CareerBuilder is proud to be working with MAXIMUS, where finding qualified jobs for qualified candidates is the ultimate goal. We help MAXIMUS find the talent they need to position both clients and candidates for success in today’s workforce. CareerBuilder believes in doing our part to contribute to a stronger economy, and we believe helping companies like Maximus empower employment is the way to get there.

We recently got the opportunity to talk to Mark Andrekovich, chief of human capital for MAXIMUS, on how his organization works to empower employment.

CareerBuilder: When you hear the term Empowering Employment, what does that term mean to you?

Andrekovich: At MAXIMUS, we operate several workforce services projects across the United States, Australia, the United Kingdom, and we just recently launched a new project in Canada. When we staff these operations, we look for employees who are passionate about helping others. We primarily serve welfare-to-work clients, many of whom have never even held a steady job, much less a sustainable career. Our case managers recognize the barriers faced by workforce services program participants, but they provide encouragement and connect them to resources that will help them obtain a lifestyle of employment.

In our Tax Credit and Employer business line, we help organizations maximize available tax credits through programs that support hiring from targeted populations, including veterans, individuals with disabilities, and long-term welfare recipients. Our MAXOutreach® solution links employers and community-based organizations to help uncover hard-to-reach, tax credit-eligible applicants. So MAXIMUS empowers employment by helping job seekers obtain the right combination of skills and connecting them to job opportunities, while also assisting businesses and other organizations identify new tax-eligible candidates.

CareerBuilder: What areas of your business do you believe are the most important to invest in in today’s market?

Andrekovich: Our investments in people, process and technology have led to our company’s success today and will help drive our growth in the future. Our people support critical public programs – helping low-income families obtain health insurance coverage or supporting them as they transition from welfare into sustainable employment. The work they do requires a level of familiarity with government programs that are constantly evolving, so we make investments in training and re-training programs, as well as the necessary knowledge development needed to execute our business model.

At the same time, we are investing in the processes and technology that make our operations run smoothly. We place a high value on business process management strategies, which we use to operate more efficient government programs. We make regular refreshes to our internal technology systems and look for ways to leverage shared services across the organization.

CareerBuilder: There’s been a lot of discussion lately around “hiring for culture (or attitude) and training for skills.” Is this something you practice at your organization? Why or why not?

Andrekovich: MAXIMUS certainly takes cultural fit into account when we hire new employees. However, we also look at subject matter or technological expertise, depending on the position. The common thread we look for in new hires is the willingness to work hard and a shared commitment to our founding mission of Helping Government Serve the People®.

CareerBuilder: What skills – both technical and soft – do you see most valuable to today’s businesses?

Andrekovich: We look for candidates who have a level of technological expertise relevant to the position, but also the adaptability to learn new technologies and processes. Since we are a service-orientated Company, we seek trustworthy candidates who demonstrate personal pride in their work and a strong work ethic.

CareerBuilder: Where do you see your workforce in five or 10 years in terms of growth?

Andrekovich: MAXIMUS is experiencing growth in all our operations, in the US and abroad, so we definitely anticipate a more global workforce. As governments continue to seek more efficient public programs, we believe we will grow more technology-focused as well. MAXIMUS has experienced steady growth in recent years, so we anticipate this trend will continue in the years to come.

If you are proactively taking steps to drive economic growth in your local community or nationwide, we want to hear about it.

We may contact you about participating in our Empowering Employment series. Visit www.empoweringemployment.com for more information.

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About Mark Andrekovich: Mark Andrekovich serves as the chief of human capital for MAXIMUS and president of the company’s Tax Credit and Employer Services business. Mark leveraged his human capital expertise to introduce innovative I-9, E-Verify and OFCCP Compliance services for hundreds of large and small employers for the Tax Credit and Employer Services business. Mark is an active member of the Human Resource Policy Association and the National Industry Liaison Group, and serves on the Business Advisory Council of Clarion University’s Dana Still School of Business. He is a highly sought after speaker on topics of Human Capital Strategy, OFCCP Compliance and Diversity Recruitment.

Prior to joining MAXIMUS, Mark worked for Banister International, a private human capital and executive search firm in Philadelphia. He has more than 20 years of comprehensive human resources experience with multi-national companies such as General Electric, Nordson Corporation and Cytec Industries. Mark holds a B.S. in business administration from Clarion University and an M.B.A. from Monmouth University.

About MAXIMUS: For nearly 40 years, MAXIMUS has operated under its founding mission of Helping Government Serve the People®. The company delivers administrative solutions for Medicaid, CHIP, Medicare, welfare-to- work programs, child support services, as well as specialized consulting services. MAXIMUS offers a single-market focus and a unique understanding of how to deliver high quality, cost-effective solutions tailored for all levels of government.

“Create an environment of respectful but robust debate and allow people to disagree.”

In the following interview for CareerBuilder’s Leadership Series, Coinstar, Inc. President and COO Gregg Kaplan talks leadership, philosophy, and leadership philosophies.

What is your philosophy as it relates to people and their impact on your daily business?
Hire great people and then get out of the way. Really ambitious, talented people will always be way out in front of you as a manager if you give them plenty of room to succeed. Some of the best innovations at Coinstar and Redbox have come from employees who were passionate about an idea and given the freedom to pursue it. I consider my best contribution to be finding the right people and creating the right motivation, and then being available to them as a resource, not as a boss.

How do you engage with and relate to your employees?
It is very important to get to know employees on a personal level to understand not only their professional goals, but also what is important to them outside of work. It is difficult in a large company to have one-on-one relationships with all employees, but I find doing brown bag lunches and skip level meetings pay back immensely. It is great to know the people who are working hard every day for your success and let them know who you are as a person, not just a figurehead.

What are the most important leadership lessons you’ve learned?
Good ideas can come from everywhere and anywhere: Be open and listen; be clear and decisive; admit mistakes quickly and learn from them; and hire good, talented people.

How do you define Coinstar’s culture? As a leader, what is your impact on the culture?
Our culture is fun, informal, and non-hierarchical, but serious about hitting our objectives. This may sound like it is in conflict but it isn’t. We show up to work in the summer in shorts and flip-flops, but in the same day will have a serious meeting with significant debate and discussion. In fact, just recently on Halloween I found myself in a viking helmet engaged in debate with a race car driver and a butterfly! As a leader it is my job to simultaneously demonstrate fun and informality, but also hold us to a standard of thoroughness, thoughtfulness, and rigor.

Some people believe HR to be the only department with a responsibility for the organization’s people. How do you make your overall talent strategy a priority?
At Coinstar, we make a tremendous effort to qualify the right people before asking them to join our team. For example, when making a hiring decision, we often involve upwards of six people in interviewing, and we look for a person we think would fit our values and culture as much as we look for talent – in fact, we grade people during the interview process on fit with values and culture. Also, we often ask employees to go through case study interviews, presentations, and a variety of realistic work settings before we determine that they are the right person for the job. That emphasis on values, culture, and demonstrating performance truly lives across departments and is not merely an HR mandate.

How do you rally the team and reinforce your employment brand?
We make sure we take time to have fun, which is a key characteristic of our culture. Whether it is hosting quarterly meetings at movie theaters with popcorn served, or having free lunch in the kitchen, we want to continue the fun.

What do you consider the most important decision you ever had to make as a leader?
Early in Redbox’s history, we had experimented with lots of kiosk providers. None of them met our internal standards for quality. In 2005, we were set to do our first major roll-out, and several months prior to launch, we decided we had to be in control of our own destiny and own the software and hardware of our future kiosks. We made the decision to drop our existing kiosk provider and buy a small company who had just started producing a scalable kiosk for us. Three months later, we began rolling out these new kiosks, which at first had quality issues, but with a lot of around the clock work, we fixed them and that is the machine you recognize today as the Redbox kiosk. Had we not made this risky decision in midstream, I am sure we wouldn’t be here today.

What was the best hiring decision you ever made?
There are so many it is difficult to cite just one. Every time I pick someone with great values who is smarter than I am I consider that a great decision!

What advice would you share with your peers through this piece?
Create an environment of respectful but robust debate and allow people to disagree. Anyone in the organization, regardless of their role, should be able to share a strong argument and make their point. The truth and a well-supported argument should always win out over politics and hierarchy.

ABOUT GREGG KAPLAN: As President and Chief Operating Officer of Coinstar, Inc. Gregg Kaplan oversees: Redbox, America’s destination for movie and game rentals, and the innovation and strategy team responsible for creating and identifying new automated retail solutions for Coinstar. Prior to joining Coinstar as COO, Kaplan was the Chief Executive Officer of Redbox Automated Retail LLC, where he brought Redbox from incubation within McDonald’s Ventures LLC to a disruptive player in the movie rental industry. A founder of Redbox, Kaplan worked in the Strategy and Business Development Group of McDonald’s Corporation, where helped McDonald’s create and build new businesses. Before joining McDonald’s Corporation, Kaplan held roles at divine interVentures and Streamline. Before Streamline, Kaplan was an investment banker at Furman Selz. Kaplan has an MBA from the Harvard Business School and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan.

ABOUT COINSTAR, INC: Coinstar, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSTR) is a leading provider of automated retail solutions offering convenient services that make life easier for consumers and drive incremental traffic and revenue for retailers. The company’s core automated retail businesses include the well-known Redbox® self-service DVD and video game rental and Coinstar® self-service coin-counting brands. The company has approximately 34,400 DVD kiosks and 19,500 coin-counting kiosks in supermarkets, drug stores, mass merchants, financial institutions, convenience stores, and restaurants. For more information, visit www.coinstarinc.com.

“It’s so important to be able to go home at the end of the day and say, ‘What I did today was meaningful.’”

In the following interview, Bridget-ann Hart, R.PH., President and Chief Operating Officer of Kinney Drugs, Inc. discusses among other things, the undeniable link between employee satisfaction and customer loyalty, the importance of striving for 100 percent effort 100 percent of the time, and why ‘close enough’ just doesn’t cut it.

What is your philosophy as it relates to people and their impact on the daily business of Kinney?
As an employee-owned organization, our culture has always been centered on the people. That’s not to say that we underestimate the impact of financial performance; in business, that’s how you measure your success. Yet you never want to lose sight of the fact that it is the people who will ultimately drive that performance. Our success is dependent on our employees’ commitment to doing their very best.

How do you engage and relate to your employees?
Our company has very open communication. For example, a couple of weeks ago we received a letter from one our supervising pharmacists who brought forward a concern about our delivery program. That prompted us to take a look at that program not only within that one store, but within the entire organization and make some changes that would benefit the company and our customers as well. We also make a concerted effort for our administrative team to be out in the stores as much as they can, where some of our best input originates.

What are the most important leadership lessons you’ve learned?
When I was in pharmacy school, a professor once made the comment, “There’s no such thing as ‘close enough’ in pharmacy. It has to be a hundred percent perfect.” That’s something that can be translated into the business environment as well. Within our organization, we’re continuously trying to find ways to raise the hurdle and challenge ourselves to create a continual improvement process. If you settle for less in the work you do, you’re likely going to have to settle for less in your career as well. And when your organization is centered on trying to do the best for your customer, you really can’t settle for less.

How do your people affect your business, particularly as it relates to client services?
The real important work is done by the people in our stores who interact with customers, and the support departments that help support those interactions. It may say ‘Kinney’ over the door, but when our shoppers are going into the store, they’re going to visit their pharmacist or their cashier. We believe that personal relationship has an important impact on why our customers are so loyal to Kinney.

How do you define Kinney’s culture?
That’s easy….our employees have the spirit of ownership and passion for the job they perform. It’s that passion for what they do, and how they can better serve their customers, that has them focusing on how things can be improved. Each one of our employee owners is clearly the expert on their job, and they are closest to where the strengths and weaknesses are. It’s through their emphasis on finding new and improved ways to serve our customers that we continue to improve. While everyone has an opportunity to provide a lot of input in our organization, the best input they can provide is centered in their own areas of responsibility.

Some people believe HR to be the only department with a responsibility for the organization’s people. How do you make your overall talent strategy a priority, and what role do you play in driving that talent strategy?
Human Resources certainly play an active role in the implementation of our talent strategy, yet every member of the management team shares in that responsibility. Making sure we have “the right person, in the right job, at the right time,” a phrase we use throughout the organization is our continual challenge. We’re proud to say that we’ve been around since 1903, and that we have a very strong culture. While we enjoy the sense of pride that comes with such a strong heritage, we also have to make sure that pride doesn’t prevent us from acknowledging that we don’t have all the answers. To support that understanding, we continually are balancing expertise that has been developed from within, with talent and skills that have been gathered in different environments.

What advice would you share with your executive peers through this piece?
I would encourage everyone to be passionate about their career and what they do on a daily basis. So much of our lives are committed to our work that it’s important to take pleasure and personal satisfaction in what you do. It’s so important to be able to go home at the end of the day and say, “What I did today was meaningful,” and to see that it had some sort of a positive impact – on the organization, the community, the society at large, or even just on one employee’s life. Passion is what drives excellence, and excellence is a noble endeavor that drives success.

ABOUT BRIDGET_ANN HART, R.PH.: As president and chief operating officer of Kinney Drugs, Inc., Bridget-ann Hart, R.Ph. provides strategic direction and management of merchandising, human resources, loss prevention and operations of 91 retail stores with 2,900-plus employees and annual net sales of more than $780 million. Ms. Hart started her career in 1980 as a Kinney Drugs staff pharmacist before moving on to various leadership positions within the company. Since moving into her current role in 2006, she has helped grow the company into the fourth largest drug retail chain in the country. Under her leadership, Kinney Drugs has added many new pharmacy programs, educational clinics and free screenings to improve the accessibility and affordability of health care for people in the communities they serve. Today, Ms. Hart serves on the Kinney Drugs Board of Directors, Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Services Board of Trustees, among other community organizations. Ms. Hart holds a bachelor’s degree from the Albany College of Pharmacy and is a graduate of the NACDS Executive and Finance for Executives programs at Northwestern University’s Kellogg Graduate School.

ABOUT KINNEY DRUGS, INC: Kinney Drugs is a leading community pharmacy and retail business. Founded in 1903 by Burt Orrin Kinney, the organization has grown into an employee-owned company with a network of 91 pharmacies in central and northern New York and Vermont. Many are freestanding units offering drive-through pharmacy services, free prescription delivery and online and telephone refill services. All locations offer a full line of healthcare, personal care and beauty care products, cosmetics, convenience food and beverages as well as digital photo processing services and greeting cards. Kinney Drugs operates its own distribution warehouse to service its retail locations.

“You have to give your talent the opportunity to be part of the decisions that are being made, because that’s truly when you get the benefit of working with an A player.”

In the following interview, Jorge Perez Izquierdo, Senior Vice President, Manpower North America, discusses why recruiting and retaining the best talent isn’t simply an HR initiative, but a key leadership role.

Who has had the single biggest impact on the way you approach leadership?
My father. He gave me the opportunity to have the benefit of perspective in life. Having different perspectives helps me weigh decisions and gives me the opportunity to step back before making a decision or embarking on a journey that may not be the best. When I talk about perspective, what I mean is just looking at the different sides of every situation.

How do you keep perspective?
I think it’s a journey. It’s giving yourself time and opportunity to reflect on others’ position and where they’re coming from. Something that’s been key in my career is just giving myself the time to keep that balance between reacting and being proactive in a very purposeful way.

Do you have a leadership philosophy?
You have to attract, retain and develop the best talent possible. Once you have that talent, you have to give them the opportunity to be part of the collaboration and the decisions that are being made, because that’s truly when you get the benefit of working with an A player.

How does collaboration happen at Manpower?
Collaboration, for me, is about creating the rules of engagement for how we’re going to work together. For example, how do you define who’s responsible for what? Who has to be informed of the actions? Who has to authorize actions, and who just needs to know about it? Then you strive to have those conversations. I have weekly calls with the team to share information, monthly updates with the business, and quarterly meetings where we spend a couple of days reviewing our strategy, thinking about the models we have to work around, where are we with that, where we are making progress and what we need to adjust in order to keep moving forward. That helps us a lot in trying to keep alignment.

How do you define Manpower’s company culture?
The culture is very value-driven. We have defined three values: people, knowledge and innovation. At end of the day, our asset is talent. We work with talent within, and it’s a service we provide to our clients – providing the best talent for the job they need to get done. We not only talk about talent as an asset, but we really treat people with respect, and we’re inclusive: we ‘walk the walk’ in that regard. What I mean by knowledge is, we really need to understand what our clients are trying to achieve so we can provide the best talent possible and drive better solutions. And innovation comes from the workplace solutions we provide for clients.

What are some of the ways Manpower keeps employees engaged?
First and foremost, we listen to them and understand their expectations and their needs. In today’s environment, investing in recruitment, retaining people and developing them is critical to the business. And that’s not an HR role; it’s a leadership role. The leader of the organization has to be very engaged in that process. We have a global people survey we run every year, based on areas that are very important for our business. We want to learn more about our employees, what they need, and what they expect to have. Based on the survey’s scores, we create action plans to work on the things we need to improve.

What is one piece of advice you have received that has stuck with you?
Always look at the bigger picture, and always put your principles and beliefs as a platform for where you base your decisions. The decisions you make might not always feel comfortable, but at the end of the day, if you keep the bigger picture in sight, you will always make the best decisions.

