There is an iconic American company that uses this slogan: “Every day we make it, we’ll make it the best we can.”
I’m more than a little jealous that it was coined long before we could use it in the electric cooperative community. To be fair, it’s been in use longer than electric co-ops. As big a part of the community we are, we haven’t yet been around 100 years.
Imagine the commitment required to live up to that standard! It doesn’t necessarily mean you have to try harder every day. It means you have to pay attention to your job and ensure you’re doing your best.
Doing the best you can every day leads to quality. Doing the best you can every day leads to consistency. Doing the best you can every day sets a standard for everyone involved.
We follow that mantra with the work we do as electric cooperatives.
When you turn on the switch, the lights always come on — with exceptions few and far between. Even when nature hits us with high winds or heavy ice, we work nonstop until service is restored.
We do our best in a variety of other ways — all focused on the communities we serve. Keeping the lights on is certainly the biggest part of what we do, but we’re ingrained into the lives of our consumers in many different ways.
Every day, we’re doing the best we can in economic development. The 2.4 million people who live in rural Tennessee need a robust and thriving economy. Jobs and investments in our communities build a healthy economy for all families, including our children and grandchildren.
Every day, electric cooperatives will do the best we can to support and develop our youth. Co-op youth programs help prepare new generations of community leaders. Co-ops are already finalizing this year’s trips that will send hundreds of rural youth from across Tennessee to Nashville and Washington, D.C.
And every day, we’ll think of new ways we can help our communities. They might involve new renewable sources of energy, technologies that help you remotely monitor and control your electric use or high-speed internet for underserved areas.
“Every day we make it, we’ll make it the best we can” is the slogan from a company in our own backyard. The phrase was coined by Jack Daniel, founder of the 150-year-old Lynchburg company that bears his name. Co-op lines from Duck River Electric Membership Corporation power the distillery, which sends product from rural Moore County to almost every corner of the world.
Whether you imbibe or not, there’s no arguing the success of this dedication to quality. It’s a good standard to live up to.
Every day.
