In case you haven't seen the news, three Coca Cola employees attempted to sell the formula for an up-and-coming drinkto the Atlanta-based company's rival, Pepsi. The blogs are popping with the subject; a simple search will show you what I mean. However, I think Jeremy at Ipkat nailed the crux with his blog, It's Not Secret, Silly. I quote: (H)ow silly to try to steal product secrets - the real treasure is the Coca-Cola brand itself. Anyone with access to a reasonable laboratory can analyse and replicate Coke's products, but the brand is literally irreplaceable. That is, it's the brand that sells the product, not the product itself (a fact you could actually question when you look at 'new Coke' and other flops). But the point is, we buy the soda because it's Coke, not the store brand.

This is a classic example of what happens when you have the wrong people on the bus. For whatever reasons - and I suspect greed, pure and simple - the three 'alleged' criminals were ready to stab Coke in the back. It was obvious that they had no vested interest in the company and the success of the new product. Perhaps they were scared that the next round of layoffs would cut them from the budget (or they would lose some of their perks). Understand, this does not justify their criminal behavior (should I say, 'alleged criminal behavior'?). It doesn't even make me feel sorry for them. But it is a simple case of lack of loyalty, which created a lack of trust.

What could Coke do to prevent the problem? And, more importantly, what can it do in the future? I work for a small business, so I am not best fit to give guidelines to large coorporations. However, once again, I humbly suggest Jim Collins' book Good to Great for ideas on building a successful company - which includes creating company loyalty.

Some things we can take from that include:

-remembering that our employees are important. In a radio interview with Dave Ramsey some months back, a Nucor Steel executive noted that "we wouldn't be here without our employees." Yes, customers are important. But if you don't have employees - good employees - then you have to serve them all yourself. Eventually, you won't be able to do that.

-giving your employees vested interest in your company's success. I'm not talking about rides on the private jet, or whathaveyou. Again, remembering Nucor (I was quite impressed by the interview), the executive noted that employees were given production-based bonuses. In short, the compensation was based on how much the emplyees produced, giving them incentive to work harder.

-adding praise and recognition to the mix. I'm not talking about false praise or overdone flattery. Nor would I dare suggest trying to make words alone cover everything - though they will go a long way, even further than money alone. But giving a 'well done' after a difficult process or problem solving, or a compliment on consistant good work can go further than you might think.

The best mix, of course, would be to stir these up together, along with a few other ingredients from the book. And trust cannot be given; it has to be earned. The employee has a responsibility to earn it by, say, not stealing company secrets. But the better work environment we create, the less likely we'll be to have employees selling our trade secrets in another fifty or sixty years.