What is something you know about leading a company that you wish you had known when you first took over in your current role?
Understanding differences of culture is critical. That drives a lot of behavior and you can understand yourself and why things are the way they are. You have to attract, retain and develop the best talent possible. Once you have that talent, you have to give them the opportunity to be part of the collaboration.

What kind of leader do you strive to be?
Someone who always challenges people. Someone who has high expectations, but at the end of the day, those high expectations always come with recognition and reward. You have to have high standards and you have to have high expectations, but you can’t lose sight of celebrating the wins you have today.

ABOUT JORGE PEREZ IZQUIERDO: Jorge Perez Izquierdo is senior vice president for Manpower North America. Manpower is the global leader in contingent and permanent recruitment workforce solutions and is part of ManpowerGroup. Under his leadership, market share has grown 20 percent, with a network of more than 700 locations across North America. Prior to joining the North American organization, he spent seven years as the director general of Manpower Mexico, Central America and the Dominican Republic Region. Perez Izquierdo is also the founder and first president of the AMECH – the Mexican Association of the Staffing Industry in Mexico, representing the country’s top employment services companies. Perez Izquierdo earned a degree in Electromechanical Engineering from La Salle University, Mexico, and an associate’s degree in the Executive Direction Program from the IPADE Institute in Mexico. He also has completed advanced studies in Finance and Quality Management. Active in the community, Perez Izquierdo is a board member of Milwaukee’s La Casa de Esperanza Foundation and United Community Center. He is also a member of the Executive Forum of the Hispanic Association on Corporate Responsibility.

ABOUT MANPOWER: Manpower is the global leader in contingent and permanent recruitment workforce solutions, providing the personal flexibility and agility businesses need with a continuum of staffing solutions. Manpower is part of the ManpowerGroup family of companies, which creates and delivers high-impact solutions that cover an entire range of talent-driven needs from recruitment and assessment, training and development, and career management, to outsourcing and workforce consulting. Recently, Manpower was named to Inavero’s 2011 Best of Staffing™ Talent list, the nation’s only satisfaction award that recognizes staffing and recruiting firms who provide an exceptional experience for the talent they help find jobs. More information is available at http://www.us.manpower.com.

“Making our people the most valued asset in our company is everyone’s responsibility.”

Patrick E. Connolly, President of Sodexo Health Care Market, discusses the qualities he looks for in employees – and how these qualities contribute to his organization’s success.

Can you tell me about your philosophy as it relates to people and their impact on your daily business?
Almost all of the services we provide can essentially be commoditized to some extent. This is one reason we focus on people as the essence of how we deliver an experience. It’s about the patient’s and the resident’s experience, their family’s experience; and the hospital’s staff experience. Whether or not we serve turkey or chicken has minimal bearing on whether we make things better for them. It’s our people who make things better for them. Since the beginning, we’ve been focused on improving the quality of people’s lives. And it’s the people in our organization who make that happen.

What do you do and how do you engage with and relate with your employees?
The majority of my job is internal communications and messaging, direction-setting strategy. I invest a large amount of my time inserting myself in situations where I can make sure that the people know what the message is and what’s expected. For example, I do open forums as a way to make sure of that. Sitting down with 15 to 20 managers at a time, just me and them—no bosses, no format. Open, honest, unfiltered conversation around how I view our work, what I expect the rest of the organization to be like, and how they see it and what they expect.

What are the most important leadership lessons you’ve learned?
Authenticity in leadership is really important to me. Bringing your genuine self to work is really important. And, we’re inclusive of everybody’s perspectives. I believe that you have to build teams of diverse people, in order to be as successful as you’re going to be.

What are some of your leadership lessons?
I feel very strongly about living your values. If you look inside your heart and make your decisions from a grounded principled perspective, it makes leadership easier. It doesn’t mean you always make the easy decision, but it makes it easier to make the right decisions and then live with those decisions. I also think accountability is really crucial. I can’t remember who it was who said, “It’s easy to dodge your responsibilities; it’s not so easy to dodge the consequences of dodging your responsibilities,” but it rings true.

How do your people affect your business, particularly as it relates to client services?
There are a lot of other organizations that are in the same businesses as Sodexo. Our teams make the difference by the way they view their roles from the perspective of how they can improve the quality of somebody’s life. We do CARES behavior training—Compassion, Accountability, Respect, Enthusiasm, and Service. Those five behaviors are critical for us to succeed in doing what we do. Our associates literally make a difference in peoples’ lives. They make others’ lives better.

How do you define your company’s culture, and, as a leader, what is your impact on that culture?
Our culture is one of caring and inclusiveness. And the role that I play is serving as a living example of that culture. It’s helping people see  that’s what’s expected from everybody. We’re a spectacular organization. This is the most diverse and inclusive organization around. We’re committed through and through to being the kind of organization that treats everybody fairly, with dignity and respect; and gives everybody opportunities. The organizational culture is about values. Some people believe that responsibility for the organization’s people falls under the human resources department. Not us. Making our people the most valued asset in our company is everyone’s responsibility.

How do you make your overall talent strategy a priority, and what role do you play in driving it?
I don’t believe in traditional views of hierarchy. Whether you run business development or human resources or strategy, you are equally involved with me in the success of this organization. I’m very involved in the high potential people on our team, their training and development, and their succession planning. I know who’s stretching to be in the next role, because I need to know – because people are so important to the organization. All of the leadership people on my team are responsible for the success of the human resources component of the business—and they must be.

What’s the best hiring decision you ever made?
My answer would be that there really isn’t one. There are a hundred of them. There isn’t one best hire in a 22-year career. But, the best hiring practice might be not going hiring simply based on technical fit. So, the best hiring decision is how we approach all of our hiring – looking for the best people who fit our culture and saying, “That’s who we want.” For me, all hiring decisions are really important.

ABOUT PATRICK E. CONNOLLY: Patrick E. Connolly is President of Sodexo Health Care Market, representing $2.9B in revenue. Mr. Connolly joined Sodexo in 1989 in the Schools Division. In 2007, he was appointed President of Sodexo’s Health Care Market Group, which includes the Hospitals, Senior Living and Laundry Divisions in the United States. He also serves as Chief Operating Officer of Sodexo North America. Mr. Connolly focuses on driving growth in a portfolio of management services designed to improve the quality of life of patients and residents across the healthcare and senior living continuum. Mr. Connolly currently sits on the Board of Directors of Comfort Keepers, a leading in-home care company. He is a member of the board of directors of the National Center for Healthcare Leadership. He is also the Chair of the Sodexo Senior Living Market Champions, responsible for development of the Seniors market worldwide. Patrick is holds a bachelor’s degree from Western Illinois University and a master’s degree from the J. L. Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

ABOUT SODEXO IN NORTH AMERICA: Sodexo, Inc. (www.sodexoUSA.com), a member of Sodexo Group, is the leading provider of Quality of Daily Life Solutions serving more than ten million customers daily in corporations, health care, long term care, retirement, schools, higher education, government and remote sites. Headquartered in Gaithersburg, Md., Sodexo, Inc. operates in the U.S., Canada and Mexico, with $7.7 billion (USD) in annual revenue and 120,000 employees. The Sodexo Foundation (www.SodexoFoundation.org) is an independent charitable organization that, since its founding in 1999, has made more than $12.7 million in grants to fight hunger in America.

“You have to be in a place that’s more than a paycheck for people.”

In the following interview, Rick Federico, Chairman and Co-CEO of P.F. Chang’s China Bistro, Inc., discusses the simple philosophy that creates a huge effect, the three things that “keep it all going,” and why not having fun is a deal-breaker.

What’s your long-term proposition for your managers?
We’ve always viewed our business as a collection of individual restaurants, not a national chain. When we think of our long-term proposition, it’s truly geared towards the local restaurant entrepreneur. The philosophy was really simple: If I could find people who could live where they wanted to live, do what they wanted to do, and get a balance between home and work life, I would get a continuity of management leadership which would ripple into all aspects of each individual restaurant.

How do you create development opportunities for your employees?
We have two types of employees working in our part-time and hourly positions: one, those who are purely looking for part-time work to supplement their income; and two, those who want to start or further their career in the restaurant industry. The level of development is different for each, and we rely on the employee to share their aspirations and goals with the managers which allows our managers to provide the most appropriate development path. Then through having a continuity of leadership, we can create the right plan that says, “Well, if you want to get to here, here are the three steps you have to take in order to get there.”

Describe your culture. What characteristics does it take to be successful in your organization?
The culture of P.F. Chang’s lives in our message: “We are truly glad you are here, and we will do everything we can to make you want to come back.” When you think about every interaction you have – whether it be professionally or personally – you look for opportunities to create an experience that will trigger in either the guest’s mind or the employee’s mind that we want you back. At the core of the P.F. Chang’s culture and the characteristics we look for in our employees is a desire to serve and create amazing experiences for everyone we interact with each day.

What are some things you’re doing right now to go above and beyond to find the right people, rather than the traditional methods?
How and where job seekers find opportunities today is constantly changing – it’s very fragmented. Putting an ad in a newspaper and expecting the best of the best to walk through our restaurant doors is not a sustainable practice. It’s a big change for our managers, and having strategic partnerships with organizations like CareerBuilder gives us access to a large group of potential employees who can research our opportunities online and apply for the job or jobs they are most interested in. We need to make sure our job opportunities exist where people are looking versus expecting everyone to walk through our front door. The world has changed and we are changing with it.

What is the message you want me to understand about why i should come and work for your organization?
At the end of the day, you can go get a waiter job anywhere. So it becomes a function of, “Why A versus B?” One would argue it’s, “How much money can I make?” So beyond that, it becomes, “How do I feel about the team I’m working with?” How do I feel about their values? How much pride do I have in their product?” You have to be in a place that’s more than a paycheck for people. I have to feel good about what I’m serving, and I have to be doing it with people that I like. It all intertwines into that ability to have the cultural connection. If you can’t adopt it, then you’re not going to be happy. We like people. We’re a people organization. We want people to do well. We will give people more than second chances, if we believe that they’re actually trying.

How do your managers rally their individual teams and keep them focused?
Whether it be through pre-shift meetings, individual one-on-one meetings, sharing individual guest experiences, or technological communication, our managers live ‘The Message’ and do what they can to ensure our employees have a great experience. When the employees feel valued and respected it rolls right to our guests. Constant communication, maintaining high standards and keeping the focus on our guests is what keeps us all going.

What other words of advice to you have for other hospitality industry leaders?
In this particular business, you have to keep it fun. If you’re not having fun, it’s way too much of a job. It’s hard work running a restaurant. We will use as one of our recruiting advantages that we really do want a balance between work and home. I live it; I expect my team to live it. I will always err on the side of family before work. I would expect the organization to do the same.

ABOUT RICK FEDERICO: As Chairman and Co-CEO of P.F. Chang’s China Bistro, Inc., Rick Federico is responsible for the strategic growth and development of P.F. Chang’s China Bistro and the company’s casual quick dining concept, Pei Wei Asian Diner. Mr. Federico began his career in the restaurant industry as a manager at Steak & Ale. He later moved on to Orville Beans and Bennigan’s restaurants before becoming co-founder/partner and vice president of operations at Grady’s Goodtimes. When Brinker International acquired Grady’s in 1989, Mr. Federico became senior vice president and concept head for Macaroni Grill, where he later served as president of the Italian Concept division. Active in the community, Mr. Federico is a founding director of Chances for Children and serves on several boards, including the Arizona Youth Hockey Foundation, the NotMyKid organization, Banner Alzheimer’s Institute and the Rosen School of Management at the University of Central Florida. Mr. Federico is a graduate of the University of Tennessee.

ABOUT P.F. CHANG’S: P.F. Chang’s China Bistro, Inc. owns and operates two restaurant concepts in the Asian niche. P.F. Chang’s China Bistro features a blend of high-quality, Chinese-inspired cuisine and American hospitality in a sophisticated, contemporary bistro setting. Pei Wei Asian Diner offers a modest menu of freshly prepared pan-Asian cuisine in a relaxed, warm environment offering attentive counter service and take-out flexibility. In addition, the Company has extended the P.F. Chang’s brand to international markets and retail products both of which are operated under licensing agreements. For more information on P.F. Chang’s, please visit the website at www.pfchangs.com.

“If you’re not prepared for change, you have a tendency to get left behind.”

In this interview with CareerBuilder, Randstad US President Dan Foley discusses the importance of accepting change in the business world, having the courage to do what you believe in, and maintaining a sense of humor throughout it all.

What or who has had the single biggest impact on the way you approach leadership?
Really I can’t point to one person as much as I can say there was an influence of lots of people in my life, whether it was a Jack Welch, a Colin Powell, a Rudy Giuliani, my parents, my grandparents, or employees. I look at all of these different  leadership styles, and what I try to do is take the best of all of them, and then find a way to translate them into my own personal leadership.

Do you have a leadership philosophy or a motto?
It really starts with caring about people. And really being interested in looking out for what’s best for them. And that’s where you can get to this place of transparency and honesty, and really leading them when they need to be led.

What do you want your people to say about you when you leave Randstad?
Fundamentally, what I’d want people to say is that I made it a better place and that I helped it grow.

How do you define Randstad’s company culture?
I think it’s an entrepreneurial culture. It’s performance-driven. It’s fun. (Humor is a big part of what we do, and it’s a big part of my leadership style.) I think we’re progressive, family-oriented, and very core value-driven. “Work hard, play hard”: I think that’s how people might sum up our culture here.

Do you have any advice to share with your executive peers?
Be prepared for change. If you’re not prepared for change, you have a tendency to get left behind. Recognize that change is inevitable, it’s a necessary thing, it’s a good thing. It’s hard to do, but you need to do it. The other thing for me, personally, is I get very focused on the destination. What I’ve got to remember is that the journey is the destination. I think for some of us, with these executive level jobs, it’s almost impossible to see where things are today. You’re always looking down this one- to three-year window, and sometimes you just need to look at where things are today, enjoy the moment and kind of take it all in.

What is something that has surprised you about your job?
I think it’s probably how many times you have to deliver the same message before people really understand it. I’d be talking in a meeting, and I’d say, “This is the vision,” And yet, that was always the question I got: “What’s your vision, what’s your vision, what’s your vision?” And I started to understand that if you really want the message to sink in, you have to say it about 12 times. You can’t just say it once and expect people to remember it.

What do you wish people understood about leading a company or Randstad in particular?
What comes to mind is how fulfilling it can be when you’ve accomplished a task that was really, really difficult, or a great journey to get to. I think it can be really fulfilling to help people get to a better place. Oftentimes, people see some of the negative sides of it…and yes, it can be overwhelming at times, but that gets really into the background of accomplishing a major goal with either a team, an individual or a major organization. That, to me, becomes incredibly fulfilling.

Is there one person you admire or aspire to be like professionally?
His name is Jack Connors. Jack is a big Boston guy who started an ad company called Hill Holiday. To me, he’s done it all: He’s built successful businesses, he’s incredibly philanthropic, he’s a wonderful father, because I know his kids, he’s at all the charitable events, and yet he’s got extremely high business acumen. But he’s never forgotten where he’s come from.

Complete this sentence: “I couldn’t be a good leader without ____.”
Courage. I think if you want to be a good leader, you’re not going to be someone who’s wrought with fear. You can’t be so concerned about what people might think. You’ve got to do what’s right, what you believe in. You rely on courage quite a bit, especially when you’re making change. When you’re trying to make a major change initiative, you’re going to have a lot of people telling you why you can’t do it. The fear of doing it would cripple you. The courage to overcome it is often the right way. But you’ve got to have courage.

ABOUT DAN FOLEY: Dan was promoted to President of Randstad US, Professionals in 2008. Based in Wakefield, MA, he oversees all of the professional staffing segments, including IT, Engineering, Accounting & Finance, Human Resources, Healthcare & Life Sciences, and Legal, as well as Managed Services. As president, Dan is responsible for working with the Executive Vice Presidents and Divisional Presidents in developing and supporting a market growth strategy for each of the segments. Dan’s management also extends over the professional brands within the recently acquired SFN Group. With over 20 years of industry experience, he manages all aspects of Sales and Marketing for Professionals and HR Solutions, and contributes to the overall strategic direction of the professional staffing brands.

ABOUT RANDSTAD: Randstad is a network of experts across industries placing talented individuals in your company who are ready to help you excel. Randstad US is a wholly owned subsidiary of Randstad Holding nv, an $18.8 billion global provider of HR services and the second largest staffing organization in the world. The company plays a pivotal role in shaping the world of work, leveraging the true value of human capital for the benefit of our clients, candidates, employees and investors. Randstad offers a comprehensive range of HR services to our clients. They provide temporary, temporary-to-hire, direct hire and outsourced placement services for local and global customers and fulfill all aspects of commercial and professional staffing within Finance & Accounting, Office & Administration, Engineering, Healthcare, IT, Legal, Life Sciences, and Manufacturing & Logistics. Other offerings include payrolling, managed services, recruitment process outsourcing and HR consulting solutions.

“We’re all here to do the same thing: take care of our members.”

