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Okay. And we continue with our American stories. And now it's time for our Do the Right Thing series about ethical dilemmas that's sponsored. and the Daniels fun. and our own Alex Cortez brings us this latest addition.
Ralph Steyer is the founder. Of Johnsonville Sausage. Back around 1980, Johnsonville was growing 20% a year, and Ralph was excited, but no one else was. And Ralph realized that he was the problem. He had made it all about him, with every employee reporting to him, all 150 of them.
Ralph decided to do a 180 and make it all about them, empowering what they now call each other team members more radically than perhaps any other company. Ralph took himself out of almost everything. The Johnsonville team members decide whom they want to hire, fire, and work with. They created the system for the profit-sharing pool that's around 30% of all profits. And together they created the number one sausage brand in America.
Ralph couldn't be more proud of the team and the ethical decisions. that they've made. One day, I get a phone call that our plant in Watertown, Wisconsin, burned down. It was destroyed.
So We needed to move as quickly as possible. to get that new plant up because 25% of our total production was coming out of that plant. It great aside, That other people on other plants stepped up, the people stepped up. and increased production and work. Ah, work extra shifts weekends.
for almost a year. The cover. I mean Okay. I I can't say enough. About People's attitudes.
And they just did it. There was just no question that was good to get done. There was no carping or anything else. But so we're looking at this plant and these people. Who?
Don't have work. No plant, no work. And so I'm sitting in Florida and they called me up and said, You know, our leadership team calls up and said, You know, Ralph. We decided that uh We're going to keep everybody on. We're going to pay everybody others forty hours a week.
Even though there's no work. All we're going to ask of them is that the spend X amount of Time. developing new skills. in any technical school or whatever. And we will fund.
The cost.
So they'll do that. Community service. They cleaned up the airport. They did all kinds of community service. As long as you're doing those things and they're actually doing something, not sitting around doing nothing.
We're paying your salary. We did it for a whole year. Yeah.
Okay. A lot of people would say, wow. Crazy. Wow, who are those people? Yeah, however.
These are very talented people and we have invested a ton of money in them. We've been investigating these people all these years, you know. My mother. Years and years ago, we'd Didn't under initially didn't understand. where I was going, what I was doing.
where we were going, what we were doing. Better state. Because there are a lot of us that build the giant small weight. But She said, Ralph. What if you invest you're investing all this money in these people?
What if they learn all this and they quit and go somewhere else? I said, mom, what if we don't invest all this money and they stay? What's worse? Oh. Never thought of that.
I And so. Money on investment with most people is incredible. These are incredible people. Incredible talent. We had a book for it.
And so if we didn't do it, We'd lost a whole bunch of them. and the startup would have been horrendous. Yeah.
The startup of the new plant would have been horrendous, training new people, et cetera, et cetera, and trying to find them and all that.
So, yeah, the first response was, we're doing it because it's the right thing to do. On the other hand, when you look back on it, And we look back and say, heck, we got that plant going in 10 months. God provided a building for us that we didn't even know existed. We found it like right now. We were able to move in and redo it and all that.
And the day we started up, we went. Just like gangbusters.
So it's an ethical dilemma, but it's the right thing to do. But the beauty of it is That decision was made. No one called me. Tater. They made that call.
They informed me. But they didn't call and ask for permission. Even though they were spending tens of millions of dollars. The Johnsonville team members in Watertown did over 10,000 hours of community service during this year, and their ranks even grew from 120 team members before the fire to 155 in the new plant. And besides plants, Johnsonville has a pretty fun asset that Ralph is about to introduce you to.
But like every asset in our life, there's constant ethical dilemmas about how to best use them. And you're about to hear how the Johnsonville team members keep the ethical principle of respect front and center, which can lead to. an extremely viable business. We have these big taste grills that run all over the country.
Okay. But our product column. And they go to big events, and we expose people to Johnson O'Brats. It's hard for me to imagine, but there are people actually out there in the world that haven't tasted our broths yet.
So do we. With hurricane Katrina hit.
Next thing I know, there's video of our Big Taste Grill. Down there feeding the relief workers the next day. Or two days later, I did, whatever. feeding the relief workers. How did that happen?
