THESE VITAL SPEECHES

ington Green in Massachusetts, where
the American Revolution began. I was
taught in school to be proud to have
been part of a revolutionary culture,
to question authority, to challenge the
status quo to achieve something that
benefits our world.
I AM a revolutionary. I would argue
that every one of you is a revolutionary,
too. No matter what part of
the world we’re from, we all collectively
fight for clean water every day and
stand united as the first line of defense
for our communities.
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Protecting water is the heart of our
profession…it’s what unites, uplifts
and inspires us. That heartbeat, driven
by the passion for what we do, is the
primal call that will lead us in a water
resource revolution!
WINNER: LEADERSHIP & MANAGEMENT
“The Risky Business of Corporate Culture”
By Bill Bryant for Myron Gray,
President, U.S. Operations, UPS
One hundred and eight years ago,
almost to the day, a few young men
gathered in a basement storefront at
Second and Main in downtown Seattle,
about 20 blocks south of here.
Inside the small office were two telephone
lines—one for each of Seattle’s
telephone companies. It was August
28, 1907, the first day of business for
the American Messenger Company,
the company that would later become
United Parcel Service.
In the middle of the commotion,
was a 19-year-old named Jim Casey
and his partner, 18-year-old Claude
Ryan. Along with the other young
men, they were about to change the
course of commerce.
They also were beginning a culture
that has endured and strengthened
across two centuries. It’s a culture that
is one of our greatest strengths and now
one of our most significant challenges.
Our culture has cemented what we
value and how we work. It is the beating
heart of who and what we are. But it’s
also a challenge.
It’s a challenge because culture can
become so ingrained that—in a different
era with far different forces at work—it
can become a barrier to innovation and
change.
Today, I want to share some thoughts
on how we leverage the best of that culture
without allowing it to stand in the
way of our future. To do that, I’ll take
you back to those early days in Seattle.
Our early business model was pretty
simple: At a time when most people
didn’t have a telephone, we delivered
messages. Here’s how it worked: Let’s
say one of you wanted to get a message
to me, and I lived across town.
If you didn’t have a telephone at your
house, you would likely find a public
telephone and call the American Messenger
Company.
Then one of the clean-cut young
men in the office would jump onto a
streetcar or a bicycle and deliver the
message. Quaint, wasn’t it?
Last Friday, on what we call Founders’
Day, in Atlanta and at UPS locations
around the world, we celebrated
the foresight and dedication of those
pioneers.
The company they started—which
was renamed United Parcel Service
in 1919—last year earned more than
$58 billion in revenue and ranked
168th on Fortune’s list of the world’s
largest companies.
Every day, approximately 2 percent
of the world’s GDP and 6 percent
of U.S. GDP flows through the
UPS network. And it all started right
here. In a part of Seattle’s commercial
district appropriately known as
Pioneer Square.
We employ more than 5,000 women
and men in Seattle out of a worldwide
workforce of some 435,000. Our
business is good here, and for that we
thank your robust economy and our
loyal customers.
In fact, based on a balanced scorecard,
Seattle is UPS’s No. 1 district in
the U.S. So the folks delivering your
Delivered at the Seattle Rotary Club,
Seattle, Wash., Sept. 2, 2015
packages and syncing up your supply
chains are the best in the business.
Seattle is a unique city. I don’t know
of a city that combines immense physical
beauty with such an eclectic mix of
music, food and business. And let’s not
forget, you’ve got the Seahawks.
We like to think that UPS is a unique
company. We have our own way of
doing things. Deliberately. Precisely. Efficiently.
We have strong opinions about
the way a company should be run. Reliably.
Profitably. And with integrity.
We also think brown is beautiful.
If you want a sense of the role that
our past and our culture play at UPS,
consider that our meetings often start
with a reading from our Policy Book.
It contains the fundamental values and
principles that have shaped our company
for more than a century.
It’s a distinctive culture and one that’s
undoubtedly helped make us successful.
But, if we’re not careful, that culture and
our love of history could also limit our
future. And we’re not the only ones who
face that threat. Maybe you do, too.
So today I’d like to talk to you about
the value of a strong culture, as well as
its inherent risks. I’ll finish up with a few
words on how leaders can help their
companies avoid those risks.
Let’s start with the research. Last
month Fortune magazine released a study
that said business decision makers today
place greater significance on a business
partner’s culture than ever before.
60 percent of the global executives
surveyed said that when choosing a busi-
CICERO 2016