In the following interview with CareerBuilder, Eric L. Affeldt, President and CEO of ClubCorp, discusses the importance of being on a first-name basis with employees, how he gets employees to give 100 percent and the three things every leader should do to ensure success.

How do people have an impact on the daily business across the organization?
Our employee partners are the living embodiment of what ClubCorp is all about. We have some terrific physical plants and gorgeous clubs, but if the service isn’t there, and if the employees don’t make the members feel special, it doesn’t matter how pretty it is. 

How do you relate to your employee partners from a CEO level?
First of all, approachability is a given. Any employee partner who calls or emails gets direct access to me.  When I go out to visit properties in the field, my nametag says “Eric” not “Mr. Affeldt”.  I believe I should be on a first-name basis with them, and there should be no distinction between what they are doing and what I can help them do. We’re all here to do the same thing: take care of the guests. 

As far as leadership in general, what are some of the most important lessons you’ve learned along your journey?
I believe strongly that if leaders do three particular things, they’ll be successful no matter what business they’re in: First, establish a direction or a vision for either the company or a division.  Martin Luther King didn’t say, “I have a strategic plan.” He said, “I have a dream.” It’s very important for leaders to be able to visualize what perfection or what a really great day would look like.  Second, in order to achieve that dream or vision, leaders have to allocate resources—both in terms of capital as well as people. They have to put the right people in place as well as deploy the capital appropriately in order to achieve the dream.  The third thing is, ensure execution.  It doesn’t do any good to have a really neat dream and to have allocated the resources and then just kind of walk away and hope that it happens.  Great guest experiences are not the result of great accidents. They happen by design.

Is there anything else that you see as far as your employee partners affecting the business?
If you asked any of our employee partners what we do, I would hope that they say, “We build relationships and enrich lives.” That is our mantra. I hope that every day, employees are looking around and saying, “How can I put two people together? How can I make somebody feel good?”  Even if that means just doing little things that contribute to helping people feel better about themselves. 

How do you define ClubCorp’s culture from your standpoint as the leader of the organization?
There’s actually a quote by Aristotle I heard a long time ago: “What we are we repeatedly do.  Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.” That idea kind of gets back to ensuring execution [which I mentioned earlier].  From a leadership standpoint, it is imperative that we continually reinforce what we’d like our employee partners and ourselves to represent.

Some organizations believe that HR is really the only department responsible for people.  How do you make ClubCorp’s overall talent strategy a priority, and how do you play a role in that?
Two things:  I think really good leaders are people who nurture and encourage others.  I say, to everybody I work with, “I’ll help you go wherever you want to go in your career, even if it means that you leave our organization, as long as when you’re here, you give me 100 percent.” I think it’s the leader’s responsibility to help employees progress.  Second, I think it’s the leader’s responsibility to consistently look for ways to upgrade talent – whether that means new training for existing staff or visiting competitors and looking out for the best and the brightest, and trying to recruit those people. 

What do you do to rally the team and reinforce ClubCorp’s employment brand externally?
I try to be absolutely accessible, and stand up and take criticism when criticism is leveled at corporate or myself, in particular. I’m here to make the company better, and if you need to tell me that you think that there’s a better way to do it, that’s fine.

What would you consider the most important decision you’ve had to make as a leader?  Particularly with ClubCorp?
It’s a people decision.  Without the right people in place with the right training, you’re not going to be successful.  The most important decisions I’ve made have to do with, “Do I have the right people in place?  How do I get the best people?  How do I keep the best people?” It all comes down to human capital.

ABOUT ERIC L. AFFELDT: As President and CEO of ClubCorp, Eric is responsible for all aspects of domestic and international operations for “The World Leader in Private Clubs”. Prior to joining ClubCorp, Eric served as a principal of KSL Capital Partners, the private equity firm that purchased ClubCorp in 2006. Affeldt also previously served as president and CEO of KSL’s former golf division, KSL Fairways; vice president and general manager of Doral Golf Resort and Spa in Miami and the combined PGA West and La Quinta Resort and Club in California; and was a founding partner of KSL Recreation. In addition, Eric was president of General Aviation Holdings, Inc. He is currently an MDA Vice President and a member of the World Presidents Organization and serves on the Boards of Cedar Fair Entertainment Company and Fremont College. In 2010 Eric was a regional finalist for the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award. He holds a B.A. in Political Science and Religion from Claremont McKenna College.

ABOUT CLUBCORP: Dallas-based ClubCorp USA, Inc. is The World Leader in Private Clubs®. Since its founding in 1957, ClubCorp has operated with the central purpose of Building Relationships and Enriching the Lives® of its members. ClubCorp owns or operates a network of more than 150 golf and country clubs, business clubs, sports clubs, and alumni clubs in 25 states, the District of Columbia and two foreign countries that serve over 350,000 members, with more than 14,000 peak-season employees. ClubCorp properties include: Firestone Country Club (Akron, Ohio); Mission Hills Country Club (Rancho Mirage, California); Capital Club Beijing; and Metropolitan Club Chicago.

“Challenge your people to be better than they think they can be. People will produce more than they think they can if they’re challenged.”

In the following interview with CareerBuilder, Ray Titus, CEO of United Franchise Group, discusses how he ensures people get ‘the right seat on the bus,’ applies the Golden Rule to business and the evolving definition of ‘work hard, play hard.’

How do you engage with and relate to your employees?
We try to challenge our employees. I have 10 direct reports and they average over 20 years with the company; I’m really blessed with the people that have come along with our organization early on and stayed with our company over the years. We try to promote a fun, friendly working atmosphere but also one that accomplishes and is challenging at the same time.

What are the most import ant leadership lessons you’ve learned?
Lead by example would be the first one. If you’re going to ask people to work hard, you have to do it first. You have to be the hardest worker. Beyond that, you go with the Golden Rule of treating people the way you want to be treated. It’s all about, “What can we do together?” and creating a team atmosphere and a team among each one of the departments and brands. As a leader, I believe part of my job is to delegate to the leadership within each brand or each department. I want to give people the opportunity and the freedom to be leaders and the room to make decisions, right or wrong, and then help them make better decisions as we go along.

How do you define your company’s culture? As a leader, what role do you play and what is your impact on the culture?
Although I play a major part as the CEO and the founder of the organization, the people that we’ve brought in over the years are really what create the culture. Our company culture has always been: We work hard and we play hard. I started this business when I was 23 years old and have grown up in it. I’ve found that as one gets older, the ‘play hard’ part doesn’t necessarily lend itself to the culture of the business in the same way as it used to. For me, and for many employees, it’s now about balancing family values and family time with the business side of things, and finding ways to instill that in our organization. I think the more things we can do to get our employees in a good spot mentally, the better.

Some people believe HR to be the only department with the responsibility for the organization’s people. How do make your overall talent strategy a priority and what role do you play in driving it?
First of all, the people who think HR is the only department responsible are way off base. HR is a very important part of working with people, but everyone’s job organization-wide involves working with those people and getting them in the “right seat in the bus” as we say in strategic planning. HR actually helps in the initial hiring and they facilitate some of these moves, but these are business decisions that need to be made by individuals, departments, and brands as well as HR – they all work in conjunction.

How do you rally the team and reinforce your employment brand?
Getting everybody together is an important part — for people to be able to say, “Here’s what I’m doing” and show their work. With our employees, we accentuate their positives and are good-finders constantly. We’re not looking for the bad in any individual because you or I can always find the bad in somebody. To find the good and what makes them tick — that’s the key.

What would you consider the most important decision you’ve ever made as a leader?
From the business decision side of things, I believe it’s the lesson of not having to win every battle. It’s  understanding that parties in business are going to have conflicts, and learning to resolve those conflicts without taking a long-term approach or fighting to be a hundred percent right. I don’t think ‘compromise’ is a bad word.

What was the best hiring decision you ever made?
I would say it was to hire and to promote brand presence; to have brand leaders in charge of a company. Having people who eat, sleep and drink the brand is critical.

What other advice would you share with your executive peers through this piece?
Plan for success. You have to have one-year and three-year plans and keep them on your desk all the time and get back to them. Make your strategic plan a living, breathing document that you’re working with on an everyday basis. Challenge your people to be better than they think they can be. People will produce more than they think they can if they’re challenged.

RAY TITUS: Ray Titus is the CEO of United Franchise Group and its affiliated companies. Ray is a life-long entrepreneur who got his start with his father, franchising legend Roy Titus, and went on to develop a group of successful business-to-business brands and franchise development services. The company includes franchise industry giants SIGNARAMA, the world’s largest sign franchise; EmbroidMe, the world’s largest embroidery franchise; Plan Ahead Events, the world’s largest full-service event management company; Billboard Connection, the world’s largest out-of-home outdoor advertising franchise; and Transworld Business Advisors, a business brokerage and franchise consulting franchise. Ray Titus is an incredible leader and directly responsible for the continued success of the United Franchise Group as well as the many accomplishments yet to come..

ABOUT UNITED FRANCHISE GROUP: United Franchise Group (UFG) is the umbrella company to a successful group of the world’s largest franchise systems specializing in personalized business services including signage, embroidery, event management, business brokerage and outdoor advertising. The UFG corporate headquarters, located in West Palm Beach, Fla., controls operations for approximately 200 employees in the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia and offers support to the remaining countries around the world. The experts at UFG have used their over 30 years of franchising experience to grow the industry giant into a $500 million dollar success story with more than 1400 locations in more than 50 countries. The company includes franchise industry giants SIGNARAMA, the world’s largest sign franchise; EmbroidMe, the world’s largest embroidery franchise; Billboard Connection, an incredibly successful out-of-home advertising franchise; Plan Ahead Events, a home-based corporate event planning franchise, and Transworld Business Advisors, which provides business brokerage and franchise consulting services.

“Establish a vision, be flexible and agree that it’s okay to disagree with the boss.”

Pierre L. Gauthier, President and CEO of Alstom, a global technology services provider, talks leadership lessons with CareerBuilder in the following Q&A.

How do you  – as the leader of such a large organization – engage and relate to your employees?
We have a people philosophy built around “Team, Trust and Action.” It is a part of everything we do. With our work, we have to work in groups: It’s the engineering department, it’s the manufacturing employees, it’s the project management team — everything has to run smoothly. You have to really count on the other people in the team so the project is a success. Action comes into play, because there are all sorts of things that can happen. For example, a shipment is delayed, or a supplier is having trouble. Every step toward the ultimate goal of delivering quality products to the customer in the scheduled time requires a lot of action. So, “Team, Trust and Action” is really what we work on with our employees.

What do you do to reinforce your corporate employment brand?
If you look at our company, we’re a business-to-business company. We don’t really have retail products that we can advertise or a name brand that is easy to recognize. We try to regroup all these businesses under what we call ‘One Alstom,’ and that is certainly one of the objectives that I have and that my peers have elsewhere in the world — to regroup a “One Alstom” brand and vision. That takes a lot of communication, and it’s not easy to do. People work very hard in making sure our employees in Chattanooga producing gas turbines are also aware of our employees in Hornell producing metros for transportation. The other thing we do to foster “One Alstom” on the human resources side is cross-mobility. We move people, especially the managers, from one business to another within a given sector, and from one sector to another. That way, we have managers who know as much as possible about the scope and global activities of our company.

What would you consider to be the most important decision that you’ve made as a leader?
I think the one that probably strikes me the most is probably not one you would expect, and it is disagreeing with my boss. That’s a trait also, I think, that goes along with our culture: We’re allowed to disagree. When you talk technical activities, everybody has his or her point of view. Obviously, you have to make a decision at some point for everybody to work together and support that decision whatever it is. In this case, it was the closure of a plant which I really disagreed with. In the end, with my team, we worked on an alternate plan and we went back to my boss and I proposed a restructuring plan which was accepted and turned out very well. Today, it’s one of our more profitable plants in North America. I think that’s part of doing business. I talked about managing risk — these are some of the risks, and that is something that you must as a manager constantly review. You must establish a vision, look at what’s going to happen in the future, and rearrange things within the organization in order to be successful. I think the more flexible organizations are probably the ones that will have the most success.

What was the best hiring decision you made?
I think probably some of my best decisions were to replace myself. I think that is important, because the organization is more important than any individual. If you want the plans and the vision that you’ve set forth to be executed, which often take a long time, you have to have the right people who will continue that. Otherwise, you wind up continuously starting back at square one on the learning curve. All the managers have to work at eventually replacing themselves, and that’s more work than somebody would think.

Can you give an example of how a person has made an impact on the organization?
This is where empowerment becomes very important — meaning that we’ve trained employees, we’ve given them the experience, and in that sense we enable them to do extraordinary things. One extraordinary individual is Mr. Stephane Cai, the former manager of our Chattanooga plant. He had the responsibility of rebuilding one of our biggest investments, which is today one of our biggest plants in the world, to produce nuclear steam turbines and gas turbines. He was responsible for building that plant, and then running it. He had to make sure he satisfied customers, that he had the right suppliers, and that his people were trained. This shows how one individual can really do it all — that’s the exciting part. The risky part, of course, is that he had to live with what he built, and therefore had to make sure that what he did was well done.

What advice would you share with your executive peers?
I think you have to stay very close to your customers. To me, that is the number one criteria. You have to constantly empower your people in order to satisfy customer needs and staff the organization accordingly. The market (your customers) is not static, and your organization has to constantly adapt to changing needs. I think you also have to be fast to adapt to the changing market realities. I remember when I was a much younger manager, we used to do five-year plans and even 10-year plans. Today, we do yearly plans and we review them every year. I think being fast and staying close to customers are two very, very key responsibilities.

ABOUT PIERRE L. GAUTHIER: Pierre L. Gauthier joined Alstom (then GEC Alsthom) in 1996 as Vice President of Marketing and Sales. Over the years, he held various leadership roles with the company before being named President and CEO of Alstom Canada in 2003. In 2008, his role expanded to include leadership of Alstom’s presence and activities in the U.S. In this capacity, he directs Alstom’s effort to address the country’s energy and rail transportation challenges. Gauthier is also Chairman of Alstom Inc. and Alstom Power and Transportation Canada Inc. He holds a degree in Mechanical Engineering from the École Polytechnique de Montréal and has pursued further studies in leadership and business administration at McGill University and the European Institute of Administration (INSEAD).

ABOUT ALSTOM: Alstom is a global leader in technology, equipment and services for power generation, rail transportation and power transmission. With a team of more than 6,000 U.S. employees across 45 states and the District of Columbia, Alstom delivers clean innovations to address America’s toughest energy and rail transportation challenges. Globally, Alstom employees 93,000 people in more than 100 countries. Visit www.alstom.com to learn more.

“I’ve always had the philosophy that strategy in leadership is as much about what you don’t do as it is about what you do.”

In the following interview for CareerBuilder’s Leadership Series, Sun Life CEO Wes Thompson reflects on the importance of people as they relate to sustainability, what he looks for in candidates, and the value of trusting your gut.

What do the employees at Sun Life mean to your organization?
People are really the only sustainable advantage that any organization has over time. Products come and go. Ideas can be copied. These are not sustainable differentiators. Companies that are truly sustainable are those that focus on A-player talent, because you can’t copy talent. So if you’re able to constantly recruit, retain and develop the best people, you can differentiate in the markets that you compete in, and you’ll have a sustainable advantage. It’s really that simple in my view.

What’s your philosophy in terms of how you find great people?
There’s a lot of hiring that’s gut-related, especially when you get more experienced at interviewing candidates. Technical competencies, product knowledge—those kinds of things can be learned over time. Oftentimes, I’m looking for the challenges individuals have taken on in their lives and careers. I look for examples that clearly demonstrate they’ve been able to overcome some significant challenges. I try to ascertain the values they stand for and if they fit with our core values here at Sun Life. This fit is critical to building a solid foundation and culture at any good company.

Throughout your career as a leader, what’s the best or most significant hiring decision that you’ve made?
It’s hard to quantify your best hiring decision. As I reflect on my career, there are so many talented people that I’ve had the pleasure of hiring and watching succeed. In one instance, I hired someone that was my peer at another company. I knew our competencies were extremely complementary, which is important. And we both realized that we could build something unique. I firmly believe if you surround yourself with great talent, you’ll figure out how to win.

Why would someone want to work here?
The culture at Sun Life is shifting and so are the reasons behind why our employees enjoy working here. Historically, you would want to work here because it’s a nice place to work and you could be here for 30 years. I think our employees are beginning to consider Sun Life a great place to work because you can be challenged, you have the autonomy to drive results, and the results are visible and rewarded.

What’s it like to work for this organization? How is the Sun Life culture reflected in the brand?
Our first ever national brand campaign in the U.S. has had a tremendous impact on the culture and the way our employees feel about working for Sun Life. Everyone wants to be affiliated with a company that has a strong brand. And it makes it easier when your brand reflects who you really are. We highlighted our strengths that are deeply ingrained in our culture, particularly our financial strength and focus on sustainability, but we had some fun with it and added some humor to the campaign. It resonated well with our employees, particularly long-term employees, because we stayed true to ourselves. Our people really embraced that.

