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 competitors to raise the bar on their ethical standards and community involvement. We can do this by establishing ourselves as an example that attracts so much business away from our competitors that they will be forced to respond with a similar effort. Slowly, one competitor at a time, we will change the public’s perception of our industry.”

This ambition required Goodmans to share their ideas, documents, records and resources with dealers around the country. This is why Goodmans regularly engages with other dealers about one of our community involvement programs. Whatever they need, we give them; every email, graphic, press release, letter, budget and contract.

As a result, dozens of dealers and manufacturers have used Goodmans’ templates to start their own office chair hockey tournaments, office makeover contests, used furniture repurposing programs and other community involvement ideas. If you trace the genesis of all of those programs, you will find that they started with Goodmans.

In the late 1980’s, Murray Goodman worked with NOPA to create the National Dealer Alliance (NDA), a peer networking group of Herman Miller dealers. Murray and four other “founding fathers” recruited dealers, hired a facilitator and organized the group. Murray served as president of the NDA for one term.

Today, Adam Goodman is an active member of the NDA and is recognized as a leader in the group who is aggressively recruiting new members and liberally shares proprietary information.