We have a personal coach for our employees where they receive one-on-one coaching for two weeks each quarter. The focus is to help develop “person-centered” skills and challenge employees to take a critical look at themselves. Many of those who’ve participated claim that their lives have been forever changed by the coaching.  

We created an Employee Appreciation Committee that is tasked with making our big company feel as small as possible. They host a number of relationship-building events from picnics to impromptu bowling tournaments.

Every other year our CEO goes through a third-party 360 degree performance review. Approximately 35 people from around the company are asked to complete detailed, anonymous assessments about the CEO’s strengths and weaknesses. The CEO publishes the results along with a plan to improve his weaknesses. The message to the company is that we all…

Being a Transparent CEO – The 4 Door Glass Office The CEO’s office is entirely glass with gaps between the glass. The design is meant to support the cultural value of transparency and accessibility. The office has four doors on all sides – a not-so-subtle invitation for anyone to come in at any time.

At Goodmans a week doesn’t go by without an employee being celebrated for outstanding performance in service to our customers. Typically the reward includes a hand-written note from the CEO sent to the employees home, along with a movie gift card. Sometimes the customer feedback is so outstanding that we throw a luncheon to acknowledge…

The mission of Goodmans is “to create great lifetime furniture experiences”. That mission is slyly provocative because of the word “lifetime”. Our teams spend a lot of energy discussing the difference between just a “great furniture experience” and a “great lifetime furniture experience”. Specifically, this is the difference between “Day One” of a furniture project…

Our AIM to Make a Difference program warehouses our customers’ surplus furniture that would otherwise be headed for the landfill and repurpose that furniture, for free, to Arizona nonprofits. Since 2008, 110 organizations have received over $1,000,000 worth of furniture though our program. AIM to Make a Difference has become a national model copied by…

In 2004, a customer told Adam Goodman that buying office furniture was like buying a used car. That ugly comparison inspired Adam to write a manifesto that challenged Goodmans to change the perception of the entire office furniture industry. Adam wrote that “I am on a mission to change that perception by applying pressure to…

Our talented team of Goodmans employees have innovated a variety of community initiatives to meet our vision “to change our community”. For example: AIM to Make a Difference: We warehouse our customers’ surplus furniture that would otherwise be headed for the landfill and repurpose that furniture, for free, to Arizona nonprofits. Since 2008, 110 organizations…

Every year we tour hundreds of local businesses through our showroom to tell the story of sustainable design and operations. We take credit for inspiring many of them to make more enlightened choices in construction and materials. To stay on top of the trends and to share our experiences, we have been members of the…

The Gift of Giving For Goodmans 60th anniversary, they decided to give the gift of giving. They’re paying it forward through their most precious asset…their employees. After all, it’s their party. They asked 60 of their employees to tell them about the do-gooders in their networks, the people who inspire them, the ones on the…