What is your leadership philosophy?
First, I don’t believe that the leader has all the good ideas, and I’m open to being challenged. Leaders can’t be successful if people are afraid to challenge them. This will stifle the creativity of the organization and you will not get the best out of people. Second, I’ve always had the philosophy that strategy around leadership is as much about what you don’t do, as it is about what you do. Through my experience, I have found that it’s really easy to figure out what to do and what to start, but it’s really difficult to figure out what you’re not going to do, particularly when there are implications for not pursuing or stopping initiatives. And, third, I am big believer in rotating talent at all levels of the company. This not only develops our people but brings new perspectives to all areas of the business, helping to drive collaborative and innovative thinking.

So you just went through, a tough time, a recession.  What did you take out of it?  What did you learn in those last three years?
During a time when external forces are affecting your business, you must focus on the things you can control. You must have a long-term view of the business and what is truly sustainable under various market conditions, not just the favorable conditions. Alignment along all aspects of the value chain is critical in order to be sure you’re focused on markets that have sustainable value from a shareholder perspective.

ABOUT WES THOMPSON: As President of Sun Life Financial, U.S., Wes Thompson leads all aspects of the company’s growing operations in the United States across the annuities, employee benefits, and life insurance business lines. Since joining Sun Life in 2008, Thompson has been instrumental in renewing the strategic direction of SLF U.S. He has championed key initiatives focused on growing the business and positioning it for further success. Prior to joining Sun Life, Thompson held leadership roles at Lincoln Financial Group, where he created the company’s wholesale distribution organization, before becoming President of Employer Markets and then President of the Retirement Solutions division. Thompson started his career at Aetna in 1979 in the Executive Management program. He later joined CIGNA in 1994, where he played an active role in the integration efforts as Lincoln Financial Group acquired CIGNA’s individual life insurance business in 1998. Thompson received a bachelor’s degree from Brown University. He is an active board member of the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Hartford and the Wadsworth Atheneum-Amistad Foundation.

ABOUT SUN LIFE FINANCIAL: Sun Life Financial is a leading international financial services organization providing a diverse range of protection and wealth accumulation products and services to individuals and corporate customers. Chartered in 1865, Sun Life Financial and its partners have operations in key markets worldwide, including Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Japan, Indonesia, India, China and Bermuda. As of March 31, 2011, the Sun Life Financial group of companies had total assets under management of US $484 billion. For more information, please visit www.sunlife.com/us.

“You can’t let fear cripple you to the point that success eludes you. Somehow you’re going to get through it if you just stay with it.” – Wayne Cederholm

CareerBuilder recently sat down with Wayne Cederholm, CEO of C.R. England, to discuss the leadership lessons he’s learned in his nearly three decades with the company.

What is your philosophy on people as they relate to your business?
I don’t believe there is an organization that can function competitively, competently or have any capability in doing what they’re supposed to be doing without very good people. People are your business. They’re the heart and soul of what you do. If you have poor people, you’re going to have a poor organization and product. Having the right people is one of the most critical elements of any organization. They’re the engine of your organization.

What leadership lessons have you learned throughout your 28 years with C.R. England?
I think creating autonomy for people is a big one. It is important to give your leaders and employees the leeway to do their jobs and inspire creativity. It’s all about letting them take the job somewhere you never dreamed it could go and allowing free thinking to occur, while holding them accountable to quantifiable measurements and goals.

What is the culture at C.R. England like today? How has it changed during your tenure?
At C. R. England we have always created a spirit of entrepreneurship. Chester England was an entrepreneur. Gene and Bill England, his sons, were entrepreneurs. This same spirit lives on in the 3rd and 4th generation. Gene England, to this day, still runs a little business from our corporate office. He’s 93 years old and the kind of role model we all grew up with. While we were always big on technology, I believe the biggest change is that it has advanced immensely now. The fourth generation is much more analytical than we ever were before and we’re all pushing for automation through advanced technology.

What is your overall talent strategy and how do you make it a priority?
We ensure all managers are involved in hiring decisions. It’s important to bring in the right person and essential that we’re right for them as well. We want an individual who can fit our culture, but we want them different enough so they add a unique perspective, too. If we’re all the same, we’re just going to do the same thing, over and over. It’s not a science. Hiring people is an art. And I’ve certainly had my hit and misses.

How do you motivate people?
I think the best way to motivate people is by ensuring that you’re communicating your vision and expectations, and then celebrating successes or talking about where enhancements need to occur. You need to create a culture where people feel they are contributing.

To what do you attribute your success with C.R. England?
Don’t quit. Just keep staying with it. In spite of how bleak it sometimes looks, you just have to say, ‘Okay, what do we do next?’, and keep moving forward. You can’t let fear cripple you to the point that success eludes you. Somehow you’re going to get through it if you just stay with it. That’s the only way I can explain it.

How would you describe C.R. England’s employment brand?
It’s our entrepreneurial spirit. We love creativity and innovation, and we’re cheering for those people who embrace it. That’s our culture, and our employees know it. That’s what’s exciting about our organization.

What do you consider the most important decision you’ve made at C.R. England?
I like to think of this question from the opposite angle. I believe not making a decision is the worst hiring decision you can make. The best thing about decisions is making it as timely as you can and having the guts and nerve to say, ‘Okay, I have to make this decision and move forward here.’ Often managers just procrastinate and procrastinate, and no decision is made. And the company struggles because of it. If it’s a hiring decision, or any decision, there are always tough decisions to be made each and every day.

What advice would you offer to your peers?
I can’t stress enough the importance of having great people and making sure you adhere to consistent management fundamentals. Your people need to share your vision of where the company is going. You need a strong bench of potential future leaders to ensure consistent growth. You also have to allow for creativity with dogged measurements to track your progress. The right people, who are challenged and have opportunity.

ABOUT WAYNE CEDERHOLM: Wayne Cederholm is the chief executive officer at C. R. England Inc., a Salt Lake City-based global transportation provider. Mr. Cederholm joined C.R. England in 1983 and held various roles before taking over as chief operating officer in 2004. He is responsible for overseeing the management of all asset and non-asset operations within C.R. England. At the start of his career, C.R. England was an $18 million company. Today, the company is a billion dollar organization. He has served on the board of the Professional Truck Driver Institute and as a chairman for the Utah Safety Council. In 2003, he received the Heart and Hands Award from Junior Achievement, where he serves on the board of directors. Mr. Cederholm has a degree in organizational communication from the University of Utah.

ABOUT C.R. ENGLAND : Founded in 1920, C.R. England, Inc. corporate headquarters are located in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is the world’s largest refrigerated carrier and has grown to be one of North America’s largest transportation companies. C.R. England services include National, Mexico and Regional Truckload service in addition to Dedicated and Intermodal services. Additional services include Leasing, Brokerage, LTL/Parcel, Supply Chain Engineering, Special Project Engineering, Warehousing, and Global Sourcing. For more information, visit www.crengland.com.

“We want good people, we want to hire good people, and we want to retain them—but my real focus is in building a team.” – Robert A. DiMuccio

In the following interview, Robert A. DiMuccio, CEO of Amica Mutual Insurance Company, talks trust, humility and the necessity for ‘speed bumps’, among other things.

What do your employees mean to you?  What do they mean to this organization?
We sell what I would term ‘intangible product’: security and financial protection for our customers.  Our business is based on our customers’ interactions with our employees: How professional they are, how empathetic they are, how much time they put in with the customer.  Our employees are the organization; they are what the company is all about.

As you look at the characteristics of the most successful people across your organization, is there a common pattern among those individuals?
I think we have successful people from all different academic disciplines and backgrounds.  Their success is not necessarily based on, for example, what sport they played and how good they were at them, nor what they achieved academically. All those things are important but are just pieces of the puzzle. It really comes down to the person.  Can that person make a connection with other people, and is that connection real?  I don’t think you can fake empathy.  People will figure it out very quickly.

What’s the best hire that you’ve ever personally made and why?
An organization is built around a team.  A good team is not built around one person. I have this list in the back of my mind – the things I look for in people – and it varies depending on the position, the duties and that sort of thing. If you’re looking for 10 attributes, you might get lucky and find six or seven, because we’re all human beings.  But in a team, you’re going to get all 10 attributes.  We want good people, we want to hire good people, and we want to retain them—but my real focus is in building a team.  I think that all of our greatest successes came out of team efforts.

What do you look for when you’re hiring talent?
Obviously, for a particular job there are requirements and you want to make sure that who you hire has the core requirements for that job. But beyond that, you look for a positive perspective. People who enjoy being around other people, who want to work with people. That’s number one.

What is your leadership philosophy?  What are the main tenets of what you believe in terms of leadership?
Number one:  Treat everybody with respect across the organization. Number two: Find the right people, let them do their jobs and trust them to do their jobs.  I think if you find the right people with the right with the right skills and attributes, they’ll come into work charged up every day.  They’ll be self-motivated.

I’ve seen this written a hundred times, so I can’t take any credit for it: There are certain attributes a leader should display and one of them is humility. To realize that there are people around that probably know more of the answers than you do. It is also important to celebrate their successes and be public about it.

During 2009 and 2010 years, a lot of companies had tough times, tough decisions to make.  Did you as well?  What did you learn during that time frame?
You always try to look back after an incident or period of time where you’ve had to deal with something and say, “What did we do well and what could we have done better?”  A couple of things that we looked at: In the period leading up to the recession, we managed our company with the same basic principles we had managed for the previous 20 years: Number one, solid customer relationships. Through the recession, we held our customer base very well. The customer base provides revenue and pays for your overhead, and in return we provide service to them.  Number two, we’re an insurance company. We’re designed to take risk; however, through years and years of experience, we’ve also learned to manage risk and cap risk where we think it’s appropriate. 

What do you consider the most important decision that you’ve ever had to make as a leader?
One of the things I’ve always believed is when you’re in a position to alter the course of somebody’s career or even life – those are the decisions you should put the most time into. If you’re in a position where you can impact somebody’s life, the decision should be hard to make. There should be speed bumps. There should be a process for getting input from a lot of different people, and there should be a feedback process.  Those are the hard decisions, and I always spend a lot of time on them. Your really important decisions are the decisions about people.

ABOUT ROBERT D. DIMUCCIO: Robert A. DiMuccio, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Amica Mutual Insurance Company, graduated from Providence College in 1979 with an accounting degree and began his career with the accounting firm KPMG Peat Marwic. DiMuccio joined Amica in 1991 as an accounting department vice president, and, over the years, has served as senior vice president, treasurer and chief financial officer. He was named executive vice president in 2003, and president and chief executive officer in 2005. In 2008 he was elected company chairman. In addition to his work at Amica, DiMuccio serves on the boards of the Property Loss Research Bureau and the Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce, as chairman of the Board of Governors of the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America, and as president of the Board of Directors of the Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council.

ABOUT AMICA MUTUAL INSURANCE COMPANY: Amica Mutual Insurance Company, the nation’s oldest mutual insurer of automobiles, was founded in 1907. The company, with corporate headquarters in Lincoln, RI, is a national writer of automobile, homeowners, marine and personal umbrella liability insurance. Life coverage is available through Amica Life Insurance Company, a wholly owned subsidiary. Amica employs more than 3,100 people at Amica Center in Rhode Island and 39 offices countrywide. Amica has been acknowledged by financial services industry analysts for its superior financial strength, and it has been recognized repeatedly for exceptional customer service in auto and homeowners insurance surveys by a leading consumer publication.

“We strive to nurture an environment where you are able to develop and grow; one that helps to develop your personal interests and clinical skills.” – George V. Hager, Jr.

In the following interview, George V. Hager, Jr., CEO of Genesis HealthCare discusses overcoming professional challenges, the importance of instilling confidence in people, and the experiences that have shaped his leadership philosophy.

Can you talk a little bit about how Genesis Healthcare has evolved over the last 10-15 years?
Genesis HealthCare grew via acquisition in the late 1990s. Acquisitions present interesting challenges as well as opportunities. The first issue you are dealing with is cultural. There is a culture you want to create, especially in a mission-driven business. Trying to fully integrate the acquisition companies into the Genesis culture presented many challenges. I think people underestimate how difficult integration can be and how long it really takes to fully integrate, especially considering the number of acquisitions we completed over that time period. Many of those acquisitions created opportunities for us in new and existing markets and allowed us to adopt a best practices approach to merge the companies.

As the CEO, how do you stay engaged with your employees?
That’s a real challenge for a company like Genesis. We have 40,000 employees in 250 inpatient sites of service, and nearly 1,000 Rehabilitation Therapy provider sites. Fortunately, we are somewhat geographically concentrated.

I think the first thing you need as the Chief Executive Officer is confidence in your management team and the people on the ground doing the heavy lifting. The challenge I faced was the fact that my background was finance. (My prior work experience was as a partner in charge of the healthcare practice at KMPG.) Not only was I challenged with leading a clinically-focused organization, as a finance person, I was dealing with huge capital and technology needs, and an over-leveraged balance sheet. I had to find a way to grow through all those challenges in an industry that still suffers from a poor public perception. The first thing I did was dedicate two days every month to visiting our facilities.

In the first two years in my role, I visited over 200 facilities to allow me the most informal way to actually meet our caregiver teams. I did not go out with the Chief Operating Officer, the President of the region, or the Executive Vice-President. I went out with one person from our Public Relations group. She was a great resource to the field, and she organized all my visits. She was also well respected in the field. When the two of us would go out to the facilities, I met with as many people as I could, and I tried to get them to tell me what was on their minds. Believe me, I got an earful. They  wanted to make sure I knew what the issues were from their vantage points on the frontline. It was extremely valuable for me; and I felt that I really developed a special relationship with the employees I talked to.

What was your biggest takeaway from those visits? How did that experience make you change the way you operate today?
The center leadership teams were incredible during my tours through the facilities. As I walked around the facilities (typically with the Administrator and the Director of Nursing), they would grab anyone who walked by and say, “Hey, I want you to meet George.” They would introduce me by first name; and it did not matter if the person was in housekeeping, the kitchen, or in a nursing area; they couldn’t care less. There was no question that they took an interest in their people, and you could tell their staff reacted positively to them as well. The effective leaders were engaged with the residents and patients, as well. Sometimes they would grab one of the residents in a wheelchair and take them with us. It was fascinating to see. In some instances I found leadership not well engaged with staff, patients or families. I noted differences in leadership style and ability which impacted on center relationships and operations. The importance of the leader’s commitment to the people who carry out the mission of our company every day, was the most obvious take-away.

When you decided to create a formal leadership program, did your leadership team develop it, did you bring somebody from the outside, or was it a combination of both? How did they come together?
We used outside consulting resources to help us design the programs and to help us run the classes in our Leadership Development Program with our in house experts. It was a combination of both, but it was led internally in our HR function. Our Leadership Development Program was given a high priority despite the limited resources we had at hand to get it started. Enabling our leaders to get the job done in alignment with our mission and core values has driven our program’s success. If you do not think leadership development is the most important part of the company, you should not be leading the company.

What is it about Genesis that makes it a place where people want to work?
I would say that you would come to Genesis because your choice of profession has an inherent mission element to it. Our mission statement reads: “We improve the lives we touch through the delivery of high quality healthcare and everyday compassion.” If you don’t buy in to that mission, then you probably shouldn’t be part of our team. That said, we are hopeful—I am hopeful—that we serve our employees as we serve our patients. We strive to nurture an environment where you are able to develop and grow; one that helps to develop your personal interests and clinical skills. We also are very passionate about the patients and families we touch every day. Our staff strives to make a difference in the lives of those they care for.

ABOUT GEORGE V. HAGER, JR.: With over 25 years experience in the healthcare industry, George V. Hager, Jr. serves as Chief Executive Officer of Genesis HealthCare, LLC. He joined Genesis in 1992 and, prior to being named CEO, served as Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, and later as Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. George spent the first 13 years of his professional career at KPMG, LLP. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Economics from Dickinson College and a masters in business administration from Rutgers Graduate School of Management. He is a certified public accountant; Board member and audit committee chair of Adolor Corporation; member of the Board of Trustees and finance committee of The University of Sciences in Philadelphia; member of the Board and executive committee of the National Investment Center; member of the Board of the Delaware Valley Chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association; and member of the Board and audit Committee chair of REACH Medical Holdings, Inc.

ABOUT GENESIS HEALTHCARE: Genesis HealthCare, one of the nation’s largest long-term care and rehabilitation therapy providers, employs over 40,000 people, each one dedicated to the delivery of quality healthcare to the residents and patients in its Centers.
Genesis has more than 250 Skilled Nursing Centers, and Assisted Living Communities, located in 13 eastern states, while its Genesis Rehabilitation Services division provides contract therapy to over 750 healthcare providers in 26 states and the District of Columbia.
As a premier care provider since 1985, Genesis offers a variety of compassionate care services to patients, residents, and their families. Genesis is committed to clinical excellence and is ranked among top providers for overall satisfaction and quality medical care, according to national independent research.

“My number one priority is to seed the organization with bright, young, innovative thinkers that can become the next generation of leaders for CORT.” – Jeff Pederson

In the following interview, Jeff Pederson, President of CORT Business Services, discusses where ‘kicking up dirt’ comes into play at his organization and how doing business can sometimes feel like performing an autopsy, among other things.

