Redmond” as she answered phones and organized customer invoices in the company’s office in Redmond, Utah. “In those days, we all just did a little bit of everything,” she says. “If Ice Slicer got busy, we’d all head outside and fill bags—even Rhett and his wife—and have a great time together.” Diane spent some time working with the marketing group—one of her favorite roles with the company—before eventually moving to help in the Heber City office. Diane’s seven children all live nearby, giving her plenty of time with her six grandchildren. She also spends time with a few close friends, and after recent surgeries slowed her down, began reading and crocheting to pass the time. When asked about her future, Diane considers goals she used to have. “I used to think I wanted to travel a lot, but now that the kids are grown, it turns out I’m happiest right here in my own back yard.” (Ireland might be the exception—she’ll get there someday.) One idea that she still likes, though, is finding a way to try voice acting. “I’ve never been real sure what my talents are, but I think I’m really good at reading things out loud, and people seem to like my voice.” Diane has narrated programs at her church, and she recently began experimenting with lending her voice to projects via the internet. Maybe someday soon, our customers might recognize her voice from more than just a phone call to Redmond. Two Decades with Redmond Redmond associate Diane Stubbs The Future of Elevate Help create the next issue Beginning next month. You’ll see little changes like text that’s easier to read, and bigger changes like more articles submitted by Redmond associates, coverage of team and company news and events, and two associate highlights every month. To make room for the new content, Elevate will also be longer. As Elevate develops, we could use your help. If your team reached a goal or participated in a great event, let us know. You can submit pictures and artwork, an entire article or just a one sentence idea, or pass along news and events. Send your ideas to Elevate! Email [email protected], visit redmondinc.com/elevate/contact, or ask your team leader to pass an idea along.

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In this issue: Redmond Associate Diane Stubbs - Two Decades with Redmond Redmond Equine - Taking a Look at one of Redmond's Newer Divisions A Framework for Alignment - What Being Aligned Means at Redmond

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Redmond EquineTaking a look at one of Redmond’s newer divisions

A Framework for AlignmentWhat being aligned means at Redmond

The Future of ElevateHelp create the next issue

Two Decades with RedmondRedmond associate Diane Stubbs

June 2012

A magazine for associates and partners of Redmond, Inc.Redmond Incorporated475 West 910 SouthHeber City, UT 84032

“When you find that your life is out of alignment with your grandest idea of yourself, seek to change it.”

~ Neale Donald Walsch

Shortly after Diane Stubbs joined Redmond, in the summer of 1993, CEO Rhett Roberts received a phone call from a grateful customer who explained how much he appreciated working with Redmond, and with Diane in particular.

“That call meant more than the customer probably realized,” Diane says. “I had just moved back to Utah, suddenly divorced and not feeling that great about myself. It was a great boost to my esteem.”

Before long, people started calling Diane “the voice of Redmond” as she answered phones and organized customer invoices in the company’s office in Redmond, Utah.

“In those days, we all just did a little bit of everything,” she says. “If Ice Slicer got busy, we’d all head outside and fill bags—even Rhett and his wife—and have a great time together.”

Diane spent some time working with the marketing group—one of her favorite roles with the company—before eventually moving to help in the Heber City office.

Diane’s seven children all live nearby, giving her plenty of time with her six grandchildren. She also spends time with a few close friends, and after recent surgeries slowed her down, began reading and crocheting to pass the time.

When asked about her future, Diane considers goals she used to have. “I used to think I wanted to travel a lot, but now that the kids are grown, it turns out I’m happiest right here in my own back yard.” (Ireland might be the exception—she’ll get there someday.)

One idea that she still likes, though, is finding a way to try voice acting. “I’ve never been real sure what my talents are, but I think I’m really good at reading things out loud, and people seem to like my voice.”

Diane has narrated programs at her church, and she recently began experimenting with lending her voice to projects via the internet. Maybe someday soon, our customers might recognize her voice from more than just a phone call to Redmond.

Two Decades with RedmondRedmond associate Diane Stubbs

The Future of Elevate Help create the next issue

Beginning next month. You’ll see little changes like text that’s easier to read, and bigger changes like more articles submitted by Redmond associates, coverage of team and company news and events, and two associate highlights every month. To make room for the new content, Elevate will also be longer.

As Elevate develops, we could use your help. If your team reached a goal or participated in a great event, let us know. You can submit pictures and artwork, an entire article or just a one sentence idea, or pass along news and events.

Send your ideas to Elevate!

