culture

Value in Peaceful Reflection & Restfulness

Posted On: November 30, 2020 by Mike Mallaro in: Opinions, Social commentary, VGM, Work Culture

I saw Van the other night. He pointed to me, smiled and yelled across the way, “lowering your handicap, Mikey?” Van is Van G. Miller, founder of VGM and the man who preceded me as CEO of our company. He passed in 2015 – a faulty heart and too much wear on the tires. I worked for him and learned from him for fourteen years prior to succeeding his legend. He loved golf and a reference to a golf handicap was not unexpected. I’m left wondering what...

Win with great team players

Posted On: September 21, 2020 by Mike Mallaro in: Employee Ownership, Social commentary, VGM, Work Culture

The other day I clicked on the link to a video of a basketball game played 40 years ago – and had an epiphany - mostly the best teams win, not the team with the best player(s). The game was Iowa vs. Georgetown, with the winner going to the Final Four. The Iowa team had no all-Big Ten players that year. Of their five leading scores that game, four never played a minute in the NBA, and the one that did was a...

Tags: team, team players, vgm

The 19th Amendment

Posted On: August 18, 2020 by Mike Mallaro in: Community & Loneliness, Opinions, Social commentary, Work Culture

Today (August 18, 2020) marks the 100th anniversary of women earning the right to vote in America, via ratification of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution. In commemoration of this historic advancement in equal rights, I wanted to share some of the lessons that we might be able to take away from this successful struggle, as best I understand from my reading. Meaningful advancements take time. Women won the right to vote in 1920, one-hundred forty-four years after the founding...

Great Teams

Posted On: July 13, 2020 by Mike Mallaro in: Employee Ownership, Social commentary, VGM, Work Culture

The summer when I was twelve I played on the Gibson Red Sox baseball team. Our team finished the season with a record of zero wins and sixteen losses. We were what our record said we were. Today most of us are part of teams – maybe a company, a department, a family or a community group. We each have a job to do as part of a team, with individual job duties and responsibilities. But perhaps more importantly, we each have an...

35 years

Posted On: June 26, 2020 by Mike Mallaro in: Opinions, VGM, Work Culture

June 24 was the 35th anniversary of my professional career. On that day in 1985, I joined Touche Ross in their Omaha office. Touche Ross was an accounting firm and was part of the “Big 8”, a term for the eight national accounting firms in existence at that time. It was a proud firm, with high expectations and a strong culture of serving clients. I worked at that firm for eleven years. I loved that job and it was very good for me. I thought this a good...

Tags: 1985, career, lessons learned

Choices

Posted On: June 22, 2020 by Mike Mallaro in: Healthcare, Social commentary, VGM, Work Culture

We all exercise freedom of choice. We choose our partner, how to spend our time and where we buy groceries. We choose the shows we watch, our religion and our favorite teams. The people we serve exercise their freedom of choice as well. Every person we do business with has a choice. They can choose to work with us. Alternatively, they can choose to do business with someone else, or use alternative methods that do not include us. Success comes when make...

Ownership

Posted On: May 22, 2020 by Mike Mallaro in: Employee Ownership, Opinions, Social commentary, Work Culture

Renting has its advantages. No commitment. No investment. Free from entanglements. Owning on the other hand, requires investment. It means putting something at risk. Ownership comes with commitment, obligation and responsibility. You might say ownership requires you to be all-in. When it comes to your career and your life, ownership is worth the investment. In fact, it’s the only way to go. Employee-ownership of business is the pathway to career and personal fulfillment. Further,...

Power of One Principle – Make a Difference 

Posted On: May 11, 2020 by Mike Mallaro in: Employee Ownership, VGM, Work Culture

Few things in life are more satisfying than knowing that you’ve made a difference. No matter our role – employee, leader, parent, competitor, volunteer – making a difference must always...

Power of One Principle – Welcome Change

Posted On: May 4, 2020 by Mike Mallaro in: Employee Ownership, VGM, Work Culture

The pace of change has never been faster, and it will never be this slow again. Innovation will continue, customer demands will evolve and disruption of all sorts will continue, including a pandemic. As Darwin famously said, “It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.” Our sixth Power of One Principle encourages all of us to be adaptable, be curious, adopt a growth mindset, and remain open to new ideas...

Tags: Power Of One

A Message to VGM Employee Owners: Create Your Future

Posted On: April 23, 2020 by Mike Mallaro in: Employee Ownership, VGM, Work Culture

A stressed case manager in Springfield is looking to send out a referral on a complicated injured worker case. We can help. A guy in the New York suburbs is waiting on the CPAP cleaner he ordered. We’ll get it there. A practice in Montgomery is looking to secure insurance coverage to protect their business. We have a solution. A DME in Minneapolis has put out respiratory equipment and is hoping it gets collected today and paid to them tomorrow. We’re on it. A firm in Dubuque...