According to conventional wisdom, David Green, CEO of Hobby Lobby, is doing everything wrong. So much for conventional wisdom.
Here’s a list of counter culture policies put in place by Green: His stores close at 8 p.m., and don’t open at all on Sundays to allow employees to be with their families and attend a house of worship.
Full-time workers start at more than twice the federal minimum wage and have generous benefits.
Hobby Lobby specializes in arts, crafts, hobby, and home decor, yet each outlet carries a vast inventory of 100,000 items.
These are distributed across the country from a central warehouse, rather than using regional depots or having suppliers ship directly to stores, as other retailers do.
There are no bar code scanners at the registers to track inventory.
Yet Green’s results have proved the cynical critics dead wrong. The privately held company brings in $4.3 billion a year from its 750 stores. And according to Forbes, Green’s net worth is $6.4 billion (though he is actively giving away much of it).
Green told Investor’s Business Daily, “There is nothing negative in the Bible about running a business and it has everything one needs to know about good leadership.” But we’re not just trying to make money, we want to do it in a way that puts a high value on caring for our employees and their families. And the opportunity to work reasonable hours helps us attract good managers from other retailers.”
One thing we can learn from Green’s story, the wisdom of the Bible trumps conventional wisdom every time.