[Sound effect and Music] [Sather] I've got a friend
up in Missoula, Montana and he sent me a book written
by James P. Owen, 'Cowboy Ethics:
What Wall Street Can Learn About the Code of the West"
and I was rather intrigued with it.
And, then I found out that Malcolm Baldrige was
from Nebraska.
He was a cowboy, and putting those things together,
and looking at the ten principles of "Cowboy Ethics",
I thought, 'you know, this is something we ought
to implement in our program.'
[Narrator] The Center did just that!
Of the ten principles, four became particularly important:
live each day with courage, take pride in your work, be tough
but fair, and ride for the brand.
And, "Cowboy Ethics: The Code
of the West" took on special meaning.
It resonated with employees
and became how the Center saw itself, how it defined itself.
But, it came to mean even more than that!
[Boardman] Cowboy ethics, to us, is just a way
of life within the Center.
It's doing the right thing.
It's a way of us to define the things that mean the most to us,
taking pride in what we do, having the courage to stand
up for what's right, to stand up for the veteran.
[Narrator] Taken together, the purpose of those jobs--
and of the Center, itself--
is to improve the health of veterans and humankind.
That is done through creative and innovative pharmaceutical,
scientific, technical, operational
and educational support to clinical trials
that target current veteran health issue Cowboy ethics are
central to what the Center provides,
the services it renders.
A guide and a beacon for employees, they are words
that inspire them to perform with excellence.
[Sather] Live each day with courage.
We encourage all our employees to debate the issues
if they feel strongly about something.
We might be doing it one way,
they think we should be doing it another way.
And, you have to have the courage to speak up.
[Narrator] Taking pride in their work is a Cowboy Ethics
principle that pervades the Center.
Every staffer is informed by it, takes pride not just
in benefiting veterans, but in benefiting them as consistently,
as strongly, and as well as possible.
This is personal for many.
A wall in the Center is graced by pictures of family members
of employees who were veterans.
The wall is a tribute to those family members and,
by extension, to all veterans.
But, whether an employee has a relative who is a veteran
or not, pride in the Center's work is never an issue.
[Mike Sather] Be tough but fair.
And, we have discipline principles
in the Baldrige program that you manage by.
And you have to be tough about those.
You have to make sure that your organization follows
those principles.
And, but, at the same time, you have to be fair
with the employees and make sure they understand when they come
to work for you what you're all about.
My favorite among the cowboy principles is
"ride for the brand".
And, what that really means is, is that when you hire
on with an outfit, you have a loyalty to that outfit.
And, looking at that principle, what we have today,
when you go to work for an organization,
you have an obligation to be loyal
and dedicated to that organization.
And, if you are loyal and dedicated to an organization,
you're going to be successful."
[Narrator] In a sense, cowboy ethics are all about loyalty,
dedication, and integrity.
Those qualities start at the top--
which explains why in a 2009 employee survey
of ethical behavior,
the Center's leadership received a rating
of virtually five out of five.
That is the bedrock upon which success is built.
In this case, success means improving the health and care
of America's veteran-- and improving the health and care
of the nation, as well.
[Sather] The reason we exist is because of the veteran.
1