What is your philosophy as it relates to people and their impact on your daily business?
Our business is our people. Our client companies and customers are involved in transition or planning something special in and around their job or personal life. We deal with people in relocation, long distance temporary assignments, project management, marital transition, college students, first time job professionals as well as trade show, party rentals and special event furnishings. In addition, thousands of companies rely on CORT to provide their temporary and permanent office furniture. Our B2B clients and consumer clients count on CORT’s people to understand what their needs are and to find solutions that are appropriate for their circumstances.

How do you engage with and relate to your employees?
Senior management travels a lot to our regional and local offices; we’re very active in the business and strive to understand what our team faces everyday in providing services to our customers. We’re always out there, kicking up dirt and turning over rocks to help uncover opportunities with our employees.

 What are the most important leadership lessons you’ve learned?
There are a couple that have stood out to me over the years…”be yourself, forget yourself and be interested in others,” and to “keep your commitments.”

How do your people (employees) affect your business, particularly as it related to client services?
Our people are all about who they service. We get a lot of testimonials that start off with “I don’t know what I would have done without [this employee]’s help….” Without that level of customer service and customer caring, we wouldn’t survive.

How do you define CORT ’s culture? As a leader what role do you play and what is your impact on the culture?
CORT’s culture is entrepreneurial…to a degree. We like to develop best practices and be able to repeat best practices from market to market. We always strive to be “best in class.” Again, senior management strives to meet with our employees regularly and do our best to listen. I think that has led to a collaborative environment with very little turnover.

Some people believe HR to be the only department with a responsibility for the organization’s people. Can you tell me how you make your overall talent strategy a priority and the role you play in driving it?
We are fortunate to have tremendous tenure at the middle and senior management levels. That is a blessing and poses challenges as well. My number one priority is to seed the organization with bright, young, innovative thinkers that can become the next generation of leaders for CORT. This mixed blessing is something our management group talks about all the time and is a priority at every level.

What do you do to rally the team and reinforc e your employment brand?
There’s very little cheerleading I need to do to reinforce the employment brand. There is however a challenge to reveal our business to an upcoming group of young motivated managers. Most people are surprised to learn that CORT is a Berkshire Hathaway Company and likewise surprised to hear about our reach and scope of business. Expanding that piece of the brand will help draw additional talent into the organization for our future development and expansion.

What would you consider the most important decision you ever had to make as a leader?
There isn’t one particular decision that comes to mind, but having done a Chapter 11 reorganization back in the 1980’s taught me that it’s much easier to build a business than it is to carefully deconstruct one. It’s akin to an autopsy…as you never realize what’s under the skin of an organization until you’re forced to do that kind of forensics.

What was the best PROFESSIONAL decision you ever made?
Taking a leap of faith, trusting our Chairman and joining CORT.

ABOUT JEFF PEDERSON: Jeff Pederson has held several executive management positions of increasing responsibility with CORT Business Services since he joined the company in 2002. Jeff has been a director of the Company since 2004 and was named president of CORT Business Services in September 2006 following two years as chief financial officer. Prior to joining CORT, Jeff held senior executive positions at rental companies including Globe Business Resources and Budget Rents.

ABOUT CORT: CORT, a Berkshire Hathaway Company, is the world’s largest provider of rental furniture. In business for over 40 years, CORT has served millions of individuals and over 80 percent of Fortune 500 companies. The industry’s leading provider of residential and commercial rental furniture, CORT is also a leader in the rental of Tradeshow & Event furnishings, offers a full line of houseware rentals and provides access to millions of available apartment units nationwide through its free online apartment locator, ApartmentSearch. In addition to over 100 showrooms and clearance centers across the US, CORT also has established a global network of business partners in close to 70 countries around the world. CORT’s greatest assets are the more than 2,000 employees who understand the difficulties and stresses involved with major transitions. CORT’s motto, “Wherever you’re heading, we’ll be there,” embodies its commitment to make transitions for individuals and companies as smooth and pain-free as possible.

“When you sincerely believe in what you do, your employees recognize that.” – James D. Speros

In the following interview, James D. Speros, Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer of Fidelity, discusses the role trust and integrity play in an organization’s success, a leader’s role in setting the bar for innovation and creativity, and going beyond ‘rocket flare’ to connect with people.

How have you leveraged your brand to grow your business?
By making sure all our employees understand what the Fidelity brand stands for. There’s a lot of education and communication that we do internally.  It’s not just a simple what I would call ‘rocket flare’ where you do it once and then you walk away from it. There’s ongoing communication and activity throughout the year connecting people to the tenets of the brand, letting people express what the brand means to them and how they live the brand with every interaction.

We also surround the organization visually with the green line, the simple metaphor for guidance in navigation.  My fundamental philosophy is, “Leadership is the art of achieving results through people.”  You can’t do it all yourself.  You have to rely on your people to deliver on the brand promise and deliver results for the organization.  [The role of the] leader is to provide the vision for where you need to get to, and be the champion for innovation and creativity.

What are the most important leadership lessons you’ve learned?  Or what are the most important leadership principles that guide you?
The most important leadership lesson I’ve learned is very simple: Treating people like people, the way you would like to be treated, regardless of background; providing encouragement; and giving people the opportunity to express their opinions without fear of criticism.  It’s so important to hold these values close to you and believe in them at all times.  People can see through corporate messaging, and when you sincerely believe in what you do, your employees recognize that.

How would you define the Fidelity culture and the impact that you have on creating that culture within Fidelity?
I would describe the culture of the organization first and foremost as one of very high integrity.  The most precious asset we have with our client base is trust.  We have one of the most trusted brands in financial services.  And trust is something you earn, not something you assert.  You earn it by acting consistently with integrity.

I think another aspect of the Fidelity culture is its sharp focus on professionalism and excellence. That informs the brand and how our associates interact and how our associates interact with each other and with our customers: integrity, professionalism and excellence.  Every single person who comes in the door needs to get inoculated with those cultural attributes, because they become brand ambassadors for the company.

As a service organization, your employees are as much as the brand ambassador as a television commercial.  Do you do anything particularly within their training and development to empower them to feel that way?
Yes.  From the moment people walk in the door here, they go through a very rigorous onboarding process.  Everyone learns about the history of the brand and its tenets.  I don’t think there’s a single person who would ever say this isn’t a company is founded on integrity, and it starts right with Mr. Johnson himself and the whole family.  This is a privately held company, and that integrity comes from the top down.

How are you, as the CMO, involved in your overall talent strategy and the priority of that strategy within the organization?
The employment brand starts with the fundamental reputation of the company.

So marketing clearly plays a role in shaping our reputation and projecting it externally. And it’s not just marketing; it’s our public relations work, our philanthropy, and, most importantly, every interaction with our customers to create a superior customer experience.

ABOUT JAMES D. SPEROS: James D. Speros is executive vice president and chief marketing officer of Fidelity Personal & Workplace Investing, a unit of Fidelity Investments. In this role, Mr. Speros is responsible for leading a team of 200 associates and directing the development of advertising, online marketing, media planning & buying, branding, direct marketing, collateral development and mobile marketing. Prior to joining Fidelity, Mr. Speros’ previous roles included serving as senior vice president and chief marketing officer of Marsh & McLennan Companies, as chief marketing officer for the U.S. Division of Ernst & Young LLP and as vice president, Advertising and Marketing Communications at AT&T Corporation. Considered one of the top thought leaders in marketing and advertising circles, Mr. Speros has been actively involved in numerous industry organizations, including the Association of National Advertisers, the Advertising Council and BPA International. Mr. Speros earned his bachelor of business administration degree in marketing from Bernard M. Baruch College in New York City, and holds an Advanced Management Certificate from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business.

ABOUT FIDELITY: Fidelity Investments is one of the world’s largest providers of financial services, with assets under administration of $3.7 trillion, including managed assets of more than $1.6 trillion, as of May 31, 2011. Founded in 1946, the firm is a leading provider of investment management, retirement planning, portfolio guidance, brokerage, benefits outsourcing and many other financial products and services to more than 20 million individuals and institutions, as well as through 5,000 financial intermediary firms. For more information about Fidelity Investments, visit www.fidelity.com.

“We believe in a concept called ‘shadow of the leader.’ We have huge amounts of transparency and communication with employees, and it starts at the top of the organization. ” – LeighAnne Baker

In the following interview, The Hertz Corporation Senior Vice President, Chief Human Resources Officer LeighAnne Baker discusses the Hertz concept of transparent communication and how the organization reinforces its employment brand to attract ‘best in class’ talent.

What is your philosophy as it relates to people and their impact on your daily business?
At Hertz we believe that the only long-term, sustainable, competitive advantage that a company can have is its people. This also includes the processes of how you get the work done in organizations. Competitive advantages like technology and supply can all be copied; you can’t copy the people side. At a company like Hertz that has 75,000 transactions a day, that equals 75,000 touch points to customers. That’s where the brand promise is delivered.

How do you engage and relate to your employees, and how do you spread that culture throughout the organization?
We believe in a concept called “shadow of the leader.” We have huge amounts of transparency and communication with employees, and it starts at the top of the organization. Site visits are also very much a part of the culture, where we do skip level meetings to understand what the issues are, what’s going well and what’s not going well. They’re actually part of the CEO’s personal objectives with the board, so there is close follow-up to understand exactly what the employees are telling us. We also have a communication tool kit that all managers receive in order to get a consistent message out to all employees. Finally, we use a third party to facilitate an internal survey to better understand our employees. The survey focuses on three platforms (asset management, customer satisfaction and employee satisfaction), and helps us keep a pulse on where employees are on the satisfaction scale.

How would you define the Hertz culture and personally communicate that within your group?
Loyalty, integrity and service are what made Hertz a “best in class” company. When you’re at Hertz, you feel that sense of being a family, and we want to make sure that we continue to build on that. We also want to make sure we reward performance properly by encouraging continuous improvement through transparent communication. We constantly look at ways to improve our operations, especially through the eyes of the customer. Finally, personal accountability is important to Hertz, going back to linking pay and performance and holding people accountable for what they say they’re going to do.

What do you do to reinforce your employment brand? How do you drive that through the organization and make sure it’s consistent?
Every quarter we have a company wide employee webcast with the CEO. It’s not just about what’s going on from the financial viewpoint for the last quarter; there is also a lot of time spent talking about customers and employees. We’re continuing to show people we are serious about all three of those building blocks: assets, customers and employees.

If you had to pick one, what’s the most fundamental skill or attribute in hiring someone to be a good fit at Hertz?
I can’t pick one word, but certainly self-awareness to understand Hertz’s mission and your role in trying to push the company forward. All of us – the 23,000 full-time employees and the 8,000 part-time – own the Hertz brand and the image that we have. We can never lose sight of it, and our employees need to be willing to step up and take accountability for whatever’s going on and whatever is in their part of the business.

What advice would you give to your executive peers – whether it relates to leadership or life in general?
If I were going to use two words, they would be “lead boldly.” Especially where the global economy is at this time, leaders have to be bold. From an HR perspective, you have to understand the business talk, have the financial acumen and understand the business strategy. Together, these concepts make you truly understand the people side of the business. I spent a lot of time my first few years on leadership issues, but now I’m focused more on the first-line manager. My goal is that, two years down road, we’ll have this reputation of being a management powerhouse.

ABOUT LEIGHANN BAKER: As Senior Vice President, Chief Human Resources Officer for The Hertz Corporation, LeighAnne Baker is responsible for the development and administration of personnel programs affecting Hertz employees worldwide. She also oversees the development and implementation of talent identification and management programs as well as employee development and satisfaction initiatives. Before joining Hertz, Ms. Baker served as Senior Vice President – Global Human Resources, and a Member of the Executive Committee of The Reynolds & Reynolds Company, a leading provider of information technology, software solutions and professional services to the automotive retailing market. Ms. Baker earned a master’s degree in management from Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business, a master’s in business administration from Ashlan University and a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Capital University.

ABOUT HERTZ.: Hertz is the world’s largest general use airport car rental brand, operating from approximately 8,500 locations in 146 countries worldwide. Hertz is the number one airport car rental brand in the U.S. and at 83 major airports in Europe, operating both corporate and licensee locations in cities and airports in North America, Europe, Latin America, Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Africa and the Middle East. Hertz also operates Connect by Hertz global car sharing club, Advantage Rent A Car in the U.S., and Hertz Equipment Rental Corporation, one of the world’s largest equipment rental businesses.

A key success factor in this business is attracting, recruiting and retaining the best people. Period.

In the following interview, Physiotherapy Associates CEO Dan Connors discusses how people have an impact on business on a day-to-day basis, the link between passion and performance, and the key to finding and retaining great people.

What is your philosophy about your employees and the impact that they have on the business? 

I’m sure every business says this, but in our business especially, our people are the most important asset we have and, really, the only thing that drives our business.  We have 650 clinics around the country.  Our Associates help patients improve their quality of life through rehabilitation, be it to treat a traumatic injury, improve post-surgical recovery, or gain greater flexibility and mobility. Much like a professional services firm, our people are our only asset. We place a very high level of importance on our Associates by recruiting the right people and making a conscious effort to retain them.

What type of person do you look for in an employee?

First, we have licensure requirements.  Physical therapists are licensed in the given states in which they will be treating patients.  In addition, we look for someone who is passionate for this profession.  This is a caregiving business, so having someone who is emphatic toward other people is extremely important. We also look for someone who is very results-oriented for two reasons: First, physical therapy is about obtaining results for the patient, and that needs to be the whole mindset of the caregiver. Second, we look for people who enjoy the business end of physical therapy. The clinic directors in each of our locations have the comfort of running their own businesses, hiring their own staffs and being responsible for their own profit and loss, all in the context of the foundation, support and financial stability of a large organization.

How do you tie those personality traits to office performance?

The quality of our Associates is directly tied to the performance of our clinics. We have clinics that have been in our upper quartile, performance-wise, for years because of the quality Associates there.Likewise, when we bring strong new talent to an under-performing clinic, our results improve dramatically. Our business is 100 percent people dependent.

How much time are you able to spend with the employees of this organization? 

There’s never enough time! It is one of the challenges of a distributed organization like ours.  I try to visit around 50 or so of our clinics yearly, and it’s one of my favorite things to do. But we also make sure to supplement these visits with both formal and informal communication channels. First, every person in the company knows they can pick up the phone and call or email me directly…and plenty do! We try to be very informal and encourage everyone to communicate with each other, and we also have formal channels as well to ensure constant, consistent communication with our Associates.

Can you tell me about the “Be the Best @ Physio” program?

A key success factor in this business is attracting, recruiting and retaining the best people. Period. So we take a very decided and holistic approach to our relationship with our Associates. “Be the Best @ Physio” is a program comprised of six different pillars: communication; compensation and benefits; community service; work environment; career path; and rewards and recognition.  Those pillars make up the basis of our relationship with our Associates. We have both informal and formal things we do weekly, monthly, quarterly and annually under each of these pillars to ensure that we have the best relationship possible with our Associates.

What’s the most important leadership decision you’ve made?

That’s relatively easy.  It’s a decision that I always try to make at some point in my tenure with a company, and that is to be the best company in our industry.  It’s a decision that you don’t take lightly, because it has ramifications, but we decided as a management team that we want to be the best in our business.  We committed with eyes open as to what that means in terms of personal commitment of time and going the extra mile.  In many ways, it’s very liberating because it makes some decisions very easy. For example, hiring decisions become easier when you will only settle for a world-class candidate, and decisions to invest in the latest technologies become easier. It’s challenging, but it’s very energizing, too! For our organization, “good enough” is never good enough. Our goal is to be the best provider in the outpatient rehabilitation and O&P space, and we’re excited to have the opportunity to make that happen.

ABOUT DAN CONNORS: As Chief Executive Officer of Physiotherapy Associates, Dan leverages the company’s strong foundation of clinical care to establish it as the clear leader in the outpatient rehabilitation and orthotics and prosthetics industry. Dan has more than 25 years of experience in leading customer-centric businesses. Prior to Physiotherapy Associates, he served as Chief Executive Officer of Wire One Communications, Inc., where he led the company’s turnaround and its sale to British Telecom. Dan began his business career with Bain & Company and has held executive positions with HQ Global Workplaces, Inc. and Wang Laboratories, Inc, and FedEx Kinko’s. Before pursuing a career in business, Dan was a lawyer for a prominent Washington D.C. law firm and in the Air Force General Counsel’s Office at The Pentagon. Dan earned his bachelor’s degree in finance from the University of Notre Dame and his MBA from The Wharton School. He also holds law degrees from Georgetown University and The Ohio State University.

ABOUT PHYSIOTHERAPY ASSOCIATES: As the nation’s foremost provider of outpatient rehabilitation services, Physiotherapy Associates employs an industry-leading team of physical therapists and healthcare practitioners who are dedicated to high-quality patient care. With a comprehensive set of services – including physical therapy, occupational therapy, sports medicine, industrial rehabilitation, craniofascial therapy, women’s health, pre-op rehabilitation, and orthotics and prosthetics – the company’s clinics are well-equipped to treat millions of patients who have a wide variety of conditions. All Physiotherapy Associates clinics are staffed by licensed physical therapists who provide individualized plans of treatment for patients. Providing one-on-one care to patients continues to be the hallmark of the company. With more than 600 clinics, Physiotherapy Associates is national in scope, local in care.

