Message from the editors of Winning Spirit Magazine
Getting Big Without Acting Big
Larry and Gail Miller often expressed the idea that they didn’ t mind being big as a company, they just never wanted to act big. Unlike larger companies that focus solely on the bottom line, the Millers chose( and continue to choose) to focus on how they do business, the Group’ s impact on the community, and their roles in the lives of employees.
Winning Spirit Magazine was created in 1986 as a way of sharing company news, celebrating the Group’ s achievements, and recognizing employees for their contribution to the company and the community. At the time, the LHM Group was just seven years old, but Larry was already concerned that as the company continued to grow, helping employees feel involved and in touch would be more and more difficult. He saw the magazine as a way of preserving the sense of family and company spirit.
Fast forward 30 years. The company that started with one dealership in Utah has grown to more than 80 businesses spanning the U. S. with more than11,000 employees. The company Larry and Gail started became big, but the desire to keep it feeling small has not wavered.
Since the first issue in 1986, Winning Spirit Magazine has evolved along with the company.
Our recent readership survey reminded us that the mission of the magazine is as important now as it was in 1986, if not more so. The feedback received helped to direct the new content and redesign of the publication as well as how that content is shared across the company. Going forward, digital delivery will play a part in sharing employee news and company updates. A greater focus will be placed on stories coming from each state. More effort will be put in to showing how lives are enriched within the company and the community.
In the spirit of continuous improvement( also known as“ kaizen”), we’ ll continue to tweak the design, explore ways of developing relevant content, and share the voice of the employees in every issue. This is, after all, your magazine, and we invite you to contribute your feedback, story ideas, photos, and celebrations with us at winningspirit @ lhm. com or online at www. lhmwsm. com. ◆
“ I take a great deal of pride and satisfaction in knowing what we accomplish together, in knowing that our mission statements are more than just words on paper, but are really the way we conduct our businesses and live our lives.”
Larry H. Miller
The Larry H. Miller Group of Companies
Guiding Principle # 4: Remember, our business is a means to an end. Larry Miller once stated:“ One of the great personal challenges I have is to always try to keep in perspective the fact that our businesses are there to serve people— employees and customers— not the people being there to serve the businesses.” One of the major objectives in his life and in the businesses he and Gail created was to make each of the communities in which we conduct business better because we are there.
From our mission“ to enrich lives,” down to the notion of“ doing good until there’ s too much good in the world,” our business is a means to accomplish those ideals and goals.
Discussion ideas for managers, leaders, and teams:
1. What does“ our business is a means to an end” mean to you as an employee? Do you believe the statement is true?
2. Of all of the Group’ s contributions and accomplishments made in the past year, which make you the proudest?
3. As an employee, department, or team, how would you use company resources to enrich lives and make the community better?
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