Those were Gary Comer’s two little words, and they built a mighty business. We met Gary long ago, when we were copywriters at the Young & Rubicam advertising agency. We were in charge of taking him to lunch, showing him around, introducing him to our writers and art directors and film producers. He was a nice kid, with smart eyes and a blond crew cut. He loved the sea and was a skilled sailor, winning the 1959 North American championship in the Star Class and a bronze medal in the Pan American Games.
He quit Y&R in 1960, and traveled around Europe. A year later, when he returned to Chicago, he started selling sailboat equipment, hardware, duffel bags, rain suits, and some clothing. He named his new company Lands’ End ( the misplaced apostrophe was a typo, but he liked it and kept it ).
You know the rest of the story. Lands’ End became one of the most innovative and largest mail-order businesses in the world. Gary Comer became one of Chicago’s leading philanthropists… funding hospitals, youths centers, scholarships, and more than we can recount. Behind all that success was a Core Belief, simply stated… the two words that Gary Comer and everyone at Lands’ End worked and lived by. “ Guaranteed. Period.” There were no ifs, no ands, no buts. Just two words… Guaranteed. Period.
By committing to a Core Belief, an organization can aim higher than the horizon and achieve beyond expectation. The Core Belief is the music people march to… it’s the reason phones are answered immediately, that the voice on the other end is friendly and knowledgeable and helpful… it’s behind a service policy that respects customers and accepts returns without hustle or hassle. 
As TOP GUN COMMUNICATIONS Co-founder Tom Glass says, “ the Core Belief, combined with the Corporate Mission, is the vital heartbeat of an organization.” 
Co-founder Mark Dahl describes it this way: “Core Belief is what gets you to work early and eager to start another day, happy to be doing what you’re doing and happy to be where you are. The rewards of your work are beyond money.”
THE EIGHT PRINCIPLES:
- Select the best and brightest.
- Commit to a core value or belief.
- Train to that commitment.
- Exhibit unwavering professionalism.
- Prepare relentlessly.
- Brief and Debrief.
- Standardize.
- Be Creative.
Committing to A Core Belief is one of the Eight Principles developed 36 years ago by TOPGUN’S “best and brightest”; Principles that led to striking success in the skies. Today, the proper application of these same Principles has helped many organizations and enterprises change, adapt, and create a new and vibrant culture of success. TOP GUN COMMUNICATIONS can help you build a foundation committed to excellence. The skills we teach to management, department heads, sales teams, and other key groups have yielded impressive results.
Representative Client Listing:
- The Richmond Group, New York
- The Richmond Group, London
- The Wall Street Journal
- IBM
- Executive Forum– Leadership Program
- Cincinnati Insurance Group
- Texas Children’s Hospital
- Neonatal Intensive Care Unit— National Conference
- Reader’s Digest Home Improvement Group
- ING National Honors Club
- ING National Sales Conference
- Barron’s Magazine
- Smart Money Magazine
- Merrill Lynch Investment Banking, Asia Rim
- Merrill Lynch, Japan
- Merrill Lynch, New York
- Skaugen PetroTrans, Inc
- UBS Global Asset Management
In every individual and in every organization there are untapped values and beliefs. TOP GUN COMMUNICATIONS can help you discover and select the most promising and potent of these riches. Pride, respect, loyalty, excellence, esteem, tradition, leadership….. all flow from that unique and valuable CORE BELIEF, and lead, inevitably, to an organization’s success. Future issues of our briefings will discuss in detail some of the other aspects of the TOP GUN PRINCIPLES. And we’ll pass along to you additional comments from industry leaders who have seen , first hand, what the TOP GUN COMMUNICATIONS program has done for their organizations.
FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT TOP GUN COMMUNICATIONS PLEASE CONTACT: www.topguncommunications.com topguncommunications@gmail.com
