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Commonwealth Engineering and Construction can trace
its philosophical origin back more than 30 years to when
President and Owner Paul Varello began his career with
Daniel International in Greenville, South Carolina. Daniel CEO Buck Mickel would prove to be an early
and influential mentor in shaping Varello’s management
skills. More importantly, Mickel personally demonstrated the value of
recognizing individuals who contribute to the success of
the enterprise.
Varello recalls, "Buck had a way of making people
feel appreciated and important... he'd recognize each
face and always made a point to remember names."
Mickel would also frequently pen notes of praise
and encouragement to individual employees. These highly prized notes, always written in red,
became fondly known as "red bullets". It was a practice that Varello would emulate
throughout his career. In his role as Chairman and CEO of American
Ref-Fuel Company, those practices were very evident. In the 1990s, the company rose from its early
operations stage to achieve more than $450 million in
annual revenues. It ranked in the top three of its size among the
Houston’s
Business Journal’s ratings of Best Places to Work.
While other dimensions of Commonwealth’s business
would evolve over time, Varello knew from the outset
that there would always be a concerted effort to value
and recognize people. This extends to Commonwealth’s clients, employees and their
families, business contacts and all others who have a
stake in the company’s engineering and construction
services. This perspective figured heavily in the choice of the
Commonwealth name and continues to impact virtually
every other aspect of the company’s daily business.
Today, the presence of red bullets in
Commonwealth's logo, signs, literature and business
correspondence is more than just homage to one
individual. They symbolize the commitment of the company’s
employee-owners toward service that merits such
recognition. The notion of earning and sharing credit also reflects
Commonwealth's dedication to create lasting business
relationships that will one day leave a legacy of their
own. |