“You constantly need to reposition and redefine yourself in order to continue growing.”

In the following excerpt from CareerBuilder’s recent interview with Philip Jaurigue, President and CEO of Sabre Systems, Inc., Jaurigue discusses, among other things, the importance of innovation, recognition and not looking in the rearview mirror.

Can you describe your philosophy as it relates to the impact your employees have on your business?

Because Sabre Systems, Inc. is a services business, our employees are the face of the company. A large portion of Sabre personnel work at customer locations and, in many instances, are the customers’ sole source of information with regard to Sabre’s culture and philosophy. This means that the attitude with which employees come to work in the morning, the way they conduct themselves while at work, and even their overall character convey a message about Sabre’s values and professionalism directly to our customer.

With that in mind, I encourage the leadership team to spend a fair amount of time engaging employees to ensure they feel they are a valued and integral part of the team. I also ask that company leadership ensures that potential Sabre team members are aligned with the mission, vision and culture of the company before bringing them on board.

How do you personally engage with and relate to your employees?

Sabre has an employee accolade program through which we reward employees who have exceeded expectations or have willingly stepped outside the confines of their daily responsibilities to provide support to another employee, manager or project. These employees often receive their “Above and Beyond” or “Employee Appreciation” awards in front of their colleagues or customers, who collectively celebrate their accomplishments and contributions. I urge managers to utilize this program and always try to be present to personally recognize those employees being honored.

I also make every effort to attend Sabre community events, holiday parties and other company functions, which provide opportunities for me to connect with employees outside of the work environment.

Recently, I have been looking for creative ways to use social media. I encourage Sabre employees to follow me on Twitter and subscribe to my blog so they are informed regarding the direction of – and what’s going on within – the company. This is especially beneficial to employees who spend the majority of their time at customer sites. Having access to these communication channels helps them feel connected, and sheds light on how they might grow their careers.

What would you say is the most important leadership lesson you’ve learned to date?

If there’s one lesson I’ve learned, it’s that you can’t look in the rearview mirror and expect the things you’ve done things in the past that made you successful are necessarily going to be the same things that keep you successful. It sounds a little bit counterintuitive, but from a business standpoint, it’s probably one of the worst things you can do. You have to be constantly reinventing yourself to keep yourself relevant and stay competitive.

Oftentimes, companies will become successful because they have been able to differentiate themselves from their competitors and communicate that value proposition to their customers. Your competitors are all going to copy what’s successful, so you constantly need to reposition and redefine yourself in order to continue growing. A leader’s role is to be a change agent in managing these transitions.

How do you define your internal culture?

I think employees at Sabre feel that they are empowered and generally encouraged to be creative and entrepreneurial. Sabre leadership encourages employees to be innovative in finding solutions for their customers and improving processes to achieve enhanced efficiency.

My role is to make sure that our reward system and that which we praise in the organization are consistent with what we’re asking our people to do, and with the culture we have cultivated. We try to come up with creative ways to recognize people and to reward people for their innovation. Rewarding those behaviors we deem desirable and beneficial to the company is the best thing that any leader can do.

What do you do to engage your employees and to reinforce your brand?

One thing that makes employees feel positive about their experience at Sabre is our involvement in the community. Sabre supports a number of different charitable projects – from a financial standpoint, as well as in terms of the time we spend on pro bono efforts. In the Philadelphia region specifically, we’ve twice been named one of the most philanthropic large companies in the area. We have people who are very actively involved in a number of not-for-profits and different community endeavors.

In today’s marketplace, it is important for a business to show that it’s not just about profits, losses and maximizing shareholder value, but that it also takes responsibility to give back and really help the community.

What advice would you share with your executive peers through this article?

I’ll go back to the topic of change. You don’t lead your company by looking in the rearview mirror. Don’t be afraid to reinvent your company and don’t fear; rather, embrace change.

ABOUT PHILIP P. JAURIGUE: Philip P. Jaurigue founded Sabre Systems, Inc. in 1989, and has served as President since its inception. Mr. Jaurigue’s primary focus and responsibility is providing strategic business leadership to drive the direction, stability and growth of Sabre. A frequent speaker at the Wharton School of Business and the Entrepreneur’s Forum of Greater Philadelphia, Mr. Jaurigue is also part-time co-host on the weekly radio show Executive Leaders Radio for WHFS 1580AM in Washington, DC.

ABOUT SABRE SYSTEMS.: Sabre Systems, Inc. is a professional services company that provides worldwide technology, scientific and management solutions to government and commercial clients. Core capabilities include information technology, engineering, program management support, training and logistics, and software development. Headquartered in Pennsylvania, Sabre has major offices in Maryland, New Jersey, Virginia, Indiana, California and South Carolina.

“Sometimes you make wise choices, and it’s more luck than wisdom.”

In the following interview, Maritza Poza-Grise, vice president of DuPont Human Resources, discusses, among other things, employee engagement, open communication and the therapeutic affects of laughter.

How do you engage with and relate to your employees?

I’m a people person by nature. One thing I enjoy is our lunch and learn sessions we host. We go out into the field, give short sound bites of what’s going on the in company, then go around the room to hear from employees. It’s a great way to get a pulse of the organization. If there are issues or challenges, we want to have open conversations and an open environment where it’s safe to disagree. The one thing you learn very early on at DuPont is you are in an individual contributor role: your worth and your contribution has everything to do with how you succeed.

What are some of the most important leadership lessons you’ve learned throughout your career?

One of the most important lessons I’ve learned as a leader is just being authentic, trustworthy and credible. That gets harder and harder as your scope widens.  Through the veins of any employee in DuPont, the most important fluid is our core values.  We are a company where, when I come to work, I feel like I am working in the context of my own values.  I’ve never been asked to do anything that was unsafe, unethical or disrespectful of people; nor will we tolerate anyone who operates in an unsafe way, acts unethically or disrespects people.  I think in any company – whatever their values – living those core values is absolutely essential in order to lead and accomplish great things.

How do you as a leader try to have an impact on the culture?

Culture is an interesting thing in a 208-year-old company.  There are elements of the culture that were seated 208 years ago by Éleuthère DuPont, by the choices he made when manufacturing very dangerous explosive powders.  As a leader, you play into that and you embody that with regard to core values; however, you also have to think intentionally about what kind of culture you want to create. I strive to have an open culture at DuPont, where you can have some fun and laugh at yourself, even in the most serious of times – which was therapy during the global financial crisis.

What’s the most important decision you’ve had to make as a leader?

Far and away, the most important decisions you make as a leader are about people.  Last year, during the global financial crisis, we as a corporation knew there were markets that were not going to come back to their pre-financial crisis level, specifically construction and automotive.  We knew there were downsizing actions we needed to take, and we wanted to do enough because we wanted to survive.  We knew if we let it go for long enough, the business would sink, and that would have had a much bigger impact on the lives of our employees.

One of the more powerful things we did was preserve the talent we had and have been investing in throughout the years. We called them “Mega Projects” and figured out a way to deploy them into other roles needed in the organization. We provided training and, through careful thought by leadership, sustained the long-term survival of the business.

Is there anything else that you want to share, about DuPont or on your leadership philosophy?

I made the choice of [working with] DuPont because of the people I met and the diversity of the company.  It was pretty exciting to think I wasn’t just going to be working in one area.  Thirty years later, I have lived every single day of my career the wisdom of that choice. It’s just an amazing place with amazing, smart people who want not only to make technological breakthroughs, but who get totally energized with the “big purpose” stuff of feeding the world.  Sometimes you make wise choices, and it’s more luck than wisdom.

ABOUT MARITZA POZA-GRISE: Maritza Poza-Grise is vice president of DuPont Human Resources. She joined DuPont in 1980 as an engineer at the Edgemoor site in Wilmington, Del., where she went on to hold a variety of technical and business roles in the White Pigments, Fluoroproducts and Industrial Chemicals businesses in Wilmington. From there she went on to hold various management roles until 1999, when she was appointed director, Human Resources, DuPont Chemical Solutions Enterprise. After moving up the ranks in various project director roles, she became Human Resources director, Global Operations in 2004, and finally was named to her current position in 2008. Poza-Grise graduated from the University of Notre Dame with a degree in Chemical Engineering.

ABOUT DUPONT: As a market-driven science-based products and services company, DuPont creates sustainable solutions essential to a better, safer, healthier life for people everywhere. Founded in 1802 in Wilmington, Del., DuPont first produced high-grade black powder for explosives. By the early 1900s, the company’s focus shifted to chemicals, materials and energy to meet the changing needs of consumers and businesses. Today, DuPont operates in over 90 countries to deliver innovations that make real differences in people’s lives in areas such as food and nutrition, health care, apparel, safety and security, construction, electronics and transportation. With its ability to adapt to the evolving needs of customers and a foundation of unending scientific inquiry, DuPont has become one of the world’s most innovative and successful companies. What has not changed in 200 years, however, is DuPont’s core commitment to safety and health; environmental stewardship; the highest ethical behavior; and respect for people.

“We place responsibility on every employee to make XO an encouraging and exciting place for other employees.”

In the following excerpt from CareerBuilder’s recent interview with Michael Toplisek, CMO of XO Communications, discusses, among other things, his leadership philosophy and his secret for staying current with both customers and employees.

What is your philosophy as it relates to people and their impact on your daily business?

Our people are our business. We sell something that is intangible, but what makes the difference is our people. My philosophy is to have happy, engaged, knowledgeable and professional people who will help separate us from the competition.

How do you engage with and relate to your employees?

We engage with employee in a number of ways. We try to be with the employees as much as possible – whether it be through monthly conference calls or making our intranet interactive and profiling employee success stories. We recently launched an employee blog, and, if my schedule allows, I host “town hall” meetings in local markets that give employees an opportunity to ask me direct questions.

What are the most important leadership lessons you’ve learned?

Communication and direction are the keys to successful leadership. You have to have the right people in place to execute a company’s strategy. Along with having the right people, leaders must also be engaged and understand their employees’ challenges and roles in order to make that happen. Ensuring that they are all working toward a common goal is also essential to achieving the company’s strategy.

Some people believe HR to be the only department with a responsibility for the organization’s people.  How do you make your overall talent strategy a priority? What role do you play in driving it?

One of our four Balanced Scorecard objectives is to make XO one of the 100 Best Places to Work. We place responsibility on every employee to make XO an encouraging and exciting place for other employees. HR has a part of the responsibility to provide the resources and tools to support that goal; however, the attitude that “it’s HR’s job” would never get us to our goal.

How do you define XO’s culture? As a leader, what is your impact on the culture?

Our culture is full of passionate and energetic employees. Their collective attitude is “never satisfied and always try to improve.” We recently launched a Balanced Scorecard initiative with stated objectives and measurements to hold ourselves accountable to our customers, our employees and our ownership. I think that initiative illustrates our goal to always improve.

How do your employees affect your business, particularly as it relates to client services?

Our employees in total equal our customers’ satisfaction. Our mantra is “think customer.” We want all employees to think about everything we do from the customer’s perspective and think, “Does this make for a better customer experience?”

What other advice would you share with your executive peers though this piece?

Choose a marketing partner with experience. Advances in technology have made it feasible and cost-effective for most companies today to develop one-to-one marketing strategies. Many consumers are using communication channels interchangeably – email, text, phone, online. This can pose a challenge for marketers, because you want to be able to ensure a consistent brand experience no matter what the channel. By improving the quality of their experience, customers will form a stronger bond with your organization and, as a result, increase your profit potential.

What do you do to rally the team and reinforce your employment brand?

We try to communicate success every day – even small successes regarding customer satisfaction or instances in which our employees are engaged in community activities or charitable events – to illustrate what it means to be XO.

What was the best hiring decision you ever made?

I implemented a cross-functional hiring process. That means new vice presidents or directors always spend time with a cross-functional team of executives to get many perspectives on a candidate – and so that the candidate can get a good perspective from every level of what it’s like to work at XO.

What other advice would you share with your executive peers though this piece?

Make sure you have enough interaction – schedule it, if necessary – with your customers and employees. Ask yourself, “Do I have my finger on the pulse of the current state of business?” Otherwise, it’s easy to get caught up in the day-to-day challenges of our jobs.

ABOUT MICHAEL TOPLISEK: Michael Toplisek oversees XO Communications’ Business Services marketing organization, where he is responsible for marketing and sales strategy, services and solutions, pricing, acquisition and retention programs and market development. With 18 years of marketing and sales experience in the telecommunications industry, Toplisek leads an organization of customer-focused marketing professionals to help execute XO’s growth strategy. Prior to joining XO Communications, Toplisek served as a senior vice president of global enterprise and collaboration services for Global Crossing, where he oversaw worldwide enterprise, client support, sales engineering, government, systems integration and collaboration services teams. Previous experience also includes various sales leadership positions at MCI and other corporations in the telecommunications sector.

ABOUT XO COMMUNICATIONS: XO Communications is a leading nationwide provider of advanced broadband communications services and solutions for businesses, enterprises, government, carriers and service providers. XO’s customers include more than half of the Fortune 500, in addition to leading cable companies, carriers, content providers and mobile network operators. Utilizing its unique combination of high-capacity nationwide and metro networks and broadband wireless capabilities, XO Communications offers customers a broad range of managed voice, data and IP services with proven performance, scalability and value in more than 75 metropolitan markets across the United States. For more information, visit www.xo.com.

“Our employees are the heart and soul of our business and the reason we continue to enjoy prosperity and growth.”

In the following excerpt from CareerBuilder’s recent interview with Carl Albright, CEO of InfoCision, Albright reveals, among other things, his leadership philosophy, the impact people have on his business, and how a first-grader gave him his greatest leadership lesson.

WHAT IS YOUR PHILOSOPHY AS IT RELATES TO PEOPLE AND THEIR IMPACT ON YOUR DAILY BUSINESS?
Join us at any employee of the month ceremony, and you’ll hear the same sentiments time and again:  “I love it here,” and “I wouldn’t want to work anywhere else.” These sentiments come from a very simple philosophy on which InfoCision was founded over 28 years ago: People make a difference. InfoCision’s vision is to be the highest quality direct marketing provider of the 21st century. “Commitment to Excellence” underscores our uncompromising commitment to quality and integrity. “Whatever It Takes” reflects our willingness to go above and beyond. These two simple ideas define how we interact with each other, our clients, our vendors/partners, and anyone else we come in contact with.

HOW DO YOU ENGAGE WITH AND RELATE TO YOUR EMPLOYEES?
Engaging employees is a top priority for InfoCision, and frequently telling our employees how they each generate value and help the company is key. Daily, we work hard to break down barriers that can hinder communication. We maintain and promote a true open-door policy, creating an atmosphere of mutual trust. At every level, we encourage open communication, feedback and discussion.  I personally attend our 30-plus call center employee of the month ceremonies, providing a company update and short- and long-term outlooks. During these town hall-style meetings, employees are free to ask any question, and I always give an honest answer.

WHAT ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT LEADERSHIP LESSONS YOU’VE LEARNED?
The most important leadership lesson I’ve learned didn’t come from a book or mentor; it actually came from my son. Both he and his brother play sports and have the potential to be very good athletes. One day I asked my oldest, who is in first grade, why he thought his friends liked him – fully expecting him to say it’s because he’s good at sports. But instead, he said it’s because he’s nice. When I asked him again, he said it’s because “I let the girls play kickball with us.” When I asked him once more, he said it’s because “I roll the ball slowly to Petey, who has a hard time kicking the ball.” I was really proud of his answers, because just like in business, it comes down to giving the ultimate effort…and being humble.

HOW DO YOUR EMPLOYEES AFFECT YOUR BUSINESS, PARTICULARLY AS IT RELATES TO CLIENT SERVICES?
By creating an award-winning workplace, we are able to attract, retain and motivate top-performers. The fact that they enjoy their jobs and feel valued comes across in their daily interactions. The result is a higher ROI for our clients and a competitive advantage for us.  Our employees are the heart and soul of our business and the reason we continue to enjoy prosperity and growth.

HOW DO YOU MAKE YOUR OVERALL TALENT STRATEGY A PRIORITY?
First and foremost, we strive to make sure our employees feel that InfoCision is a place where they can create a fulfilling career for themselves. Employees are free and encouraged to seek out new roles within the company. In fact, four executives started on the phones, and I started out as an assistant call center supervisor. In 2002, I created InfoCision Management Corporate University to provide a clear path for advancement and the training and development needed to succeed – all at no cost to employees and all on company time.  We have the best talent in the industry – truly talented and innovative professionals – and our continued growth is a reflection of that. Our staffing levels grew by 14 percent in 2010, and in 2011 we’re projecting a 10 percent increase.

WHAT DO YOU DO TO RALLY THE TEAM AND REINFORCE YOUR EMPLOYMENT BRAND?
Our business is about building relationships, and InfoCision has a unique view of the relationship world. Having been a teleservices company for close to three decades, we have expanded into a full-service, multichannel marketing partner. Technology, coupled with the struggling economy, has changed the way marketers are forming and maintaining relationships. But one constant that has always risen to the top is to deliver an extraordinary customer experience.

