Business as an unstoppable force for good: From AEI’s Values & Capitalism initiative
By Tyler Castle
A new documentary from AEI’s Values & Capitalism initiative — entitled To Whom Is Given: Business for the Common Good — tells the stories of three businesses and their Christian owners who who are living out their faith commitments through the “ordinary” work of small business. In unique ways, these companies are transforming their communities by providing meaningful employment, giving back, and simply doing business well.
One of the companies featured in the film is the Weifield Group, an electrical contracting company based in Denver, CO. Under the leadership of Seth Anderson and Karla Nugent, Weifield is providing high-quality services and changing lives by giving former addicts and convicts a second chance through a pre-apprenticeship program.
Watch their story here or at the bottom of this post, but in the meantime, I did a Q&A with Karla about her career, Weifield’s work, how she sees business as an outlet for large scale change, and how her faith drives her participation in the marketplace. Read a lightly edited version below.
From your perspective, do businesses have a responsibility to care for employees, beyond providing them employment and a paycheck?
Karla: Not only it is a responsibility, it should be the #1 priority of any business. Without our employees, we are nowhere, and nothing. We know that our ability to execute our day-to-day operations and our future business vision is 100% dependent on our people. That’s why our people are listed as our #1 company value in our value statement — and it’s why we have built such a people-centric culture. We are fortunate to have a company culture that values individuals, promotes and grows happy and healthy employees, celebrates successes and provides career paths to retire well. We have even developed a council that solely focuses on our culture and what is most important to our employees.
Our focus on employee development, providing a fun and thriving company culture, and our mission to provide fantastic employee perks and benefits has made Weifield a Denver Post Top 100 Workplace for six years running. Less than 5% of organizations in our region have achieved this recognition for five years in a row, let alone six years.
In many ways, you help run a normal electrical contracting business. Leaving Weifield’s charitable initiatives aside for a moment, how do you see the company benefitting the community simply by doing good electrical work?
Well, this is one of the primary reasons we started Weifield. We networked and talked with numerous people all across the industry before we started our company and found that major GC (general contracting) clients, in particular, were just not seeing the quality they expected from their electricals. We saw a true opportunity there to deliver the high quality that we knew we would provide to match the expectations of these major clients. Making high quality the standard is not something that some companies want to or can achieve — but for us, it’s a prerequisite for doing business. It all starts with our people. We knew we could create a culture focused on people — to train them well, and provide the process and procedural focus required to continuously improve — and it’s paid off in spades for both the community and our organization.
So, could you tell us about Weifield’s pre-apprenticeship program?
Weifield’s pre-apprenticeship program supports individuals from the Stout Street Foundation, Peer 1 Program, Denver Rescue Mission, Master’s Apprentice and other area charities and at risk youth organizations. This program matches graduates from these programs with Weifield full-time work in our prefabrication department learning the basics of electrical, construction, and safety. If they show initiative and success, they are then promoted into our four-year electrical apprenticeship program with paid schooling. We have 40+ employees working for Weifield, today, who are successful graduates of these programs who have started their new chapter in life as a result our pre-apprenticeship program. We’re very proud of these results.
From your experience, what does it mean for someone with a troubled past to get a second chance — to have someone believe in them? Any stories that you could share?
It means everything to them, to get a second chance. Many times, people aren’t willing to provide a true second chance to these individuals — and it’s sad. We’ve all made mistakes in our lives and God calls us to “do unto others as you would do unto me” — so I believe that we must find ways to help the most vulnerable members of our community.
When we hire these individuals to Weifield, we have the conversation about putting their past behind them and looking forward to what they can be. We don’t want the old person to show up for work. We encourage them to take this opportunity and be accountable to be your best — which is how God designed you. It is also amazing how our employees not involved with these programs rally around these guys and encourage them to be better and be more than their past.
One of our pre-apprenticeship graduates, who is now a successful journeyman, told me that when I initially met with him to interview him for the program, he felt such comfort in the fact that as he told his story of his troubled past, I didn’t look away from him. He said he felt sort of “flawed” in some way, and the fact that I looked him in the eye and didn’t blink while he told his story, showed him that I respected him as a person.
In the documentary, Greg Thornbury argues that you can glorify God just as much in the marketplace as you can in the church or the mission field. How have you found this to be true in your career?
Yes… the business marketplace touches so many walks of life. It provides an opportunity to spend time with people you normally wouldn’t. An opportunity to shine light and serve others in moments of stress, despair, loss, heartache, etc. We need more leaders in business to help set the standards of ethics and increase the human value of work so employees are not just a number.
Business can be seemingly shallow, with profit as the only goal. However, not everyone operates that way and you don’t have to be “everyone”.
And if you are in the right position, you can leverage resources from the business to do great charity work. If you can find a way to integrate a philanthropic cause or a few causes into your charitable corporate giving, your company’s service efforts, *and* into your business operations — there’s no feeling quite like it. You know then that you’re maximizing your business resources to help as much as you can — and your employees “catch” the contagiousness of your goodwill efforts.
As business owners, we are in a role to set an example and encourage employees to serve others. I often think to myself, WOW, what would it look like if everyone had a heart for service and took care of a person in need in their immediate circle? What would it look like if everyone prayed for each other? If our check registry reflected monies to charities and not self-preservation?
In the film, you talk a lot about the scale of influence that is possible through business. What exactly do you mean by that?
Well, in business — it’s all about relationships. So, your partnerships and connections can be joined together to help charitable causes and achieve unparalleled momentum. For example, we partnered with these therapeutic and rehabilitation communities to start our pre-apprenticeship program — but we had to develop the relationships with these organizations, first, before we could have thought to do that. Then, through outlets and organizations such as your own, we’re publicizing this program and getting the word out to other businesses, who inquire on how we did it and then start something similar of their own.
I challenge other business owners to see what they are passionate about and think about how they are giving back. Through various other committees and boards I serve on, I get others who I serve with involved in various charitable causes as well — in addition to my clients across the industry. I also challenge our new hires on how they give back to their community and let them know Weifield will match their efforts of time and treasure.
With all these disparate relationships working together, we can be an unstoppable force for good — and it’s that relationship influence you have in business that really moves the ball forward in ways you could never imagine to achieve on your own.
In the film, Katherine Leary Alsdorf argues that “God calls us to stuff we don’t necessarily choose.” In what ways has that been true about your life and career?
Absolutely. I believe if it were up to us alone, we might choose a path of least resistance or steer away from things that are different… I wouldn’t say that the construction field is something I would have ended up in without some prompting from my business partner, James, who already worked in the field and recruited me to start Weifield with he and the other partners. However, I knew that it was just another industry and that anywhere you apply process discipline, people skills, and hard work — it’s still just business, anywhere you are, and wherever you land, you always have a great opportunity to make a difference. I believe that God led me here and to this industry and company so that I could help to make a true and lasting impact for our employees, clients, partners, and for charitable institutions in our community.
What would be your charge to someone considering a career in business, but who views it as a less worthy calling than a career in ministry or non-profit work?
I would make the case that they are equally worthy callings and that business is a mission field in desperate need of competent, skilled leaders. It’s an enormous mission with millions of people — people you spend 40–60 hours a week with. How better to shine the light of Christ than working side-by-side with individuals, month after month?
Business can be seemingly shallow, with profit as the only goal. However, not everyone operates that way and you don’t have to be “everyone”.
First published at AEIdeas.org on February 7, 2017.
