The image lingers in one's mind. Like a crowd rising in unison to cheer a successful game winning field goal, the assembled workers employed in Malden Mills century old textile mill in Lawrence, Mass. leap to their feet as they hear the owner of the company, Aaron Feuerstein, announce that paychecks will be forthcoming for all full time employees through the New Year. As the cameras role for the 11:00 news, the members of the largely immigrant workforce manifest relief and delight that their future is more hopeful than bleak.
I'm sure the media coverage in the ensuing weeks will include the customary paeans to the American spirit during times of adversity. The numerous generous outpourings of support from around the nation for the mill workers of Lawrence already fill the airwaves in greater Boston, bringing relief from the general tedium of war, pestilence and crime. Governor Weld, a recently announced candidate for the U.S. Senate and the current incumbent, John Kerry, vie for the new title of "Government Official Who Did the Most for Lawrence." The Mayor of Lawrence becomes today's guest on the morning NPR talk show discussing the future, present and past of mill towns. These are all genuinely interesting stories, but not the real story.
The real story of Malden Mills could be discerned, if one listened closely, on the television news segment in which Aaron Feuerstein, citing his father and quoting in Hebrew from the Jewish tradition that his family observed religiously for generations, explained that paying the workers while the mill is being rebuilt was the right thing to do. As the current owner of a business controlled for many decades by his family, Mr. Feuerstein said he made this decision--an important business decision--based upon the religious and cultural legacy of his family. No doubt he consulted his board of directors and possibly his key advisors. But as a member of a family that has done business in Lawrence, Mass. since the earliest years of this century he decided to maintain a precious legacy, the covenant between his family's business and the community in which it has dwelled, created jobs, and pumped economic health for so many years.
The real lesson of Malden Mills is the juxtaposition of family values and competitive economic strength in a global economy. It is the real story of family business in America. Malden Mills is known today for Polartec, a synthetic fiber used in winter wear. This product and other synthetic textiles produced by semi-skilled help in American factories owned by Malden Mills have helped the company recover from Chapter 11 reorganization proceedings a decade ago to a successful global competitor profiled last year in the Sunday New York Times. One could take many approaches to explain this resurgence of a survivor in one of America's "mature" industries. But I for one doubt any business journalists will make the connection between Aaron Feuerstein's decision this week to continue paychecks for his employees, his family's values, and his business' competitive success. I doubt that the politicians of either major party who are busy flogging the "family values" issue will see the germ of a major presidential campaign issue in this story. And other than a commendation for Mr. Feuerstein's communitarian perspective (as opposed to a drive for short-term profits) I do not foresee any panegyrics to the Feuerstein family for its commitment to its employees and its community.
I think that the moral of the Malden Mills story is that Mr. Feuerstein, his key managers and advisors, are engaged in the leadership and management of what might be called a "heritage company." In heritage companies (which are most often family businesses) the owner-managers awake each day and think back two generations and forward two generations before their first cup of coffee. They are often curmudgeonly, irascible, powerful and committed individuals who come in all ages, from all ethnic groups and races and in both genders. But their ethnic, cultural and gender differences are less important than their common desire to have both healthy families and profitable businesses. Their commitments are to legacies, progeny, heritage and community. They do not fit nicely into the American myth of the entrepreneur as lone wolf and successor icon to the pioneers of the American frontier. But they do dominate many markets and industries, hold our communities together and, with tenacity, manage to pass on both their legacy of values and heritage and assets to the next generation more often than one would believe possible.
These men and women are truly profiles in courage. And in 1995 they are typically heroes who labor with substantially less public exposure than either the politicians who claim to represent them or the MBA wunderkind who grace the covers of business magazines. Newt and Bill should stop battling about the budget for a moment and ask some owners of Heritage Companies how to protect both jobs and families now and in the future. Let them start with Aaron Feuerstein.