Transcripts

Stephanie Yeh:
Well, we define the best companies as those companies that do the right thing and then do things right. They're out there to make a difference not just make a buck. And then when they do things right they're making a profit so that they can stick around and keep doing more right things.

Stephanie Yeh, co-author of the book, The Art Of Business says great companies, knowingly or not, use some very important principles.

The first principle is the art of possibility. And that's where you take a really big problem in the world and instead of just saying, "You know, wouldn't it be nice if somebody did something about it?" It's where these companies actually go out and do something about it. Grameen's Bank is a bank in Bangladesh that started micro-loans and their goal in life is to rid the world of poverty. That's the art of possibility.

Micro-loans are very small loans given to poor people to start a business.

These guys realize that just because you're poor doesn't mean you're not worthy of getting credit. They have a 98% repayment rate and they've lent out something like 3.5 billion dollars.

The art of leadership is another principle great companies embrace.

The most surprising thing we noticed about the great leaders is that they truly have compassion. Which means they really, really, really care about their people and they also embrace mistakes. For instance when an IBM vice president made a 10 million dollar mistake in the 1960's he decided he better resign. So he sent his resignation letter in to then CEO Watson Sr. and Watson says, "You've got to be kidding I just paid 10 million dollars for your tuition, you better stick around."

Tomorrow, more of what makes great companies, great. I'm Mike Carruthers and that's Something You Should Know.