Built On Values

Every great organization is built one faithful step at a time. This week on Solid Start, Brian and Greg explore how the core values established by Merrell Bros.' leadership have become the foundation on which the company continues to grow.

Looking to the book of Nehemiah, they examine how the people of Jerusalem rebuilt the city's walls—not through the efforts of a few, but as each family took responsibility for the section in front of them. It's a powerful picture of ownership, teamwork, and purpose. Join us as we discuss what it means to build strong "walls" around our own areas of responsibility by living out our core values every day. When each person does their part with excellence and integrity, the entire organization grows stronger.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:03

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to another episode of Solid Start, a podcast designed to get your week off to a solid start by focusing on life from God's perspective. I'm Greg Reed, life coach at Merrill Bros, located up in Kokomo, Indiana, the paradise of the Midwest, joined by my ever popular and returning co-host, Brian Herzog. Brian, woo! Good morning. Welcome. Welcome back.

SPEAKER_01 0:26

Thank you. Had a great time. Yeah, we had a great vacation in Tennessee and Virginia. We did a little family reunion down there and I love Tennessee. I guess I could in the mountains.

SPEAKER_00 0:39

No, that's kind of that's kind of your place, isn't it? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 0:41

Yeah. Okay. Go hiking and just sit on the front porch. If I could if I could retire, that's what I would do. Not that's not what I would only do, but I would I just there's just peace about sitting on a front porch. I th I wish people would do that more. You've noticed new homes are built without porches, and I think it's a travesty. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:04

Yeah. We have a back deck, but again, we don't get to see anybody. Yeah. Um, so it's just, you know, it's just us. Yeah. Uh so a little different than front porch. That's right. So yeah. Bringing it back. Yeah. Well, that's great. Well, glad that uh you had a chance to get away with your family, and yeah, and uh always glad to have you back. So it's good to be back. Yeah, good. You know, I was thinking uh this morning that uh every every Monday uh when we walk into our safety room here at Merrill Brothers, uh on the on the wall is uh a plaque, if you will, that uh lays out our five core values. And I thought, you know, people walk in and see those five days a week, you know, maybe fifty fifty weeks out of the year. And I think I wonder whatever happens to those, because it's easy for uh cultures to drift, but they have to be built on purpose. And so I a friend of mine last a couple of weeks ago had said, Hey, have you ever heard of this broadcast by Paul Harvey? So he was a fan. Have you ever heard of him at all? Oh yeah. Okay, so just a very maybe one of the most famous broadcasters of all time, and just his ability to tell stories. But uh, I think it was uh in 1965 he recorded this uh broadcast, and he's and the title of it was If I if I was the devil. In other words, what would I do to America? And it is just it is pretty shocking to think he was right on in like almost every area. What's happened is our culture has moved and I would say drifted. And so that uh that just made me realize that uh, you know, it's really this whole thing of culture is really a leadership question. So every workplace, every family, every team develops a culture. And the question is whether leaders intentionally shape that culture or allow it to drift. And I think the Paul Harvey uh video clip was a reminder that uh our culture has certainly drifted.

SPEAKER_01 3:08

Yeah, and I would recommend we're not allowed to play that. Correct. I would say search for it on YouTube and listen to it. It's it's incredible the things that he talks about. You're like, oh, that's happening now. That's happening now. That's definitely happening now. Yeah. It's kind of scary. Yeah, you know, his foreshadowing.

SPEAKER_00 3:27

I think it there's a uh there's a two-minute version, which is what we played this morning, and then there's about a 25-minute expanded version that when I went on YouTube to look for it, um, that's what was there. So if you just, you know, Paul Harvey, If I were the devil, I think is the title of it. That's really it's it's just a profound reminder that uh we have to do whatever it takes to uh make sure culture uh is built on purpose and doesn't drift. And so that just reminded me the whole thing of culture and drifting reminded me of a story and a character out of the pages of the Old Testament. His name was Nehemiah. And he had a very uh you remember what uh his job was? He was a wine taster. Yes, he was.

