Why 3M, Ebay, and Umpqua Bank Have "Hyper-Human" Characteristics

Bizdriven asked for an explanation of why three organizations were singled out for "hyper-human" characteristics in my 3/14/05 piece, Make Money on "People Companies".

3M: Innovation is their middle name. They strongly support the creativity of their people, helping them come up with endless streams of new products and methods.

Ebay: They treat their employees well, but their key strength is empowering two key constituencies: hundreds of thousands of small business owners and individuals with stuff to sell; and millions of consumers looking for good stuff at a good price. Ebay delivers power to the little guy, a badly needed service as big guys threaten the middle class by extending the wealth gap.

Umpqua Bank: They became the biggest community bank in Oregon by liberating the initiative and responsibility of their employees. Now called "universal associates," all Umpqua personnel have been empowered to represent the bank in all ways: sales, customer service, you name it.

The stocks of these three companies have zoomed compared to stocks of more traditional companies. In my earlier article, I might have mentioned the likes of Enron -- outfits that have battered employees and the public. Instead, I compared the three to very good traditional companies, like IBM and GE -- outfits that have generally done well by their people and the public. These "good" companies could do even better if they consciously pushed "hyper-human" approaches.

Stay tuned for descriptions of the 10 hyper-human approaches and the bottom-line difference they can make.