Inspired Entrepreneurship

One line from the Auburn Creed defines the Keyston Bros. approach to business “ ‘ I believe in the human touch. ’ Ours is a relationship-based business. We have the best sales team in the industry. ”

HCOB: What guided your decision to manage through that uncertainty? How did you know what to do? Duncan: It wasn’t abundantly clear what to do in a situa- tion like that — it was unprecedented. But what we did have was the detailed assessment of the underlying financials of the business, the analysis we conducted before purchasing the company. That assessment was crucial in guiding our actions going forward. We had the data necessary to not simply slash-and-burn headcount on a purely cost basis. . HCOB: What I hear you saying is that it is one thing to simply cut overhead to survive, but quite another to do that strategically, with viable data behind your deci- sion-making, right? Duncan : Exactly. And I’m not saying we did everything perfectly. But we were prepared for worst-case scenarios, although nobody could have foreseen that. One thing that deep analysis and number-crunching scenario planning does is give you the confidence it takes to make big decisions in times of uncertainty.

HCOB: What did you learn from 9/11, if anything, that helped you cope with unexpected events later on down the line? Duncan : One thing we learned was that, as much as we knew, we didn’t know enough. That spurred us to step up our reliance on data analysis and planning, which came in handy during the economic downturn of 2008. We were much better prepared for that slowdown from a metrics standpoint, and we also knew the people part. Both of those things made us stronger as a team and as a family. HCOB: What do you mean by that — the “people part”? Duncan : That goes back to our mission statement — “Honest Goods.” Most companies have these three- and four-sentence mission statements, very elaborate claims laying out the various components of who they are and what they do. Ours is simple — we strive to deliver honest goods to our customers. We build our business strategy on integrity and honesty — that’s one of the characteristics of the business that was there well before we bought it. And that’s also where our business philosophy ties back to the Auburn Creed.