An 'integral life' at work

Lifestyle/Technology: Family business strives for biblical bottom line—by investing in people | Susan Olasky

Handout

Ten years ago David Kiersznowski and his wife Demi founded DEMDACO, a Kansas-based wholesale gift company that now supplies products to 17,000 stores in the United States. The company grew rapidly at the same time Kiersznowski was asking himself what he had not learned while getting an MBA at Northwestern: what his business should look like if he were viewing all of life through a biblical lens.

His concern for living out what he calls "an integral life" led to changes. He began to think about the physical space where employees spend so much time and decided that the new headquarters should be "a place that's beautiful, creative, pleasing, and full of light."

He envisioned a space where work is not divorced from family, so the new headquarters has a room dedicated to nursing moms, where they can express and store milk. It also has a room filled with arts-and-crafts supplies, videos, and toys intended to encourage parents to have their kids visit them for lunch.