Redding School District

During the fall of 1982, Chicago experienced seven mysterious deaths by cyanide poisoning that originally couldn’t be explained.   The discovery came later that all seven had taken Extra Strength Tylenol Capsules just before they had died.   Upon further investigation, the police had found cyanide in the medicine bottles in the victim’s home. 

Tylenol is made by Johnson & Johnson.  A very large and prosperous company founded in the 1940s by Robert Wood Johnson.  In 1982 Johnson & Johnson made many products that we can all remember but Tylenol was the number one profit element within their company.   This event, for a major company like Johnson & Johnson, was considered a crisis.  As you can imagine their Board of Directors met often to come up with a response.

The CEO and Chairman of the Board was James Burke.  He sat and listened to the discussions about the concerns over the stock market price dropping when the news gets out.  Shortly thereafter the FBI and Drug Administration investigated and found that Johnson & Johnson were not responsible for the poisoning.  No cyanide was found within the company manufacturing buildings or the logistics routes.  The FBI publically concluded that it wasn’t Johnson & Johnson’s fault but a criminal act by an individual.

The Board of Johnson & Johnson as a whole felt relieved that it wasn’t their fault.  Therefore, they should be alright as a company.  James Burke left those meetings and slowly made his way back to his office.  Upon entering his office, he looked up to find the company credo hanging behind his desk.

When Robert Wood Johnson started the company all those years ago he wrote the company credo.   The first element of the credo says, “We believe our first responsibility is to the patients, doctors, and nurses, to mothers and fathers and all others who use our products and services.” 

As James Burke looked upon that credo day after day, he finally came back to the board with a proposal.  He said, “If we value our credo, we do have a responsibility in this crisis.  It has to do with the trust of America.”   He then made a proposal to the Board that changed their company forever.  

He announced that he thought they should take every bottle of Extra Strength Tylenol off the shelves across the United States and offer a refund or exchange for anyone who still had it in their home.  At that time you were talking about 31 million bottles of Tylenol.  The Board’s first reaction was that this idea could sink the company.   James Burke responded that he didn’t know what it would do but he also thought that it was the right action to take.  He continued and stated that they shouldn’t put their bottles back on the shelves until they can come up with a way to make them tamper proof. 

There is a reason why some of us don’t like to take medicine.  We can’t get the bottles open.  Lining up the arrows and pushing the cap down just right is difficult for us old guys.  Seriously, when you think about how we open medicine bottles today, you are realizing the work that Johnson & Johnson put into figuring out how to make their products fit with their credo.  Now all manufacturers use these safety methods and Johnson & Johnson have done well as a company since.

James Burke was a man of integrity who lived up to the original credo of his company even though he didn’t know what was going to happen. 

I am always lifted by the New Millennium educators and our ability to always hold ourselves responsible to our “mothers and fathers and all others who use our products and services.”   Thanks for your continued focus on making what we do better and better each and every day.   Thanks for never taking the easy road and always making the right adjustments because “it has to do with the trust” that our families place in us.  The innovation and instructional willingness to improve as well as the powerful connections made all over our partnership is astounding and very rewarding to watch.

Have a fantastic weekend,

Rob