Editorial April 8, 1996 Issue

Spiritual resourcefulness—good for people and for business

Barbara M. Vining

Yesterday , your textile manufacturing business, which your grandfather started ninety years ago, was highly productive and profitable. Last night, a fire devastated several of the factory's buildings. Today, you stand in the midst of that destruction—with the future of your business, its 2,400 employees and their families, and an economically depressed community awaiting your response. Will you be devastated? Or will you find resources to get yourself and the business up and running again? This was the predicament facing Aaron Feuerstein, owner of Malden Mills, in Methuen, Massachusetts, in mid-December last year.

Feuerstein found resources within himself right on the spot: fortified in part by his nearly nightly habit of reading Shakespeare and the Talmud, he found the strength not to weep; instead, he was telling himself, "I have to be creative." He told a reporter, "Maybe there's some way out of it." And he found a way out of it.

To begin with, Feuerstein recognized the value of his employees—their skills and their desire to work—and he invested in those resources. First, he gave them Christmas bonuses and promised to rebuild Malden Mills. Then, just three days after the fire, he gathered his employees together in the high-school gymnasium. He brought them to their feet cheering and hugging one another with his announcement that he would pay all employees their full salaries for thirty days or more, and would restart operations January 2 with the goal of being in full operation within ninety days. His employees, the community, and his customers mobilized to support him with contributions of time, labor, and money. And by mid-February, Malden Mills was up to 90 percent operational, and Feuerstein was still paying all of his employees in full.

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