A Call from Hawaii

I was in my car, sitting outside one of the restaurants that I oversaw, when I got a phone call from the president of the company. He was in Hawaii at an annual convention. "I get what you have been trying to tell me,"
It was a core value statement.
I have a simple thought process. Let the people who surround you know what you believe in and they can choose to be apart of your organization, based on some core values that the company has or they can choose a different path. Here's the problem, the hierarchy of the company must be on board with the concep,t this is where it all comes together.
What I believe is that if I give my employees a quality of life, based on schedules, time off, empowerment and financial needs, then they in turn will take care of the guests that enter each day and eventually help me with my quality of life, insulating me from different issues that have a direct impact on my time off. I try to put them first and they respect this and respond. I am, however, just a GM, not the company. As an employee of a company, its important for me to know my role, so that I can project it correctly.
As a newly purchased franchise of 40 stores we didn't have direction. We had no idea what the company stood for. I know, I know, for some of you, it doesn't matter but to me. it is a defining moment.
After my promotion to multi-level, I began to have the conversation with the president of the company. My reason for discussions was simple. Many times I would come to a crossroad and could only rely on my own experience for decisions. It may or may not be congruent with the goals of the company. I didn't know. So I pressed for direction. The president didn't understand my point. " Just do what you do, you're good at it" was the typical  answer.. I wasn't the company and my core values were mine.
The call came just after Horst Schulze with Ritz-Carlton gave a seminar. He spoke of mission statements, core values and of course, the success of his business through empowerment. It could've been a turning point for the company. It wasn't.
Yes, there was initial excitement from the understanding of what I was trying to say but what we developed was not what the company believed in but what the company thought the employees could believe in. For lack of a better phrase, a restaurant religion.
The phone call from Hawaii proved to me that I was on the right track, that someone important could understand what I believed in but it taught me more that the people who are important to me, my employees, will trust and believe in me because I believe in me.