Building Your Company to Last (Part 2)
Last week I posed the question, What’s your favorite company. Thanks for the responses and explanations folks!
This week, staying on the theme of building a company to last, I wanted to pick up on comments made during the panel I moderated at the Conquer & Grow conference regarding “culture” and its importance to companies of size, big or small.
Donavan Roberson is “culture evangelist” at Zappos, so it was only appropriate that he shared a strong opinion that forming a culture is critical to building a company that has staying power. And Clate Mask, CEO of Infusionsoft reinforced that building a culture has a direct positive correlation to your company’s bottom line. It’s not something that should be seen as “expensive” or distracting. In fact, Clate argued, it intensifies and focuses your team’s energy very productively.
So my question to you, entrepreneurs, is, in your experience how important has building a culture been in your efforts to succeed?
October 20th, 2010 at 12:20 pm
Mr.Sloan:
Building a company culture at PRspace.com has been the foundation for our company since its creation.
I asked each employee to imagine his or her own name is on the front of the building when they walk in each morning.
This “treat it like you own it” attitude is essential for companies to be successful in 2010.
I developed this culture after speaking with each new employee after they got off the phone with a customer and asked them this “If you owned the company would you have handled that customer in that same manner” The answer is always the same a resounding “NO”
We exceed both customer and companies expectations at PRspace.com by giving more and taking an “Ownership” approach to everything and everyone we meet.
Respectfully,
Robert Kayian
CEO/Founder
PRspace.com
A place for business
October 20th, 2010 at 1:14 pm
Robert, excellent comments/contribution. sounds like you’re running an outstanding business.
October 20th, 2010 at 2:01 pm
Mr.Sloan:
We all cross the finish line together.
All the best in success,
Robert Kayian
CEO/Founder
PRspace.com
A place for business
October 21st, 2010 at 7:10 am
Hi Rich. To me, culture is everything. A company’s set of values and practices dictate everything they do. Culture drives how you handle adversity and how you nurture innovation. Most entrepreneurs first decide what their business will do, and postpone defining who they are. I think that is backwards. The first step is to define WHO you are. What are your values? What do you stand for? How do you want to change the world? If you nail the WHO (culture), the WHAT (products, services) will take care of themsevles. In fact, I believe culture and creativity are the only sustainable competitive advantages in the new economy.
October 21st, 2010 at 7:30 pm
HI Rich, very wise words, we are a small company that is based on a spiritual and healthful mindset. Every day my employees and I talk about this, who we are as a company, why we do what we do and how we do it, all of them understand this fundamental principle that a business has its own “energy” and spirit and without that its just a another place to work. None of my employees want just a job, they want to feel like they belong, they are valuable and contributing to something greater and having a clear understanding to the culture that I have started/created from the beginning helps them and also anyone new coming into our environment is already like minded and understands this.
October 29th, 2010 at 11:52 am
Hi Rich,
Granted, I haven’t had “success” yet. I am starting a website that will attempt to correct the divide between record labels and artists, helping fans find new music as opposed to a record label deciding for them. Anyway, right now we are a team of 4 + advisors. And I have thought a great deal about culture. I believe culture forms itself based on the personalities of the founding individuals, it’s not something you can create. For example I am very open as are my co-founders it’s necessary to be opinionated when you are first starting and building something.
I respectfully disagree with Robert, I don’t think a CEO should tell employees to act as if they own the company. I think a company should be removed from management completely and looked at as an separate entity being built by everyone, and in the end it stands alone. It’s everyone’s baby, this fosters team work in my opinion.
Patrick
November 2nd, 2010 at 11:06 am
As a budding entrepreneur, I think that Robert is on the right path.
If you connect this blog to part 1 about favorite companies, I would say that another favorite company of mine is Starbucks. Starbucks has definitely set the precedent for creating a culture that management and “partners” are all a part of the larger company. At one point in time, no one believed that Starbucks would succeed and in a down economy, they are now one of the few who continue to grow. Not only do they grow, but their employee turnover rate sets a whole new standard. I would think that the employees’ satisfaction must come from being part of the culture.
Everyone wants to feel as though they are part of the larger “something”, and I think that the culture of Starbucks teaches us a valuable lesson.
Rachel
November 10th, 2010 at 11:48 am
Rich, excellent article.
November 29th, 2010 at 8:58 am
I believe that culture is very important in a company. I will start working for a new start-up hopefully next week and the initial team that has been collected to run the business is nothing less then stellar…But after the company starts being successful, can we keep the same team happy and the egos in check.
That is the big question and only time will tell.