Northwest Aerospace News June | July Issue No. 3 | Page 42

When How
You Treat People Makes
a Difference
By Bryan Corliss
S
ilicon Forest Electronics of Van-
couver, Washington makes electri-
cal systems that go into all kinds of
vehicles: vehicles that fly, vehicles
that crawl along the ground, vehicles
that go into space – even one that goes
underwater.
But founder and CEO Frank Nichols
says he’s really in the people business.
The key to success is getting the most
out of the people you have, whether
that’s your employees or your suppli-
ers or your customers, Nichols said.
“We are always trying to have a posi-
tive and profound impact on our peo-
ple, and by our people I mean not only
our employees, but our stakeholders,
our local environment, our suppliers
and our partners,” he said. “Everybody
needs to be better off for having been
with us and seen us.”
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NORTHWEST AEROSPACE NEWS