Famous Supply
New Hires Bring Up the “Famous 40” on Day One
Client Overview
Famous Supply (Famous Enterprises) is a fourth-generation, family-owned wholesale distributor of HVAC, plumbing, industrial, and building products, serving residential, commercial, and industrial markets across Ohio, western Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. Founded in 1933, the company runs more than 30 branch locations, 5 distribution centers, and 8 showrooms, and it’s been a Top Workplace winner for 13 years running.
Marc Blaushild leads Famous as Chairman and CEO, with his son Brian serving as President. CultureWise helped Famous define its culture through the Famous 40, a set of Fundamentals that turn the company’s values into daily behaviors.
Why It Matters
Famous had strong values and a proud 90-year legacy, but Chairman and CEO Marc Blaushild saw culture as the missing link to the company’s next stage of growth. The values were well known, but they weren’t consistently translated into observable behaviors across a large, growing workforce. Marc called it the elephant in the room: everyone knew culture mattered, but Famous needed a structured, repeatable way to operationalize it across 650-plus associates.
The Challenge
Famous wasn’t starting from a weak culture. It was trying to make a strong one scale. The values were well known, but they didn’t consistently translate into daily behaviors, and onboarding lacked a shared language that helped new hires understand how things get done at Famous.
Earlier attempts to build culture with the marketing and HR teams hit starts, stops, and stumbles. With 650-plus associates across dozens of locations, Famous needed a scalable, repeatable system to reinforce expectations, not another initiative that stalls.
“It was the elephant in the room. We needed to address culture in a far more purposeful way.”
Famous Supply
Marc Blaushild
Chairman & CEO
The Solution
After hearing CultureWise founder David Friedman speak, Marc recognized the missing piece: a behavioral system that could bring Famous’ values to life. Rather than keep starting and stopping on their own, Famous partnered with CultureWise to define the Famous 40, a clear set of Fundamentals that translate the company’s core values into daily action.
Famous rolled the Famous 40 out to roughly 650 employees through an 18-group launch over two to three weeks, with mandatory participation. The Fundamentals took hold immediately. Leaders adopted the language and modeled the behaviors from day one, and weekly rituals plus the CultureWise platform kept them consistent across every branch. The shared language gave leaders a common way to coach, give feedback, and make decisions.
The Results
The impact showed up fast, and it showed up where Famous competes hardest: talent. Outside candidates now bring up the Famous 40 on day one, citing the website, the interview process, and recruiter conversations as reasons they chose Famous. New hires arrive more prepared and more aligned with what the company expects, and associates report a stronger connection to the Famous Way.
Inside the business, the Fundamentals became the shared language leaders reach for. Managers use them to coach, give feedback, and make decisions with more consistency, and onboarding finally has a common vocabulary for what living the Famous Way looks like. Because the language cascaded from the leadership team down, it didn’t stay a poster on the wall. It became how people at Famous talk about the work.
The clearest scoreboard is recognition. Famous has won Top Workplace in Ohio 13 years running, and it’s now pursuing the same in the Columbus and Mid-Ohio regions. For a fourth-generation company built to last, that’s the point: strategy will keep changing, but the Famous 40 gives the culture a structure that scales with every new hire, branch, and generation. Culture didn’t slow Famous down as it grew. It became the reason people want to work there.
Key Outcomes
- Candidates cite the Famous 40 on day one of hiring
- 40 Fundamentals rolled out to ~650 associates in 18 groups
- 13 consecutive Top Workplace awards in Ohio
- A shared language for coaching and decisions
- Stronger hiring quality and cultural alignment
“Fundamentals are forever. Strategy can change on a dime, but culture is the foundation. Our Famous 40 will evolve with generations, but the system gives us a structure that lasts.”
— Marc Blaushild, Chairman & CEOThe Culture You Need
Won’t Build Itself
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