'Shared Values' lift Redmond Minerals

Rhett Roberts is one of those entrepreneurs who takes an existing, stable business and helps it reach new heights.

Or, in this case, new depths, as the company's pink and red mineral salts, produced from underground mines, have gone from being a livestock supplement to an award-winning natural culinary salt, Real Salt; a high-performance de-icing product; and even "Trophy Rock," a salt supplement that enhances antler growth.

Roberts took over Redmond Minerals after the company had seen five years of flat sales. But Roberts liked what he saw: a dedicated rural work force, a good company culture and a product with tons of potential.

Roberts solidified the company's culture with a statement of "shared values," including such "basic beliefs" as:

• "People are basically good and desire to contribute."

• "Each person has a meaningful contribution to make."

• "It's OK not to have all the answers."

• "People love to learn."

These values affect everything from Redmond's small number of written employee rules — relying instead on individual responsibility — to its training, employee recognition and product development.

Roberts also has led the company in new directions, creating Orem's "Real Foods Market," which focuses on health education and selling hard-to-find nutrient-rich foods; and "Foote Family Farms," a dairy farm that, uniquely in Utah, provides grass-based production of dairy products.