Lesson #1: Good Taste Means Good Business

“If a man goes into business with only the idea of making a lot of money, chances are he won't,” Hall wrote in his autobiography, When You Care Enough. “But if he puts service and quality first, the money will take care of itself. Producing a first-class product that is a real need is a much stronger motivation for success than getting rich."

When Hall first started his company, he never dreamed of becoming a millionaire. In fact, when he dreamed about the success he would have with his company, money never factored into the picture. Instead, Hall wanted to provide his customers with a top quality product that they could actually use. It was his practicality and dedication to excellence that brought him out on top.

Hall was a hands-on manager. In fact, he remained intimately involved with every aspect of running his company up until the day he died. He did not simply remain in his office behind closed doors reviewing his accounts. Hall spent time on the factory floor with his employees. He reviewed each and every single design that one of his artists created, stamping it with “O.K.J.C.” if it met his approval. After retirement, Hall would spend a part of each summer in Malibu, California. The rest of the year, however, Hall would go right back to work, continuing as chairman of the board and acting as the company’s personal quality control agent.

“I’m hell-bent on quality,” Hall once said. In running his company, he not only appreciated value, but demanded it of all his employees and his products. After all, he said, “good taste is good business.”

One of the innovative ways through which Hall demonstrated his devotion to quality was by featuring the work of great artists on his simple greeting cards. Refusing to create greeting cards that showed little thought went into them, or that did not stand out from the rest, Hall enlisted the help of world-renowned artists to bring their first class work to the masses.

In 1951, Hallmark kicked off the Hallmark Hall of Fame, a long-running television series that focused on bringing the world’s best performers to the masses. Again, Hall wanted his name to be associated with the very best. In 1953, the show presented Hamlet, the first time the entire play had been performed on American television. The ratings for that episode were much lower than usual, since Shakespeare appealed to a much smaller audience than his normal variety show. Still, Hall did not mind one bit. “I’d rather make eight million good impressions than 28 million bad ones,” he said.

From his greetings cards to his television show and beyond, Hall was setting first-class firsts wherever he went. Even where it meant sacrificing profit, which in many cases it did, Hall remained dedicated to achieving his number one goal: quality. In the end, Hall believed that he would be rewarded by his customers if he gave them the very best.



Lesson #1: Good Taste Means Good Business

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