SPEAKER_01 4:13

And and why was that so important? Uh because he would taste the wine before the king to make sure it wasn't poisoned.

SPEAKER_00 4:19

I'm thinking, like, do I want I'm not signed up for that job, Ryan? I mean, I love you, man, but but I don't know that I want to taste everything and and I die first. Yeah. Um so and I guess the uh possibility of the king being poisoned was pretty pretty high. Apparently. Apparently so that so much so that they had a wine taster. So anyway, Nehemiah, he gets news. So he's serving the king of Persia, but he gets news that back home the walls are are broken down and the gates have been destroyed. And the interesting thing is it's been 140 years that people have been living like that. In other words, they've been since Nebuchadnezzar came through uh 140 years earlier, those walls have been broken down. You can imagine the discouragement of the people, and yet for some reason they just let it go. In other words, it just drifted in in a wrong direction. And so Nehemiah is uh, you know, he gets inspired and he didn't start with criticism. He got permission from the king to go back home, he inspected the damage, he prayed, and then he invited people into a better future. And so I'm gonna have you read this section in chapter two of Nehemiah where he makes this decision to rally the troops, if you will, and say, we're gonna create a different environment. We're gonna rebuild our culture by rebuilding the wall.

SPEAKER_01 5:45

Says you know very well what trouble we are in. Jerusalem lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire. Let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem and end this disgrace.

SPEAKER_00 6:00

So there's the you know, there's the beginning of him saying it's it's Nehemiah didn't didn't stand on the sidelines and shout, you know, hey, you need to do something, get going. He entered into the work himself. And then in chapter three, the each family, that's what I thought was very fascinating. I remember that from before, but I hadn't read it for a long time, that each family rebuilt the section of the wall nearest their home. That's you know where they had, in a sense, they had the most to gain or lose by building that section. So no one rebuilt the whole city, everyone faithfully rebuilt the part within reach. And so that's really our encouragement to those of you that are part of Merrillbrose, and especially those of you that are in a leadership position, that every day, every leader is either rebuilding the wall or allowing it to crumble. Uh every conversation uh is another brick, every decision's another brick, every encouragement's another brick. So it's just that way to say, okay, let's let us do something. So, Brian, how does that work out on your team? You have a team that you lead. I do. And so how how do you, what do you work on with your team in order to, you can't build the whole culture of Merlbros, but you can help build the culture where you live, right?

SPEAKER_01 7:20

So everything that we do, we do with excellence. Uh so in marketing, we have a lot of things that go out to the public and things that we print, things that we put online. Um and just one example is everything that we put out, we want it to be excellent. We want to represent Merrill Bros well. And uh so it it takes a whole team to be able to do that, especially on our website. There are things on our website, it's a it's a team effort of us building that website out and reviewing it and getting the proper videos and things. It's a daily challenge for us, but that's one thing that we hold true to is everything has to be excellent. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:01

Yeah. So that's how you contribute to the culture everything that goes out from in terms of what people get to see, and it really is good, Brian. I want I do want to say that I've tried our best. Like, wow, that's that's really good. And so I think that a practice assignment for this week, especially for those of you that are in a leadership position, um, is to intentionally strengthen your team's culture by modeling one value that you want others to follow and then recognize it when you see it in someone else. So we have these five core values. You may need to uh review those uh somewhere in the building where you work or online. They're probably online somewhere, right? Our core values are there. And so it's like, okay, what's one? They're all important, but maybe there's one that you say, you know, that's the one that I I feel attracted to for this week. And I'm gonna make sure that uh I'm modeling it, and then I'm going to, when I see someone else, I'm gonna recognize it. And hey, thanks for joining me in keeping our culture strong. Thanks for joining me in continuing to build the wall.

SPEAKER_01 9:13

And if you're not a part of Merrill Brothers, and even if you are, you can also have core values in your own home. Yes, um, and strength, you know, be and live those out every day and model those and be an example. And also for my soccer team, we have core values for our team. And we try to live those out through uh throughout the year and model those in the schools, and it just really helps strengthen our team uh and build community and and just build relationships.