Email [email protected], visit redmondinc.com/elevate/contact, or ask your team leader to pass an idea along.

More than 130 years ago, Anna Sewell, a British author with a soft spot for horses, wrote a story that was destined to become one of the best-selling books of all time. Black Beauty, published just months before Sewell died, inspired new animal cruelty laws and helped establish a fascination with horses that has only grown with time.

“Have you ever watched Sea Biscuit?” asks Mike Mumford, a Redmond Equine associate and avid horseman. “How about The Man From Snowy River? Secretariat? Even if you’ve never ridden a horse, these stories resonate with who we are. Horses can get into your blood.”

The equine industry is certainly in America’s blood, with more than 2 million horse owners creating approximately 700,000 jobs across the country. There is a perception that most horse owners are wealthy,

but recent data suggest that there may be no such thing as a typical horse owner—a third earns less than $50,000, and another third earns more than $100,000.

Owning a horse may not always take a lot of money, but it does require time and dedication.

“Many Redmond Equine customers are simply obsessed with their horses,” says Mumford. “These are people who spend countless hours learning about products for their animals. They need to know they’re doing what’s best for their horse, and that’s what we provide.”

Redmond started selling its natural mineral sea salt rocks in the equine industry in 2010, much later than other products in the space, and have been galloping to catch up. There are few natural salt mineral licks available in the equine market, and Redmond Rock is the only

product that is mined here in the United States.

“Horse owners tend to be patriotic,” Mumford says. “But honestly, a horse doesn’t care if their rock has come from Pakistan or Utah. Horses respond to the taste, and almost every time, horses prefer Redmond Rock over any other mineral salt.”

Redmond Rock provides more than sixty trace minerals in a natural balance, replenishing electrolytes and helping horses achieve their full potential. Horse owners have seen Redmond Rock help prevent dehydration and common health issues like compaction, colic, and metabolic disorders, as well as improve endurance in athletic animals.

Redmond Equine has associates in both the Heber and Redmond offices, working to increase awareness of the brand and expand from the

Taking a look at one of Redmond’s newer divisions

RedmondEquine

2 ELEVATE MAGAZINE ELEVATE MAGAZINE 3

A Framework for AlignmentWhat being aligned means at Redmond

Most of us have driven a car with alignment trouble. We know it pulls one way or the

other, and we know if we don’t get it fixed we’ll be replacing our tires sooner than we’d like, but we don’t always know exactly what causes the trouble.

“It’s pulling to the left,” we might say, and the technician will know to check as many as sixteen factors that keep our vehicles in alignment. We may not know what camber or steering axis inclination means, but we know we’re better off when the systems are properly aligned.

Alignment plays a major role in business, as well. All great businesses, whether they have offices around the globe or just a few people working out of a garage, have four elements working in alignment with each other: customers, purpose, culture, and leadership.

Customers

Even if Redmond produces the greatest products on the planet, we don’t have a business unless our customers agree. Understanding what our customers value, and sharing their values, is crucial to our success.

Purpose

Ask yourself why we’re in business. At the end of the day, what is it we hope to provide that makes the endeavor worthwhile for us and our customer? Is our purpose in alignment with what our customer values?

Culture

A company’s culture is a framework for what is acceptable or normal within each team. Culture touches on hiring, planning, developing and compensating associates, interacting with customers—every aspect of our behavior combines to create Redmond’s culture.

Leadership

One of the unique attributes of Redmond’s culture is the idea that each associate is a leader. Unlike most companies who rely on seniority and hierarchy, Redmond works to create leader-full teams that view each other as equals. Leadership—whether from the CEO’s desk or in your break room conversations—helps communicate our culture, purpose, and customer values.

Why Alignment Matters

Consider these four elements in a company like Walmart. Walmart has always been about saving money—for their customers and their business. If Walmart decided to implement a culture like Redmond’s, they would find themselves out of alignment with their overall purpose and the values of their customers. It wouldn’t serve their customers or their business.

There is no single right way to do business. What matters most is that the needs of our customers align with our purpose, culture, and leadership. In the next issue of Elevate, we’ll look at Redmond through this framework for alignment and begin to explain why our culture works the way it does.

East Coast, where Redmond Rock has found early success, into areas like Texas.

“We hope to grow about 20% this year,” Mumford says, “but we’re more concerned with getting our message right at this point. People want the best for their horses—whether they’ve got a Seabiscuit or Black Beauty or an old mare that’s been in the family for fifteen years—and our products fit the bill in a unique, natural way.”