WHAT ADVICE CAN YOU SHARE WITH YOUR EXECUTIVE PEERS?
Choose a marketing partner with experience. Advances in technology have made it feasible and cost-effective for most companies today to develop one-to-one marketing strategies. Many consumers are using communication channels interchangeably – e-mail, text, phone, online. This can pose a challenge for marketers, because you want to be able to ensure a consistent brand experience no matter what the channel. By improving the quality of their experience, customers will form a stronger bond with your organization and, as a result, increase your profit potential.

ABOUT CARL ALBRIGHT: As President and CEO of InfoCision, Carl Albright oversees all aspects of the company’s day-to-day operations. A 20-year veteran of InfoCision, Carl started his career as Assistant Call Center Supervisor and working his way up to fill such roles as Director of Telemarketing, Senior Vice President of Call Center Operations and Chief Operating Officer. Since Carl took over as President, InfoCision has experienced 50 percent growth, and is now the second largest privately held teleservices company, operating 34 call centers throughout Ohio, West Virginia and Pennsylvania. Carl has also revolutionized InfoCision’s benefits by investing over $1 million dollars in employee health and wellness programs that include on-site physicians and clinics, fitness centers, child care centers, health fairs, and numerous company-sponsored wellness and fitness programs.

ABOUT INFOCISION: Our clients are the household names most Americans know and depend on. As a leading provider of contact center solutions, we serve many verticals – from technology and pharmaceuticals to financial services and telecommunications – and provide inbound and outbound marketing for nonprofit, religious and political organizations. No matter what market, we help establish brand, build customers, create marketing strategies and integrate teleservices into the marketing mix. Our customized core solutions can be deployed individually or combined to create a multichannel strategy that includes inbound and outbound teleservices, direct mail, fulfillment, e-mail, e-commerce, and business intelligence, to name a few. Headquartered in Akron, Ohio, InfoCision operates 34 call centers at 13 locations in Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia and has more than 4,200 employees. For more information, visit infocision.com.

“Our people know that what they do every day really matters, and they are all about making a difference.”

In the following excerpt from CareerBuilder’s recent interview with Glen Tullman, Chief Executive Officer of Allscripts, Tullman discusses the qualities that make for great employees – including adaptability, curiosity and empathy – and what it means to “be big and act small.”

WHAT IS YOUR PHILOSOPHY AS IT RELATES TO PEOPLE AND THEIR IMPACT ON YOUR BUSINESS?
I’ve been fortunate to run three publicly traded companies during my career, and while each sold software, it was pretty clear that the real business was about change management — getting people to use our software to do things differently. The process of change management is a people-oriented process that required each of my companies to have smart, committed people who can empathize with the client. We believe that people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care. Simply put, people are the business. They develop our innovative software, sell it, install it and support it. The way they do that is what makes us special. We talk with them about making a difference in everything they do, and that’s what our clients notice.

HOW DO YOU ENGAGE WITH AND RELATE TO YOUR EMPLOYEES?
When you are small, you have the advantage of being able to develop a relationship with every one of your people. As you grow, culture takes the place of those individual interactions. We have 5,500 people, and I simply can’t spend time with all of them, so we use our vision, strategy and goals to earn their commitment and help guide their decisions. For example, our vision is to create a Connected Community of Health™. People understand what being connected means, what being a part of a community is, and they buy into the need to create better health in our communities — to keep people healthy rather than just treating them after they are sick.

WHAT ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT LEADERSHIP LESSONS YOU’VE LEARNED?
The first lesson is about having a vision and values and following each one. Empowering that is key. I like to say, “If it is to be… it is up to me.” The second lesson is to find people who are committed and trustworthy. We look for people who know what it takes to be the best. We want people with energy, curiosity and a commitment to giving back. The third lesson is gaining comfort with the fact that change is the norm. It’s better to have people who are lifelong learners, comfortable with change, because the rate of change will continue to increase, and flexibility and adaptability will become even more critical with each passing year.

HOW DO YOUR EMPLOYEES AFFECT YOUR BUSINESS, PARTICULARLY AS IT RELATES TO PATIENT CARE?
Allscripts is unique. Not many companies are focused on transforming an industry, so it’s important that our people have both energy and persistence. Health care isn’t just any industry; it touches every family in America, and getting it right can be a life or death situation. Our team recognizes the significance of that and the importance of their work in “getting it right.” The United States can’t continue to be a world leader unless we fix our health care system. Our people understand our mission and have enormous passion about it. This year, our software will touch more than 200 million Americans. Our people know that what they do every day really matters, and they are all about making a difference.

HOW DO YOU DEFINE THE CULTURE AT ALLSCRIPTS? WHAT ROLE DO YOU PLAY IN REINFORCING THE CULTURE?
We have a hands-on, entrepreneurial spirit, and the challenge I give our team is “be big and act small.” For us, that means caring deeply about our clients and our people, having fun and innovating in all that we do, and making a difference in our communities and in people’s lives. Culture begins at the top. As a leader, I know that people watch what I do, not what I say. So I get directly involved in the toughest problems, stay very close to our clients and try to have as much interaction with our frontline employees as possible. It’s very challenging to do and to do it right, but that’s the core of leadership.

ABOUT GLEN TULLMAN: Glen Tullman is chief executive officer of Allscripts. He joined the company in 1997 and led its transition into the health care information sector, driving Allscripts to become the leading provider of clinical software, connectivity and information solutions. Prior to joining Allscripts, Mr. Tullman was chief operating officer of Enterprise Systems, Inc., a leading health care information services company. He has also served in a number of management roles, including president and chief operating officer of CCC Information Services. Mr. Tullman graduated from Bucknell University Magna Cum Laude with a double major in economics and psychology. Mr. Tullman has been recognized as CEO of the Year by the Illinois Information Technology Association, Ernst & Young’s 2008 Entrepreneur of the Year in the technology category for the Midwest region. He was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Chicago Area Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame and was named one of Health Data Management’s 2010 “game changers.”

ABOUT ALLSCRIPTS: Allscripts (NASDAQ: MDRX) provides innovative solutions that empower all stakeholders across the health care continuum to deliver world-class outcomes. The company’s clinical, financial, connectivity and information solutions for hospitals, physicians and post-acute organizations are the essential technologies that enable a Connected Community of Health™. To learn more about Allscripts, please visit www.allscripts.com, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.

“Have a clear vision, communicate it and allow yourself to be challenged by it.”

In the following excerpt from CareerBuilder’s recent interview with Robert P. Wise, President and Chief Executive Officer of Hunterdon Medical Center, Wise discusses, among other things, how growing up in a health care environment influenced his role as a leader in this industry today.

HOW DO YOU RELATE TO YOUR EMPLOYEES ON A PERSONAL BASIS WHILE ENGAGING WITH PEOPLE WHO ARE JUST COMING IN AND OUT OF THE HOSPITAL ON A DAILY BASIS?
I have the benefit of having grown up in a health care environment. When I became an orderly in a nursing home it gave me an opportunity to see hierarchy at work. I saw how difficult it was for people at higher levels to communicate with people at lower levels, and I didn’t feel good about it. There was no reason why that should exist in an organization where people depend upon each other. A team is critical, and a team caring about each other and respecting each other is critical.

HOW DO YOU FOSTER A CULTURE OF LEARNING, ADVANCEMENT AND PERSONAL GROWTH?
We have a program where employees can catch other employees doing the right thing, called Caught in the Act. We probably have around a thousand Caught in the Act awards that we recognize every year in celebrations. It’s a way of [helping] employees see the good in each other and also spreads and reinforces the culture.

WHAT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT DECISION YOU HAVE MADE AS A LEADER IN YOUR TENURE HERE?
I think that the most important one was when we laid off 26 employees. We had never had a layoff before, and we worked the numbers as well as we could. We had to confront the fact that we had to have a small reduction in force. To release those people I think was the toughest thing we had to do. And not only that, the workforce was negatively affected by it that rippled throughout the organization.

WHAT ARE THE BIGGEST CHANGES YOU SEE TODAY IN YOUR WORKFORCE?
First of all, we see employees staying in their jobs longer. The economy is telling people to retain their positions, and I think we’re the beneficiary of that retention. Experienced employees are important to reinforce the culture to celebrate our successes, and to be recognized for our growth. The second thing that they do is they reinforce the behaviors, habits and cultures in the younger generation.

WHAT ARE SOME FUTURE CHALLENGES YOU FORESEE FOR THE HEALTH CARE INDUSTRY?
When the tsunami of retirements hit the shores of HR departments across the country, we’ll be challenged to find talented replacements sooner than we had ever thought before. That’s why succession planning and communicating the message of the value of our organization to parents of youngsters is so important. It’s important for us to bring those individuals into our organization so that we close the understanding gap. We build that with talented employees who send the message out that this is a great place to work, and they fill the gaps themselves by recruiting for us. So the pressure is off of HR. There’s no better a reference than friend who says, ‘Come to work here because it’s a great place to work.’ You can’t beat that kind of recommendation.

WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO YOUR PEERS?
In our leadership positions, we CEOs have a tendency to insulate, protect ourselves and narrow our communication with others. We need to be much more vulnerable, the same way our employees are, to the changing dynamics of the organization, the economy and the every day decision. CEOs need to be more accessible to every level of the organization. You can’t do that without making sure you are in control and knowing what direction you’re going in. Have a clear vision, communicate it and allow yourself to be challenged by it and by those around you. They’re the ones to whom you’re going to delegate that responsibility for getting the job done, but always remember to give them as much autonomy and responsibility as their skills and their performance requires.

DO YOU THINK THAT PEOPLE HAVE INHERENT FEATURES THAT MAKE THEM LEADERS?
I have observed that there are certain people who are visionaries – who are blue sky, big thinkers – and who can express a vision. These people instill values by communicating effectively and  come up with wonderful ideas. But it’s not just individuals, but a process of continuous improvement with the right challenge in check. And that means that [when picking leaders] you pick people who fit those roles.

ABOUT ROBERT P. WISE: Mr. Wise has been President and Chief Executive Officer of the Hunterdon Medical Center since 1990. He also serves as President of Hunterdon Healthcare System, Hunterdon Medical Center Foundation, Hunterdon Regional Community Health and Midjersey Health Corporation. Mr. Wise received his undergraduate degree from Boston College (1969) and his Masters in Public Health from the University of Pittsburgh (1974). Prior to coming to Hunterdon Medical Center, he held administrative positions at Rancocas Hospital, Albert Einstein Medical Center and Kennedy Memorial Hospital.

ABOUT HUNTERDON HEALTHCARE.: Hunterdon Medical Center, acknowledged as a leader in developing comprehensive medical and health care services, is a 178-bed non-profit community hospital. Our goal is to meet the needs with health care that is compassionate and effective. We provide a full range of preventive, diagnostic and therapeutic inpatient and outpatient hospital and community health services. Our staff is committed to providing the highest quality care to our patients. The Hunterdon Medical Center is also a teaching institution and is affiliated with the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey – Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. The Family Practice Residency Program is one of the first in the nation for the training of specialists in family medicine. Hunterdon Medical Center is licensed by the New Jersey Department of Health, and accredited by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO). It is designated a Magnet hospital for superior nursing care.

In the following excerpt from CareerBuilder’s recent interview with Surya Kant, President, North America of Tata Consultancy Services, Kant discusses, among other things, the five daily goals that keep his organization going and why “Maitree” holds special meaning to his people and his business.

WHAT IS YOU PHILOSOPHY AS IT RELATES TO PEOPLE? People are our assets. When they walk out of the door every night, whether they return or not depends on how much of a sense of belonging they feel with the company.  So they are very important — our business is people and people are our business.

HOW DO YOU ENGAGE WITH AND RELATE TO YOUR EMPLOYEES TODAY? A mechanism that I want to highlight is what we call “Maitree,” which means friendship and is a program that engages the families of our employees. Activities include celebrations of holidays, recognition of tenure anniversaries and participation in community activities. Community-related activities are very important for TCS because I believe that a business that supports its community receives support in return — and it is very important that we maintain these relationships. Not many people know that as we are part of the Tata Group, 50 percent of TCS’s profits go into Tata Group charitable trusts. In the U.S. we work with a number of charitable organizations including the Walk for Hope, United Way and March of Dimes.

HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE THE CULTURE OF TCS? The culture of TCS is not based on hierarchy; it is more metrics-driven. And a metrics-driven culture means that people come to collaborate. We also take the word “company” very seriously. To us, it means that people come together for a single goal, which defines our culture. We have five main values in the company that are very important for us, and we always keep them in front of us: Leading change; Integrity; Respect for individual; Learning; and Excellence. Those five values guide our day-to-day working which helps us get to the next level.

WHICH LESSONS FORMED YOUR CURRENT LEADERSHIP STYLE AND PHILOSOPHY? Our leadership philosophy is very simple, and that comes from the philosophy of the company: People are our assets. I can only be successful if my people are successful, and my job is to provide all necessary means to make them successful. We do a number of things toward that: We get feedback through employee satisfaction surveys, town hall meetings and by simply talking to employees. I see my position and the way I operate the business more like a conductor in a symphony. You have to ensure people who are individually playing their instruments can play them well, but they also must be aligned toward a bigger goal — in which case you get your symphony.

WHAT IS YOUR ROLE WITHIN THE OVERALL TALENT STRATEGY OF THE ORGANIZATION? Since we are a people-centric organization, talent is extremely important to us. We are a consulting organization and have to be ahead of our customers in order for them to do business with us. We have to first attract the best talent, then nurture that talent throughout their time with us. Nurturing talent really means that you challenge them and provide an intellectually stimulating environment. If you are a tennis player, you like to play tennis with people who are as good as you or better than you, right? If you bring in the best people, you will find that excellence begets excellence. Excellent employees will talk about their experience and the environment they work in, which will help you recruit future employees. When we started hiring from college campuses in North America, the most important decision we made was to ensure that the highest level of excellence was upheld. When we went into the top institutions, we defined our criteria from particular disciplines and the highest GPAs. By following that, we have been getting better and better recruits every year. If you talk to TCS’s employees and they see the culture of excellence continuing, we are headed in the right direction.

CAN YOU PINPOINT ONE THING THAT HAS HELPED SHAPE YOU  INTO THE LEADER YOU ARE TODAY? I would say various things have contributed to that. It started with my professors in school, and as I worked to establish myself in the workplace, my seniors and the leaders of the company helped shape how I lead every day. In terms of information technology, they are really the pioneers that drive this company. I have been fortunate to live in many parts of the world and widen my horizons by receiving various sources of education while traveling. Traveling enables you to take in various perspectives and points of view, and at the end of the day, it allows you to make much better decisions.

ANY OTHER ADVICE, FROM A TALENT PERSPECTIVE, THAT YOU WOULD SHARE WITH OTHER EXECUTIVES? I think the number one piece of advice is to hire the best people. At the same time, you need to take good care of your employees. I believe the achievements that anybody enjoys are because the people around them contribute to that success. I look at our people and see how we are helping them grow, and I’m making sure they are also getting opportunities to express their skills, qualities and potential to position themselves as future leaders in the organization.

ABOUT SURYA KANT: Surya Kant, or “Sury” as he is popularly known, is president of North American operations for TCS, where he is responsible for overseeing and strengthening customer relationships and revenues in the U.S. and Canada. Sury has been with TCS for more than 30 years and has made significant contributions to the growth of both the company and the software industry as a whole. Through 2006, he served as head of customer delivery in New Delhi. Prior to this, he served as head of TCS’ operations in Japan and the United Kingdom, respectively. Sury started the company’s operations in Tokyo, Japan in 1987, and in the early nineties ran the TCS operations in the U.K. Sury received his Bachelor of Electrical Engineering with a specialization in Electronics from the Delhi College of Engineering and his Master of Electrical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology in Delhi.

ABOUT TATA CONSULTANCY SERVICES: Tata Consultancy Services is an IT services, business solutions and outsourcing organization that delivers real results to global businesses, ensuring a level of
certainty no other firm can match. TCS offers a consulting-led, integrated portfolio of IT and IT-enabled services delivered through its unique Global Network Delivery Model™ (GNDM™), recognized as the benchmark of excellence in software development. A part of the Tata group, India’s largest industrial conglomerate, TCS has over 186,500 of the world’s best-trained IT consultants in 42 countries. For more information, visit www.tcs.com.

CareerBuilder recently sat down with Tom Daley, President of Volt Workforce Solutions, to discuss his leadership philosophy. In the following excerpt, Daley shares the lessons he’s learned in 30 years at Volt, including why empowerment is essential and the most important decision he’s ever made.

What is your philosophy as it relates to people and their impact on your daily business?
Being in the recruitment service industry gives us the opportunity to make a positive difference in the lives of people each and every day.  After 30 years with Volt, I have come to realize that you can never minimize the value and importance of providing a job or career for a person.  It impacts the individual, their family and their future. My philosophy has always been to respect people and their abilities. I expect this philosophy to exist at all levels of our company. In our industry, a recruiter doesn’t just use computers and job boards to place people. People place people. We may get the same job description from three different clients, but it’s our recruiters who recognize the importance of making a culture match as well as a skills match.  Their ability to respect each candidate and yet make accurate candidate placements with our clients has the biggest impact on our daily business.