Well, people decided that they It was scheduled for events or whatever somewhere. People made the decision, they sent it down there to feed the relief workers and the people who were homeless. And obviously there's no power, no place to eat.
So we fed thousands and thousands of people. Then we did the same thing in Texas, Harvey. And then Sandy.
Okay. And People just do it. Because it's the right thing to do. And our company. No.
And then there's a story about when the tornado hit Choplin. And uh Walmart's our biggest customer. And I've been invited down a couple times to speak at their Saturday morning meetings. about partnerships. Explaining how we see it between supplier and customer relationships.
and the value of partnering. Then it's a two-way street. If you're gonna beat people up all the time, then we're gonna take our resources and put it someplace else where we get a better return. But you folks have been so great that you work with us. You're our best customer.
You get our best number one call on everything, okay? But that's how it works.
So We finished this whole stand. We showed the results of new products and stuff. It's a hockey stick. It's a hockey stick. of how much we've sold of them and how much they've sold because of our relationship.
And uh Afterwards, this fellow stays up. He says, you know, I hear all that and it's really good, but I want to tell you something about this company. I was in Joplin, Missouri the day after the tornado. And in the parking lot, Of the I'm getting chills again. I'm getting chills again, just thinking about this.
And in the parking lot of our Walmart, which was totally destroyed. There was the Johnsonville big taste grill. cooking sausage, cooking food for all the relief workers, for all the people. They were there. Doing that.
I don't know. We didn't have any other vendors doing that, but there was a Johnsonville Girl serving everybody. And uh That's what I call a great company. I mean, I'm sitting in this really I feel pretty good right now. Because he's not only telling here, he's telling all over the world.
because that's broadcast all over the world. And now we do business in Walmart pretty much all over the world, anyway.
So there it is.
So If you live your life the right way, these things happen. Does it cost money sometimes? Yeah.
But overall, Overall, the blessings are unbelievable. But again, I didn't tell anybody to go to Joplin. There's no phone call from the CEO, go to Choplin. The people who are managing that baked taste grill went the chocolate because they knew it was the right thing to do. Made all the arrangers, got all the product, whatever the buds, whatever it took.
They were there passing it on hand, giving it away. Giving it away. And a special thanks to Alex and to Joey Cortez. for the work they did on this piece. And a special thanks to Ralph Steyer.
for telling this story. And as always, our Do the Right Things series is brought to us by the great folks at the Daniels Fund. To learn about bringing their ethics programs to your school, business, police department, church, go to danielsfund.org. That's danielsfund.org. And they have eight principles in their ethics initiative that they really drill down on.
And two of the principles were at play here. One was viability, and then that's creating long-term value for all relevant stakeholders. And my goodness. That was done here by keeping those employees in the mix. Ready to go when that plant was rebuilt.
Our Do the Right Things series, this time with Ralph Steyer of Johnsonville Sausage, here on Our American Stories. No one knows what the future holds, but you deserve a weather app that can help. Weatherbug is easy to use and provides forecasts for your every need, from storm warnings to pollen levels, right at your fingertips. Get the fastest local alerts and comprehensive 10-day forecasts wherever you are. It's hyper-local, real-time, customizable alerts.
Make sure the weather never takes you by surprise so you can plan every day with confidence. Download the free weather bug app from the App Store today and start getting accurate weather forecasts 24-7. This is Julian Edelman from Games with Names. I want to take a second to talk about something that's personal to me. I've had the privilege of working closely with Robert Kraft for a long time.
And one thing I've always respected is how seriously he takes up standing up to hate. As a Jewish athlete my identity is something I am proud of. but I also know what it feels like to be singled out for it. That's why this new commercial for the Blue Square Alliance Against Hate that aired during the big game really hit home. It's about showing up for someone when they're targeted, even if you don't have the perfect words.
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The new Nissan Pathfinder, power your adventure. Towing capacity varies by configuration. See Nissan Towing Guide and Owner's Manual for additional information. Always secure cargo. I'm U.S.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy. Yeah.
We all seem to be in a rush these days. from work to driving our kids around. But when you're behind the wheel, please. Do not speed. A few minutes saved by going faster.
is never worth a risk.
So follow the speed limit. Enjoy the drive. Maybe bring some snacks for the kids. and know that along the way, you're getting quality time with your family. Paid for by Nitza.
