“I never, at any period of my life, aspired to become wealthy, but the fierce competition perhaps developed a fighting spirit, and in the effort to secure our share, the business has succeeded,” Kellogg once said. “It is my hope that the property that kind Providence has brought me may be helpful to many others, and that I may be found a faithful steward.”
One day, the Kellogg Company’s treasurer was asked to go over its founder’s personal ledgers and get them into shape. “Well, these books indicated that you are worth a million dollars,” the treasurer said afterwards. “I am no such thing,” exclaimed Kellogg, who was found to be genuinely shocked.
Kellogg might have had a lifelong fear of being poor, but his goal in starting his business was never to become rich. He wanted to provide for his family, but beyond that, wealth was of little importance to him.
It is for that reason that Kellogg found it so easy to do away with his wealth. From extending benefits to his workers to donating millions to charity, Kellogg found that the best return on investment came from people.
Kellogg was one of the first businessmen to begin extending generous benefits and services to his workers. In 1927, he opened a nursery at his main plant in order to accommodate the needs of his female workers with children. He also opened up a medical and dental clinic to look after the children, and supplied them with a dietitian to ensure their proper nourishment.
During the Great Depression, Kellogg became increasingly concerned over his workers’ welfare. He created more shifts so that even more family men could be hired. U.S. President Hoover was so impressed with the plan that he called Kellogg to the White House to discuss the potential for a nationwide work scheme. Meanwhile, Kellogg also financed the construction of a ten-acre park near his Battle Creek plant to give work to those Americans who did not have any.
In 1930, Kellogg established the W.K. Kellogg Foundation to administer his $45 million in personal assets to various charities. In 1944, Kellogg also gave away 21,400 shares of company stock to a fund set up to assist veteran employees. “Dollars have never been known to produce character, and character will never be produced by money,” he once said. “I’ll invest my money in people.”
For Kellogg, the greatest good in both his business and personal lives came when he was putting his money into people – the people that mattered most. He regarded his workers as his family, and treated them accordingly. But to his real family, he wanted to leave something more important than money; he wanted to leave them with a sense of the value of money. As such, he left his fortune to his foundation.
In the end, when he had lost his eyesight, this lesson would become even more poignant for the businessman: “I would give all my money just to see the sun and the green grass again.”
Today, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation remains one of the world’s largest private charities, and owns 27 percent of the Kellogg Company.
Lesson #5: Invest Your Money in People
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