A message from Jim Ryan
President and Chief Executive Officer
W.W. Grainger, Inc.

Mike Rowe gets it.

He gets it that people who work in the trades are vital to our economy and our quality of life.

He also gets it that the United States is facing a serious shortage of trades people and other skilled talent.

We salute him for putting a spotlight on the professionals who build things, maintain things, fix things. The work they do doesn’t make headlines, but it’s as important as any other activity I can think of.

We share Mike’s deep interest in ensuring that there are enough skilled workers, for this simple reason: They are our customers. We work closely with them, every day. We get them what they need to keep hospitals, schools, factories and other facilities in good working order.

For years, Grainger has been investing in the next generation of professionals through such efforts as Tools for TomorrowSM, our scholarship program that helps students prepare for careers in the trades, including plumbing, contracting, electrical work, welding and construction.

And we’re proud to partner with Mike to help raise awareness of the need to keep America’s infrastructure sound. Like him, we’re for the ones who get it done.

Thanks, Mike, for your great work for an important cause.

— Jim Ryan

TO: GRAINGER’S CUSTOMERS, SUPPLIERS AND EMPLOYEES

In January of 2008, I walked onto a stage in Orlando, Florida, and made a few unscripted remarks to an audience of 3,500 Grainger employees. I didn’t know at the time, but my comments that day would change the course of my career. Funny how things work out. Here’s what I said to the employees of Grainger, just over a year ago: Work is not the Enemy.

It was a simple message, drawn from my experience hosting “Dirty Jobs”, and my growing suspicion that our country had waged a cold war on The Puritan Work Ethic. I talked about the many ways I’d seen our society marginalize skilled labor and disparage blue-collar work. I talked about the dangerous consequences of doing this: namely, a steady decline in the trades, and an infrastructure that seems to be falling down around us. And I suggested with considerable passion that skilled labor was in desperate need of a PR Campaign. I probably spoke for a half hour, but my entire message came down to that one sentence—Work is not the Enemy.

As you might imagine, I was preaching to the choir. The people at Grainger have always known the importance of “getting it done,” and they welcomed my remarks with genuine warmth and enthusiasm. They liked what I had to say about the importance of reinvigorating the trades and we agreed to stay in touch.

A year later, I completed my 200th dirty job, and decided to try something new. I wanted to create a place online where the trades were celebrated. I wanted to build a website where plumbers, electricians, welders, and mechanics could get together and pick each other’s brains. I wanted to sound a “call to arms,” and get more people talking about the issues that I had spoken to Grainger employees about in Florida. I decided to call the website mikeroweWORKS, and having no idea where to begin, made a list of companies that I thought might be inclined to help me get started. Naturally, my first call was Grainger.

Grainger was enthusiastic about the opportunity to assist and agreed to help me draw attention to the new website. Our conversations soon led to the idea of putting me on the cover of their legendary catalog along with the letter you’re currently reading, and sending it to some of the hardest working people on the planet.

If you have a moment, go to mikeroweWORKS and see what I mean. It’s still a work in progress and probably always will be, but you’ll get the idea. Read the mission statement. Register. It’ll just take a moment, and you’ll help us remind the country of something too many have forgotten—Work is not the Enemy.

Sincerely,

Mike Rowe