SPEAKER_00 9:45

What do you remember one of the core values for your team? What's one of them?

SPEAKER_01 9:50

Uh integrity is a big one for uh my team. If you don't have integrity, uh everything falls apart. Yeah. Right? Integrity, uh not only for them in school, but in life. And as teammates, we h hold each other accountable. Um so integrity is a is a big piece of it's a big core value for us.

SPEAKER_00 10:12

And to think about how that will impact future relationships and marriage and families. I mean, without that, you really don't have anything. For my wife and I, without integrity, it all falls apart.

SPEAKER_01 10:24

And the same thing is here in Merrill Brothers. Yeah, that's everything that we do, you know, we have to do with integrity.

SPEAKER_00 10:28

Yes, yeah. So just as a reminder, uh, those of you that are listening, so uh, in particular, uh those that are leading uh groups of people, uh, your practice assignment this week is to intentionally strengthen your team's culture by modeling one value, just like what Brian has been talking about for his team at Merrill Bros and for his soccer team. And then when you see that in someone else, recognize it. Uh make sure you say, Man, I'm so thankful that you were honest. I'm so thankful that that was hard to tell the truth on that one because that may have hurt you, but in the long run, that's that's the way to go. So that's uh that's very exciting. So I'm glad I get to be and both of us get to be a part of the culture. We get to help build that by encouraging. So my my role this week is to encourage as many people as possible to pray with people. I had a chance to pray with a guy this morning, right after our safety meeting, about the loss of his grandfather, and so just that he felt comfortable enough to say, hey, I want somebody to pray about this. So that's that's my uh that's my hope for this week. So, Brian, we've had a lot of new hires, and so I want us to pray for all the people that are new to our company around the United States and for our HR team here in in Kokomo and down in Florida. They're just doing a great job of finding some of the best people possible. And then speaking of Florida, lots of new opportunities there, bids we're working on. Um, so I'll have you, I think, maybe pray for the exciting things that are happening in Florida and for these uh these new hires, and then I want to pray for some of the things that are happening in uh in Kokomo as we fire up uh at one of our uh BTF uh locations. Uh that uh this is an exciting week for us here, and uh same thing's happening out in Kennewick. And so I want to pray for those new launches. Uh so excellent. Let's do that today.

SPEAKER_01 12:26

Father, we give you all the praise and glory this morning for how you have provided. And uh we thank you for providing amazing individuals on our HR team and the effort and the work that they do every single day, not only to hire and search for new talent, but also to care for us that are already here. Um just love them and we thank you for them. Just continue to give them strength and encouragement as they um do what they are called to do. And so thank you for each one of them. Yeah, Florida uh a lot of things are happening in Florida right now. This is a big week for us down there as we gear up to sell compost. Uh we have a lot of things changing and we have a lot of bids and a lot of things in the works there, and so we're just praying for guidance and and just your leadership, God, for uh just wisdom on what to do and how to manage all the success that is happening there. And uh just thank you for those opportunities. But it can be uh scary at times uh when we have a lot of things coming at us at once, and so we're just uh just praying, God, that you would just help us in each of those situations. Give us the strength, give us the wisdom to do your will in every situation.

SPEAKER_00 13:48

Father, thanks for the exciting things that are happening in uh in Kokomo as well as in Kennewick, and the startup of those facilities and the excitement of being able to sell product and be able to um make it possible for people to have great uh biosolids available to them for uh use in gardens, for all kinds of uh uses in uh agriculture, ways that we can make a difference. So thanks for the solutions that we're providing that nothing gets wasted. And uh we're excited about that. So just continue to give us new open doors, new opportunities in order that we might be able to continue to make a difference in this world. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Well, Brian, if somebody needs to get a hold of us, uh remind us how to do that and how we can help encourage people around the country.

SPEAKER_01 14:39

Go to Merrillbros.com, click on the prayer tab at the top of the page, and then you can get a hold of us through that little contact inquiry. Great.

SPEAKER_00 14:47

Well, hey, again, thanks for joining us for Solid Start. Take care of yourself, take care of your team, and go make today a great day.