Performance
Performance is required for leadership. We want to be leaders, so we are committed to performing at the highest level possible. Performance isn't a choice. It's up to everybody at Herman Miller to perform at his or her best. Our own high performance--however we measure it--enriches our lives as employees, delights our customers, and creates real value for our shareholders.
Relationships
We work hard to create and keep relationships. With customers, designers, dealers, suppliers, contractors, and among ourselves.
Yes, we have contracts, too, but relationships go beyond the legal obligations we have and abide by. Strong relationships are part of civility at Herman Miller. The ability to amplify our talents through networks of people and organizations around the world depends on the quality of our relationships.
Foundations
The past can be a tricky thing--an anchor or a sail, a tether or a launching pad. We value and respect our past without being ruled by it.
The stories, people, and experiences in Herman Miller's past form a unique foundation. Our past teaches us about design, human compassion, leadership, risk taking, seeking out change and working together. From that foundation, we can move forward together with a common language, a set of owned beliefs and understandings. We value our rich legacy more for what it shows us we might become than as a picture of what we've been.
Engagement
For us, it is about being owners--actively committed to the life of this community called Herman Miller, sharing in its success and risk.
Stock ownership is an important ingredient, but it's not enough. The strength and the payoff really come when engaged people own problems, solutions, and behavior. Acknowledge responsibility, choose to step forward and be counted. Care about this community and make a difference in it.
Design
Design for us is a way of looking at the world and how it works--or doesn't. It is a method for getting something done, for solving a problem.
To design a solution, rather than simply devising one, requires research, thought, sometimes starting over, listening, and humility. Sometimes design results in memorable occasions, timeless chairs, or really fun parties. Design isn't just the way something looks; it isn't just the way something works, either.
Transparency
Transparency begins with letting people see how decisions are made and owning the decisions we make.
So when you make a decision, own it. Confidentiality has a place at Herman Miller, but if you can't tell anybody about a decision you've made, you've probably made a poor choice. Without transparency, it's impossible to have trust and integrity. Without trust and integrity, it's impossible to be transparent.
Curiosity & Exploration
These are two of our greatest strengths. They lie behind our heritage of research-driven design. How do we keep our curiosity?
By respecting and encouraging risk, and by practicing forgiveness. You can't be curious and infallible. In one sense, if you never make a mistake, you're not exploring new ideas often enough. Everybody makes mistakes: we ought to celebrate honest mistakes, learn from them, and move on.
Inclusiveness
To succeed as a company, we must include all the expressions of human talent and potential that society offers.
We value the whole person and everything each of us has to offer, obvious or not so obvious. We believe that every person should have the chance to realize his or her potential regardless of color, gender, age, sexual orientation, educational background, weight, height, family status, skill level—the list goes on and on. When we are truly inclusive, we go beyond toleration to understanding all the qualities that make people who they are, that make us unique, and most important, that unite us.
A Better World
This is at the heart of Herman Miller and the real reason why many of us come to work every day.
We contribute to a better world by pursuing sustainability and environmental wisdom. Environmental advocacy is part of our heritage and a responsibility we gladly bear for future generations. We reach for a better world by giving time and money to our communities and causes outside the company; through becoming a good corporate citizen worldwide; and even in the (not so) simple act of adding beauty to the world. By participating in the effort, we lift our spirits and the spirits of those around us.