Speaking Franklin

Every business must do two basic things to ensure survival. First, all workers in a business must act in a coordinated fashion. That is, everybody must move in the same general direction for a business to compete effectively. Second, businesses must adapt to changing environments to survive, and adaptation comes only through the actions of people. These may be relatively obvious maxims, but the failure to implement them has brought down many businesses.

Here's an example of how self-education can coordinate the activities of a company and get workers moving in the same general direction: The CEO of People Express Airlines, Don Burr, wanted to create an organizational culture in which workers could easily understand and communicate to others. Simply put, he wanted to create a self-educating business. To do so, he threw out the rule books and boiled down company policy to six basic precepts: service, commitment to the growth and development of our people; to be the best provider of air transportation; to provide the highest quality of leadership; to serve as a role model for others; simplicity; and maximization of profits.

Burr then incorporated these six guiding precepts into a one-page document called "Leadership is Everything." Anybody wanting to make a culturally correct decision at People Express had only to recall these six guidelines and the information on the single-page policy manual-a very simple thing to do-and then apply them to the situation at hand. Burr's genius in this undertaking was not to avoid rules altogether, but to create a system of broad, easily remembered guidelines that every employee could recall and pass on to others.

Perhaps the above examples will prompt you to think seriously about self-education. As the rate of change in society continues to advance and information technology continues to improve, knowledge and skills will be obsolete more and more quickly. Without a plan for self-education, you'll be forced to rely on the generosity of others to keep up. Franklin knew that this was folly. As a result, he left a useful self-education example that all can imitate.

This article was originally published in the May 2000 print edition of Entrepreneur with the headline: Speaking Franklin.