Creating a servant leader culture

- When my wife Margie and I started our company, the big reason why we built an organization, we now have over 300 people in an office in Toronto, and London, and quite a presence in the Far East, is that we wanted to see if we could really practice what we preached. And so one of our thoughts is, how do we build a leadership culture that is really one that's there to serve rather than be served? And that's been our goal from the beginning. So we have a very clear vision for our organization. You know, our vision is to unleash the power and potential of people and organizations for the common good. And that's what we want to try to do. And our picture of the future is that someday, everywhere, everyone will be impacted by somebody who is, leads at a higher level, and is a servant leader. And then we have very clear values. We have some external values of trustworthiness and dialogue, 'cause we want to really be able to talk with our customers and not going to push our products on. And we have a focus in clarity that we don't stand and try to be all things to all people, here's what we're good at. We're in the management training business. We say managers aren't born, they're trained. And that's what we really got to do. Then we have some internal goals. We want people to feel like they're owners in this organization. We have a value they call Kenship, which is how can we create a fun environment. Because we started our company, we wanted to make a difference, we wanted to work with people we loved and cared about, we wanted to have fun, you know, and that's all part of the whole thing. And then we want to help people get to D4, which is the highest level of the development in our situational leadership model. How can they really perform at a high level? And those are really kind of clear. And once those are clear, we've turned that pyramid upside down. And we really work for our people. What can we do to make their lives happy? How can we show them we care? For example, we have a Give Back program where we take a percentage of our profit and we give it individually to each of our people to give to charities of their choice. We have a Blanchard for Others program where we choose five charities that we support and try to help. And every dollar that's put in by our people our family matches. And so we were proud, I mean this year we were named in San Diego the number one company to work for in San Diego in the middle-sized companies and all. And that's really something that we really try to do. You have to have intention to build a loving, caring culture where people are supported, where they're praised, where they're redirected, where all of those things are done. And if you don't have a culture where people feel they're cared, I don't care how good your strategy is, it's not going to get done in the way that you really want. You got to remember, your number one customer is your people, and how do you create the environment so they get excited to take care of your number two customer, the people who use your products and services. And then they become raving fans, and that takes care of your organization. That's what culture's all about. It's about your people and that they make a difference, and they come to work because they want to be there, fully engaged, happy, excited, to make a difference with each other and customers. Wow. That's fun. So people ask my wife, why are you still goin' up to the office all the time at your age? She's 77. She said 'cause everybody I love and care about is there, and I don't have to ask them to show up. You know, they're there. And so we have a couple that has three of their kids workin' with us. We break all the rules about you shouldn't have people that work from the same family and all. Baloney. Why is that a rule? Create an organization that people can care and they'll take care of your customers and that takes care of your organization.