Americans are bone-weary of corporate influence, greed, and corruption. We want (and need) more companies where the well–being of the customers, the team, the community, and the planet are just as valued as the shareholders. Corporate America, as a whole, needs a better vision and mission. RidgeCrest Herbals (RCH) is just one example of this new vision.
RidgeCrest Herbals (RCH) began when my father, Paul Warnock, and his partner, Clyde St Clair, met as consultants for a small conglomerate that owned a line of herbal formulas sold to health care professionals like chiropractors, naturopaths, and herbalists. The formulas were great, but the brand was losing money—the entire natural products industry in the early 1990s was small and under siege by the FDA, which wanted to eliminate all dietary supplements (and herbal medicine) by regulatory action. So Paul and Clyde took the formulas to health food stores, not just professionals, and RCH was born. Soon after, Congress passed the 1994 Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA), and the natural products industry began to bloom.
A mission statement should inspire both vision and action, but most just…don’t. They fail miserably. When I joined RCH in 2000, we didn’t have an explicit mission statement, but the desire to help people live better with herbal medicine was already there. We soon added our motto, “Guaranteed Results, Naturally!” to our labels, and shortly after that, we added our first three core values: Eclectic, Innovative, and Effective. These commitments and ideals have been printed on every single bottle since then for everyone to see.
But we also wanted to define our vision more carefully, so in 2015 we added three more internal values (Trusted, Caring, Fun) and developed our Mission Statement, which now reads:
“Helping people lead happier, healthier, more active lives by changing how they use herbal medicine.”
This statement guides all of our goals and actions at RCH. Note that our mission isn’t to be the world's biggest, best, or most profitable herbal company. Instead, our goal is to change the world fundamentally, helping people move away from reliance on our modern corporate medical industry monopoly and towards a smarter, safer, effective, healthier, and more natural approach. We believe in herbal medicine not as a replacement for modern science but as an alternative and complementary approach. Modern Eclectic Medicine is, above all, eclectic. It chooses the best options to fit the individual based on the best information, whether the answer is modern science or ancient traditions. We don’t pretend to have all the answers, and unlike corporate medicine, we don’t ask for favorable treatment or monopolies. But we believe in health freedom and want others to share and enjoy it too.
Since I arrived in this industry, I have seen it change in many ways. Some of the changes have been good, as the industry has grown, and more people now recognize the importance of natural health and medicine. Unfortunately, other developments, like the intrusion of corporate giants and private equity, have not been nearly so welcome. The human values that drove our industry initially are being slowly eroded in a headlong rush for mainstream, regulated, “scientific” efficacy and ever-increasing potency. The problem is that these values got Big Pharma where it is today—immensely rich, powerful, and fundamentally wrong. If I wanted to be rich and powerful, I would not have joined RCH. Instead, when I came here, I found a home and a health-related mission that inspires me to action every day.
My personal mission in life has always been to make the world a better place for my kids and grandkids to live, and RCH is a big part of that mission. In 2022, we re-incorporated RCH as a Utah Public Benefit Corporation, and in 2023, I joined the Board of Trustees of the American Herbal Products Association (AHPA). Joining AHPA helps me work more closely with many others who share these ideals and are building a better world. Giving people safe yet effective alternatives to corporate health care is a great place to start. Many Americans are beginning to feel that a much-needed positive change is coming. I’m hoping 2024 will be a great year for all of us. May we all find more health and happiness in harmony with Mother Nature and all the wonderful life inhabiting our home planet!
