All strong companies do this. When they do it right they are rewarded with loyalty.

Topic for discussion: How has this mind set moved Steve from the Iris Group generating just a couple of million in annual sales to Modern Postcard where revenues will soon top $40 million?

Answer: Steve has been thinking, "how do I lift a burden off the customer's shoulders?" since 1976. He was thinking about market share from his one-bedroom apartment. He was thinking about speed and quality and ease of use. He said he has always been more motivated to serve that to make money and that he learned about the power of a servant leadership style from his father.

To make doing business with Modern Postcard easy for the customer, first Steve pursued the digital workflow concept. This gave every customer a 23 x 7 relationship. And remember that he came into business young and energetic and offered his customer an incredibly low price but delivered quality and speed too. Now he has taken on the burden of list management and mailing services because he knew it would save shipping costs and time for the customers.

Topic for discussion: What is the difference between being profit driven and being customer driven?

Answer: It is a mind-set or an attitude. You can probably get to the same results from either starting point but being customer driven creates a kinder, gentler workplace. It paves the way for building lasting and warm relationship with both customers and employees. It attracts a type of person who wants to work in a kinder, gentler place.

Think about the Pulitzer Prize-winning play by David Mamet, "Glengarry Glen Ross," that in 1992 was turned into the film starring Jack Lemon and Al Pacino. It is the story of a real estate company that is profit driven. As a result, one critic writes, "there is so little civility in the office and so few social skills it is probably due to the dog-eat-dog environment. Each salesman is pitted against the others for survival. The salesmen are willing to lie, cheat, steal, whatever it takes to make the sale. They are like animals in a jungle. It is not a shining example of humanity, salesmen or capitalism."

The corny-but-beautiful thing about Modern Postcard is, Steve and Jim are all about serving others. This starts with serving customers and spills over into serving employees. We asked Steve if he thinks being nice translates to the bottom line and he said, "yes."

You think about it: What can you do to stop thinking so much about money and start thinking more about serving? What actions can you take to be a servant to both customers and employees? What would your employees say if we asked them if your organization is profit driven or service driven?