WWJD?

When I was first asked to be the guest blogger, it was the week of the visitation and funeral for Joel Osterman, one of the founders of OstermanCron. So of course, Joel was on my mind.

I have worked in the office furniture industry for many years. When I first started, I thought it was about only office chairs, office desks, conference tables, healthcare chairs, healthcare furniture, etc. – you get my point. But I must say that after working with Joel for over 18 years, the impact he had on me helped me realize that this line of work is about so much more.

Let’s start with relationships. Joel had many over his 35 years of working within the Cincinnati office furniture industry. This was evident by the hundreds of people that came to his visitation to pay their respect. I believe there were people there that he met 35 years ago all the way up to people he met just this year. There were the people you would expect – family members, friends, neighbors, co-workers, and vendors. However, there were also those you wouldn’t expect- competitors, customers, and former employees, some from many years ago. Several drove hours to pay their respects. Joel had an impact on people. He was always positive and repeating quotes like – “It’s a great day to be alive,” and “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.”

Joel was a great leader and, more importantly, a great person. Not to mention, he was also really good at his job because he cared. He cared about his customers and their employees and wanted to provide them with the best office furniture solutions possible. He also cared about the internal customers – the OstermanCron employees. As I move forward to continue the work of OstermanCron, I will often ask myself – wwjd? (What would Joel do?) And I know that it will guide me in the right direction.