Marc Byrnes says that there is plenty to be thankful for, even in the midst of the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.

Your ability to focus on what you have and what you believe in can go a long way toward helping you through the tough times.

“It’s amazing what happens when you give back to a community, how much you receive,” says Byrnes, chairman and CEO at Oswald Cos. “You can’t put a price tag on it. But it sure keeps things in perspective when you see the wheels coming off other companies as to why they are coming off. They do so because they are not focused on the right fundamentals or the right values.”

Oswald is among the nation’s largest independent, employee-owned insurance brokerage firms. The firm finished 2007 with $62 million in revenue and more than 400 employee-owners and is aiming for $65 million in 2008 revenue.

Byrnes credits the company’s continued growth to an unyielding focus on the firm’s core values and an ability to take changes and challenges in stride.

“Exhale. Relax,” Byrnes said. “There are so many things out there that you can’t control. Stay focused on what you can. What you can control is your relationships with your clients and your suppliers.”

The value of working together as a team, following strong morals and operating with honesty, is reinforced consistently in everything the firm does.

“That allows the open, candid and direct dialogue,” Byrnes says. “People will not take their opinions awry. They will be able to keep it within the scope of the organization.”

One of the things ingrained into the values of Oswald is providing community service to those in need.

“We had a new-employee orientation,” Byrnes says. “I requested that all our employee-owners know that if they do have a particular interest or passion in the nonprofit sector, please bring that to our attention.

The good deeds serve as further reinforcement of the values of the company and create a sense of good will.

Byrnes says that it would be foolish to think that positive thoughts are enough to ease the fears being felt by your employees, especially those at the lower end of the salary scale.

“I’m certainly not blinded to believe that a number of them are not tremendously concerned about their own financial situation,” Byrnes says. “Just bring it back to the basics and bring it back to the fundamentals. Stay within yourself and stay calm.”

When questions or concerns are brought to you, you have to respond in a calm but honest manner.

“People are smart,” Byrnes says. “They can tell whether you are playing a game with them or not. Answer their questions honestly. If you don’t know the answer, just say, ‘I don’t know, but you know, that’s an excellent question. I’ll get with the right advisers and find out and get back to you.’ Then do it. Make sure you follow up and do it. I think people respect that a lot.”

One of the best things you can do to endear yourself to employees is to check your ego.

“Go find the right people in your company or on your board or elsewhere that can give you solid advice, truly substantive advice,” Byrnes says. “What are you going to do to sustain yourself through this crisis and be able to learn from it, grow and build in the future?”

HOW TO REACH: Oswald Cos., (216) 367-8787 or www.oswaldcompanies.com

Rules of engagement

Keeping customers

George N. Havens has provided consultation on leadership, planning and marketing for growth-oriented organizations for 40 years.

Haven is president of Strategic Consulting and the retired chairman of The Jayme Organization Inc., a full-service advertising, marketing and public relations firm in Cleveland.

Here, he offers tips from from his book, “The New Competitive Challenge: Satisfying and Keeping Today’s Tougher Customers.”

Alert customers of changes. Nobody likes surprises, least of all your customers. If you anticipate any significant change in your operations that could affect them — in front-line personnel, executives, pricing, new products, key policies, office/plant relocation — they need to hear it first directly from you.

If they learn of changes from the media or from a business associate who approaches them with, ‘I’m sure you know what X company is planning to do,’ you have just torpedoed their trust in you.

Create a customer commitment statement. Too often it gets implemented with simplistic cliches like, ‘We care for our customers,’ or, ‘Customers are No. 1 with us.’

What is needed here is a specific statement of how you perceive your customers, how you will treat them and how your employees are to think about your customers.

HOW TO REACH: Strategic Consulting, (216) 681-6002 or [email protected]