By Amado J., “Al”, Acosta, PE
Megatran, Inc. CEO and CFO

Megatran’s first major project was won in a public bid with the City of Coral Gables shortly after we opened for business in 1986. The project required additional personnel and other resources at the same time we were starting to grow with projects for Florida Power & Light Company. My son Richard noticed that many of our employees did not know much about how projects are won. About the importance of profitability. Or even about how customers are won and retained.

I knew then that I had to grow a concept that had served the founding of the company—maintain a balance between customer needs, employee needs, and financial needs.

Whenever the occasion arose, at meetings or on field visits, I always reminded employees about this concept of balance, about its impact on our success. As the company grew, the challenge to instill this attitude seemed to get harder. Many of the new employees were from Cuba and had never heard of such concepts as competitive bids, profitability, a free enterprise system or even customer care. Yet they were excellent employees, proud of their work. I needed an easier way to portray the concept of balance.

Then it happened. In 1989 my family was on vacation in Jamaica. We strolled through the Ocho Rios arts and crafts market and our 10-year-old daughter Christine spotted a clever wood toy called “the limbo man.” We bought her one.

Christie’s “limbo man” was a carved figurine standing on a 3-legged stool, with both arms holding a long curved stick (like a high-wire gymnast) at the end of which hung two small blocks of wood. No matter how you placed the man on the table, moving his arms front or back, he would not fall. As she played with it, I couldn’t help but notice, what a perfect balance!

Upon returning from Jamaica the idea came to me: what if I labeled the legs of the stool to represent customers, employees, and finances? The table top could represent the company and the limbo man its owners/managers. I could demonstrate that unplugging any of the 3 legs could cause the company to stumble. Also, moving the arms, or making him bend over, could demonstrate how a good administration does anything possible to keep the perfect balance. So it is that I started using the figure to explain “perfect balance” to employees.

We called it MegaMan and over the years we developed new ways to explain the need to keep a perfect balance for customers: Of responsiveness, competitive costs and top overall performance. Of quality, safety, and experience. To this day, Mega Man emphasizes — visually and symbolically — the need to keep a balance for the benefit of customers, employees, and the administration.

How to achieve success? Just remember—the Mega Man can.