Lesson Seven: The Credo

In 1943 General Robert Wood Johnson composed a simple, one page document that would be the most important thing he’d ever written. It was written plainly for his employees, customers, suppliers and shareholders. Remarkably, this document is still used today and
stands as the core principals of the company he nurtured and grew.

His document is called the Credo.General Johnson was an astute business man.He knew that in order to create consistent values across a growing organization he would need to define those values and communicate them to the people who mattered.

Starting in the 1930s, he championed “a new industrial philosophy,” which defined a corporation’s responsibility to customers, employees, the community and stockholders.

And so when Johnson wrote what he fundamentally believed were the rules his company should live by, he unwittingly set a new corporate standard. His Credo would stand as the philosophical core of what is now the world’s largest and most diversified health care company—Johnson & Johnson.

As we are caught up in the minute-to-minute reality of work and business, and the chaos that controls most of our day, we lose sight of what we believe, the reason we started in the first place.

General Johnson took the time to write it down, and I invite you to do the same thing.What started you on your path in the first place? What was it that you wanted to accomplish? What was the value you wanted to bring to your customers, your staff, your life? What was your passion?

General Johnson built one of the largest companies in the world on a simple, philosophical core, his Credo.What’s yours?



Principles of Persuassion by Shane Spark