Roberta Mesker
National Accounts Sales Manager
Conair Corporation

Robert Mesker has worked for Conair for nearly a decade. Conair is a personal care appliance manufacturer and the market share leader in most of their product categories—including hair dryers, curling irons, hair setters, haircutting kits and trimmers. Mesker became a Christian about halfway through her tenure with Conair and she says it totally changed how she viewed her job.

Mesker: Prior to being a Christian I was always going after "the deal"--closing the deal, getting the job done at any cost. Now it’s not about the deal. It’s not about hairdryers or curling irons. It's about people.

LifeChasers: In what way?

Mesker: I heard someone say once that Jesus' life was more about connection than correction. I want that same attitude. Everyone that I come in contact with—clients, coworkers—is in a different place in their faith or lack of it. I can love them (wherever they are at), encourage, motivate and care for them. It not only models what a good leader and co-worker should look like, but it often builds a bridge for further conversations about God who cares about them more than I do.

LifeChasers: What happens when your people-focus is at cross-purposes with the requirements of your job?

Mesker: Recently I faced just such a situation. I was on the road traveling. We had a problem with a product shipped from Asia to one of our big chain specialty store clients. The product was not ticketed correctly when it arrived at the client's warehouse.

One of my subordinates who manages that account quickly hired a team of 22 temps at a premium rate to show up early the next morning at the client's main warehouse to ticket the entire shipment.

The next morning I got a frantic call from her at 6 a.m. The temps were ready to work but the client couldn't find the product! "There’s nothing for them to do," she said. "But they showed up and they’re asking to get paid? Do I pay them or not?"

I said, "The right thing to do is to pay the people. It's not their fault the product isn't there. They need to know they will be treated with respect and will be paid regardless."

Fortunately, they later found the product. Some of the client's own people pitched in to help and the project wrapped up ahead of schedule.

LifeChasers: You dodged a bullet. What would have happened if you had to pay the workers without getting the job done? Would you have lost your job?

Mesker: No. Obviously, I have goals and objectives the company expects me to achieve. And if the product had not turned up, I would have spent a lot of money doing the "right thing." So making a decision that is not only right for the business but the right decision for people is a constant challenge. But I strongly believe that doing the right thing eventually works in your favor. In that situation, when the product was located the people worked harder for us because they knew we had planned to take care of them regardless.

The challenge is to remember upfront that even though it may cost you in the short-term to take care of people, in the long term it works out. You have to stay the course.