So very basic, but...

“Our first responsibility is to our employees. If we do right by our employees, they'll help us do right by customers. If we do right by the customers, then we'll do right by the shareholders. It's got to be in that order: You can't flip it. If you optimize for shareholders then you end up screwing the other two.”

(Scott Cook, founder and Chairman of Intuit, in “Cook's Recipe.” by David Lidsky, David Whitford. FSB : Fortune Small Business: February 2004. Vol. 14, Iss. 1; pg. 76)