I am a Christian. During my career I have always found it challenging to live out the principles of my faith in a secular business world and in a world in which being politically correct trumps truth. Being in the POP display and store fixture business, I also found it difficult to create greater purpose for our organization than just making money and getting shoppers to buy more products. I mean it’s not like we have a noble mission like saving lives or, in Apple’s case, advancing humankind by creating insanely great products.
Several years ago I decided to take a stab at putting my thoughts down on paper regarding how I wanted to integrate my faith with my work. I chose to do it in the form of a letter which I published on the inside front cover of RICH LTD.’s catalog. We send our catalog out to more than 10,000 customers and prospects. The letter, which was creatively entitled “Letter from the President,” was repeated year after year in the same place in our catalog. I thought I would share the letter from our 25th Anniversary Catalog Issue.
Letter from the President
There is a striking parallel between the creative expression found in musical composition and the daily work we do in creating POP displays and merchandising solutions. The aim of both disciplines is to create a unique, moving, and memorable experience which holds the audience and speaks to the hearts and minds of each of us individually.
The music of Johan Sebastian Bach, one of the greatest composers of all time, carries a universal message of hope and faith which can touch anybody and which transcends culture, religion, and musical knowledge. At the end of each of his compositions, Bach appended the initials “SDG,” which stand for “Soli Deo Gloria,” or “To God Alone Be the Glory.” These initials signified Bach’s deep devotion and his genuine desire to serve God through music.
A few years ago, RICH LTD. adopted the signature line “Soli Deo Gloria” as an expression of our desire to achieve glory for God in all that we do as a business. As President, I cannot think of a higher moral or ethical standard I can set for my employees than to act with character, integrity, compassion, and respect as we serve our customers, at all times behaving in a way that reflects God’s glory. Likewise, there is no stronger statement I can make to our customers about the kind of company we are, what we value, and what they can expect from us. Reduced to its core, “Soli Deo Gloria” is a statement of humility, for like Bach, we recognize that our considerable creative talents, our passion, and our inspired spirit of service are not anything for which we can take credit. Rather, they are gifts from our Creator which are to be used to reflect His glory.
As we celebrate 28 years in business, we recognize that we have been richly blessed- far more than we deserve. We have an incredible team of dedicated professionals, over 4000 customers around the world, including many companies who are leaders in their industries, and all of whom have something to teach us. We are fortunate to have a strong internal design team, as well as high-quality overseas manufacturing and domestic millwork capabilities, which together have contributed to our consistent record of creating value for our customers.
We are tremendously grateful to our loyal customers who have supported us over the years, and we look forward to the privilege of serving our current and prospective customers in the years to come.
Sincerely,
Jim Hollen
Soli Deo Gloria
Jim Hollen is the owner and President of RICH LTD. (www.richltd.com), a 35+ year-old California-based point-of-purchase display, retail store fixture, and merchandising solutions firm which has been named among the Top 50 U.S. POP display companies for 9 consecutive years. A former management consultant with McKinsey & Co. and graduate of Stanford Business School, Jim Hollen has served more than 3000 brands and retailers over more than 20 years and has authored nearly 500 blogs and e-Books on a wide range of topics related to POP displays, store fixtures, and retail merchandising.
Jim has been to China more than 50 times and has worked directly with more than 30 factories in Asia across a broad range of material categories, including metal, wood, acrylic, injection molded and vacuum formed plastic, corrugated, glass, LED lighting, digital media player, and more. Jim Hollen also oversees RICH LTD.’s domestic manufacturing operation and has experience manufacturing, sourcing, and importing from numerous Asian countries as well as Vietnam and Mexico.
His experience working with brands and retailers spans more than 25 industries such as food and beverage, apparel, consumer electronics, cosmetics/beauty, sporting goods, automotive, pet, gifts and souvenirs, toys, wine and spirits, home improvement, jewelry, eyewear, footwear, consumer products, mass market retail, specialty retail, convenience stores, and numerous other product/retailer categories.