On March 11, 2008, Maxim Enterprises was presented with an award.  It was our first time receiving the NEO Success Award, an award for “top performing” companies in Northeast Ohio.  We had taken ten of our employees to this event to celebrate this award.  Now mind you, this was a luncheon award ceremony and we are pulling ten people away from their work on company time.  We currently have a staff of forty people and about twenty five percent would be out of the office attending this event.  Moreover, this was the first event that more than two employees from Maxim would attended.  Little did I know, this event would create a significant move in our corporate culture at Maxim. 

After our delicious lunch, we heard a speaker deliver a quote that resounded with everyone at our table.“If you want your company to grow, compete, however, if you want your company to grow exponentially, cooperate.”  This award ceremony was about successful companies and what can we continue to do to achieve success.  Are you serious?  Cooperate?  Most of the time we worry about our competition and talk about who we have to compete against.  The more I kept repeating the quote in my head, the more I started to agree with the speaker.  Maxim Enterprises has been competing in business now for ten years and has been growing rapidly.  However, after ten years I have realized that competing will only take you so far, especially in a highly competitive price structure.  No don't get me wrong, I believe that competition is what fuels any great business.  However, it is in how we compete with each other.  Are we competing with our ethics and values in mind? Or are we competing with no ethics and values and just going thru the motions.  I believe when people compete with ethics and values cooperation from everyone then comes into play.  Thru this cooperation everyone then creates a win-win situation.

Steve Maxim

CEO/President

Maxim Enterprises