Has your philosophy evolved over time? How do you share this philosophy with clients when you consult with them on their own talent acquisition needs?
My belief in treating people with respect, both up and down the organization, hasn’t changed. The same holds true for clients. My approach has always been to be objective and level-headed and respect the issues that each client faces. What confirmed this approach for me is Volt’s implementation of Six Sigma methodologies eight years ago. Six Sigma has enabled us to formalize our actions and processes with our clients. So by this I mean, we always knew the importance of listening to the voice of the customer and giving them what they value, but with Six Sigma every decision we make on a client’s behalf is information-based. This allows us to quickly make decisions and improvements based on the best available data, and this gives us the ability to measure and demonstrate results. This Six Sigma approach is shared at every level of interaction with our clients and our internal customers.

How do you engage with and relate to your employees? Do you have additional programs to engage your candidates and contractors?
As I’m traveling for client meetings, I also make it a point to visit the employees in our local branch offices. We’ll have informal brown bag lunch sessions where I can get to know all of our employees. I make sure they have the opportunity to ask me any questions they might have. Volt is an entrepreneurial-based business where we put a great deal of energy into reaching out to candidates in our local communities. I’m especially proud of our efforts to engage our military veterans through our Volt Military Heroes Program.

What are the most important leadership lessons you’ve learned?
After more than 30 years of leading people at Volt, what stands out for me is the importance of empowerment. As simple as that sounds, I want to make sure that each person is empowered to provide their own ideas, which are essential to the future of our organization  I have also learned that “business is business.”  When you are dealing with people, you are dealing with emotions.  In business, objective business decisions are almost always the best decision.

How do you define VOLT’s culture? As a leader what role do you play and what is your impact on the culture?
Given that Volt was started more than 60 years ago by two brothers, William and Jerome Shaw, I’d say Volt’s culture embraces innovation while maintaining a strong sense of history and family. We have an incredible blend of people at Volt, some have been with the company many years as well as new talent from many different industries, and each of us is genuinely committed to creating the future of our company. Everyone is part of a team regardless of title and everyone makes a difference as part of that team. I see my role as leading by example. I truly believe that “it’s not just what we say, it’s what we do” that defines my actions as a leader.

VOLT has a reputation for great leaders with a long tenure at the company.  How does your unique culture foster retention?
For me, two of the most gratifying aspects of working for Volt are helping people realize that the recruitment profession may be the career path for them, and second is our entrepreneurial spirit. When people are passionate about their careers and are empowered to take actions that will make a difference, they look forward to coming to work each and every day. It’s this kind of attitude and culture that fosters our employee longevity.

How do you make your overall talent strategy a priority internally, and what role do you play in driving it?
At Volt, our overall talent strategy is simple: hire…train…retain.

Anyone who has been hired at Volt knows how extensive our hiring process is, with our key executives involved in every hire. One of the things we look for in our employees is passion. We know we can teach people about the industry, but we can’t teach passion. Finding people who are passionate about the business of recruitment and who appreciate how life-changing a job can be is the heart of our business. Once they’re hired, our employees get the best training available in our industry. Because of our Six Sigma culture, employees are encouraged and mentored to participate in belt training programs. Nearly 40% of our in-house employees have completed Six Sigma training. This training not only increases their skills and value in project management and analytical methods, but it changes the way they think and act. Providing these opportunities contributes to the high levels of commitment and retention among our people.

Our talent strategy has a top-down approach. In my role as Executive Champion for Six Sigma, I’m responsible for defining the direction for our talent strategy, setting priorities, and approving the projects we undertake. I also play an active role in all project report-outs.

What do you do to rally the team and reinforce your employment brand?
I’ve surrounded myself with strong leaders who are empowered to drive decisions down to the appropriate level within the company. Almost every person in our organization is given KPIs so they can track where they should be and how they can continuously improve. Our brand is reinforced through our commitment to hiring the highest quality talent and through every satisfied client.

What would you consider the most important decision you ever had to make as a leader?
The difficult economic climate of the past three years had a tremendous impact on the staffing industry and Volt. To create a path forward through the recession, meant making broad changes in our company, from our organizational structure to our geographic footprint and client opportunities. The decisions I had to make in terms of personnel and office consolidations were the most difficult I’ve made as a leader, but I believe ultimately laid the groundwork for a stronger future for this company.

I consider the decision to implement Six Sigma in 2002 as among the most important decisions I’ve made. This allowed Volt to make a tremendous shift in our direction, our culture, and to truly differentiate Volt from the rest of our industry.

Can you give me one or two examples of how one person had a major impact at VOLT?
Volt’s co-founder, Jerry Shaw, has had the greatest impact on Volt and on my career. For more than 30 years that I’ve worked with Jerry, he is always approachable, down-to-earth and absolutely committed to the success of Volt.  He leads by example and no one has more passion or works harder than he does. At 84, he still travels more than 90 miles one way to come to work at Volt and is in the office by 8:00 AM every day. Jerry’s work ethic and his common-sense perspective on the business continue to be an inspiration to all of us!

What other advice would you share with your executive peers though this piece?
Hire the right people…empower them…and get out of the way.

ABOUT TOM DALEY: As president of Volt Workforce Solutions, Tom Daley is responsible for Volt’s global talent acquisition operations through a network of locations in North America, Europe and Southeast Asia. During three decades at Volt, starting in 1980, Tom has been instrumental in driving the company’s growth to one of the world’s largest staffing organizations. In 2001, he was named as an executive officer of Volt. Tom is very active in national staffing and has served as a member of the board of directors of the American Staffing Association since 2002. He was elected an officer of the ASA board in 2010.

ABOUT VOLT: Volt is a global provider of talent, technology and consulting solutions. Founded in 1950, Volt services industries worldwide including aerospace, automotive, banking & finance, consumer electronics, information technology, insurance, life sciences, manufacturing, media & entertainment, pharmaceutical, software, telecommunications, transportation and utilities. Volt operates a network of locations throughout North and South America, Europe and Asia.

In the following excerpt from CareerBuilder’s recent interview with Jeff Akers, Chief Executive Officer of Critigen,  he discusses the experience of being a “new” brand and the  power of humility, integrity and vision.

WHAT IS YOUR PHILOSOPHY AS IT RELATES TO PEOPLE AND THEIR IMPACT ON YOUR DAILY BUSINESS? At Critigen, we have created a vision, mission and values for our business that enables us to set a stage for the behavior we have with customers and with each other every day. Our worth at Critigen is housed within the intellectual property of our people, and it is invaluable. Our core values are Teamwork, Respect, Accountability, Integrity and Innovation and we know each of our associates have these and we foster an environment where these grow every day.

HOW DO YOU ENGAGE WITH AND RELATE TO YOUR EMPLOYEES? First off, we call everyone that works at Critigen ‘associates’ because we believe that term brings about the realization of equal value and teamwork on behalf of our clients. I actively reach out to our  associates every day. Connecting with our talent – whether a geospatial consultant, GIS developer, software architect or help desk administrator – is an important element of creating a culture of openness. I want honest dialog and feedback on how to make our company better. I also conduct regular town hall meetings and webinars to try my best to establish cross-departmental knowledge share and establish a clear understanding of our metrics of success.

WHAT ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT LEADERSHIP LESSONS YOU’VE LEARNED? Humility, Integrity and Vision. I have been very lucky in my life to have worked with many impressive CEOs that have taught me through experience these leadership lessons. I have also learned from those around me about human behavior and how to motivate people to lead. I believe these values are intrinsic to the leadership and consultants at Critigen which has already allowed us to begin to lead in many verticals in our industry.

HOW DO YOUR ASSOCIATES AFFECT YOUR BUSINESS, PARTICULARLY AS IT IS RELATED TO CLIENT SERVICE? Our business is the people at Critigen. Even though we have an exceptional cloud-enabled managed services business, client services management and metrics is what drives our business everyday. In our consulting businesses, we have deep relationships with clients as we are serving their most important needs. We are helping them gain more insight out of their data through spatial enablement as well as find better ways to manage their business. All delivered with our most important asset – our people.

HOW DO YOU DEFINE CRITIGEN’S CULTURE? AS A LEADER, WHAT ROLE DO YOU PLAY, AND WHAT IS YOUR IMPACT ON THE CULTURE? I define Critigen’s culture as who we are at our core: an extremely relevant technology consulting and cloud-enabled/IT outsourcing company that leverages spatial intelligence, business solutions and award-winning managed services to drive positive financial and actionable results for every one of our clients. We are also in our youth as an independent company with our spin off only a year ago. This allows us to set a course and define who we are for our industry as well as our clients. Our culture will continue to evolve rapidly towards our vision of who we are today and who we want to be- and I help define and live this every day.

SOME PEOPLE BELIEVE HR TO BE THE ONLY DEPARTMENT WITH A RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ORGANIZATION’S PEOPLE. HOW DO YOU MAKE YOUR OVERALL TALENT STRATEGY A PRIORITY, AND WHAT ROLE DO YOU PLAY IN DRIVING IT? I have seen it in the past and know we are on the precipice of what is a rapidly changing landscape as it relates to talent. Being a “new” brand makes it more difficult for us than others that have been in a known business, but we have the best talent in our areas of expertise, and continually are looking for new and innovative talent to keep our engine running hot. Based on our growth projections, we expect to have to increase our staff by 15-20% in 2011. We want the best and brightest to come to Critigen and the associates at Critigen are engaged to make that scenario a reality.

WHAT DO YOU DO TO RALLY THE TEAM AND REINFORCE YOUR EMPLOYMENT BRAND? Our employment brand is one we are needing to grow in the market and we are looking at  CareerBuilder and our leaders of the business to help us do that. We know our employment brand is very important with the talent needs we will have in the near future to help us deliver the quality of work we expect. We will continue to work on this in 2011, with the great news being we get to define ours now that we are an independent company, so we are starting from a clean slate.

CAN YOU GIVE ME ONE OR TWO EXAMPLES OF HOW ONE PERSON HAD A MAJOR IMPACT AT CRITIGEN? The examples I can give you are about people that have such wonderful talent and relationships with clients that they have created the success that Critigen now enjoys. These people have had the insight and understanding to realize that what we do changes the world when it comes to operating, creating and managing real information. Our daily goal is to help create real, insightful information out of data that enables actionable business decisions. That is what we do and it is all because of our wonderful people.

WHAT OTHER ADVICE WOULD YOU SHARE WITH YOUR EXECUTIVE PEERS THOUGH THIS PIECE? The amount of data and information that we have to run our businesses is becoming so overwhelming that finding a way to create true business insight out of data is an inevitable necessity. We believe we are at the beginning of a tremendous inflection point in all industries where visualization and insight come together in managed frameworks to help leaders understand their business better every day.

ABOUT JEFF AKERS: With more than 25 years of experience in all aspects of telecommunications, inter-networking and professional services, Jeff Akers is an industry insider. His career began in forecasting and regulatory affairs for Southwestern Bell. After 16 years at AT&T, he went to Lucent Technologies, where he rose from product manager to president of Lucent’s NetCare Professional Services business. Prior to its emergence from CH2M HILL, Mr. Akers designed and implemented the re-profiling of Enterprise Management Solutions (EMS), CH2M HILL’s information technology division. Now, as CEO of Critigen, Mr. Akers continues to lead the information technology industry through design and implementation of cloud-enabled IT solutions. His mission is to help every Critigen client create insightful information out of their data.

ABOUT CRITIGEN: Critigen is a global leader in information technology consulting and IT outsourcing. We leverage spatial intelligence, business analyses, and award-winning managed services to drive positive financial results and enterprise collaboration for public and private clients. For nearly 20 years, Critigen has helped clients harness the power of information to improve their business results and solve business challenges. We do this by delivering award-winning services and solutions through our three lines of business: Spatial Information Management, Enterprise Business Solutions and Managed Services.

In the following excerpt from CareerBuilder’s recent interview with Joseph Phelan, chief executive officer of Sunbelt Rentals, Inc., he discusses the importance of empowering employees and turning every manager into a talent manager.

What is your philosophy as it relates to people and their impact on your daily business?

Our people at Sunbelt Rentals are core to our business.  The more than 2,200 different types of construction, industrial and do it yourself equipment along with 350 locations across the country by themselves will not make us unique.  Our customers are looking for not just a national network with a wide breadth of equipment; they need these products to be supported by helpful, caring and knowledgeable employees who are motivated to provide good service with each and every transaction.  The hardest thing to duplicate in this equation is having talented people who really care about our customers and are trained sufficiently to provide the best service in the industry – this is the real differentiator for us at Sunbelt Rentals.

How do you engage with and relate to your employees?
As a management team we engage with our employees by ensuring we create lots of opportunities for open and honest communications.  Our people strategy is centered around hiring highly motivated/energetic people, providing the training needed to excel, setting performance expectations, measuring performance and providing ongoing performance feedback and recognition.  With more than 350 stores across the U.S. it is critical that we rely on multiple channels for communication.  To do this our employees are measured at the store level, provided monthly performance/dashboard information.  We start each day talking about safety by engaging in flex and stretch with our field employees.  This sends an important message to them about how we feel and how important it is to us that they return home in the same good condition them came to us in.  In addition to the daily flex and stretch, we hold monthly performance meetings at each store, quarterly town hall meetings, and bi-annual senior leadership meetings.  Our senior team spends the majority of their time in the field with customers and employees – this is the best way for us to stay close to our business and to quickly react to the needs of our customers.

How do you define Sunbelt Rental’s culture? As a leader what role do you play and what is your impact on the culture?
Our culture is entrepreneurial and our employees are empowered to do what makes the most sense for our customers and the business.  It is my belief that if provided good communications regarding our vision and strategy and we provide the necessary tools and support, our employees will make the right decisions.  We are very agile for a large company and make it easy for our employees to access management at every level.

Some people believe HR to be the only department with a responsibility for the organization’s people. Can you tell me how you make your overall talent strategy a priority and the role you play in driving it?
Let’s start with driving talent strategy.  At Sunbelt Rentals, we believe that every manager should be a talent manager.  We are constantly working to make this belief a reality by building programs that focus on the right metrics across all levels of the organization.  We also hold our managers accountable through regular performance evaluations and dashboards that update key performance indicators every month.  Using the right metrics to put our customer’s front and center provides a consistent rallying cry throughout the organization.  It is hard to argue with doing the right thing – we call it “making it happen for our customers”.

How have you leveraged your brand to grow your business?
Our employment brand and our “brand” are one and the same.  We are focused on making it happen for our customers. What is critical for us is to make sure we continue to hire professionals with the right attitude, drive and enthusiasm.  Then we must educate them on our culture, mission, vision, values and brand.  These steps followed by setting expectations, providing regular performance feedback and rewarding employees for good performance have helped us rally our employees.  Most or our employees are interested in growth and you can hear of many success stories throughout the organization of employees rising up in the organization to new challenges and opportunities.  If these steps are followed, we’ll continue to have dedicated employees.

Can you give me one or two examples of how one person had a major impact at Sunbelt Rentals?
One of the great things about Sunbelt Rentals is that our employees truly work together to make it happen for our customers.  This collaborative effort is what sets us apart from our competitors and creates the team atmosphere needed to deliver the high service levels we set.  Every day we have examples of employees in a host of positions who go above and beyond the call of duty.  This includes mechanics, counter personnel, branch managers, Vice Presidents and support office employees.  Every level of the Company is represented.  To give you examples of how our team members pull together, we have had people working around the clock to help our customers and the communities in which they live in times of natural disasters.  The floods in Nashville and St. Louis represent perfect examples.  During Hurricane Katrina, our branch manager made sure the location was open in order to serve those in need.  We had teams of volunteers who traveled to New Orleans from our support office and other branch locations to make sure we could provide as much support as possible.  But, we also have employees who will gladly run out to a customer’s home to fix a down piece of equipment or provide needed advice on a Saturday afternoon.

Some people believe HR to be the only department with a responsibility for the organization’s people. Can you tell me how you make your overall talent strategy a priority and the role you play in driving it?
To be a good leader you also have to know when to get out of the way and follow.  One person can’t take the headwind constantly and providing opportunities for others to demonstrate leadership skills is not only a learning experience for them but will be for you as well.  Leaders must also be good communicators and listening is one of the most important attributes of communication.  Listening skills start with creating the opportunities to receive input from customers and employees.  Creating these opportunities will strengthen an organization as well as allow it to run faster than you could ever imagine.

ABOUT JOSEPH PHELAN: Joe Phelan brings more than 25 years of experience, visionary style and inspired leadership to Sunbelt Rentals. With a solid understanding of the industry and an impressive management background, he was named to this position in April 2009. Mr. Phelan joined Ashtead from Deutsche Post DHL, where he served as Chief Executive Officer of DHL Global Mail based in Weston, Florida. Before joining DHL in 2004, he held a number of senior executive positions with American Airlines. He has been an Executive Director of Ashtead Group plc since April 23, 2009. Joe is a native of southern California. He holds an MBA from the University of Dallas, and a BA, Business Administration from California State University.

ABOUT SUNBEST RENTALS, INC.: Sunbelt Rentals prides themselves on their people. They realize that their national network of construction and industrial equipment rental stores, with more than $2B in equipment and small tools for do it yourselfers to large national contractors, can be duplicated by others.  What is most difficult to duplicate is the talent of the 5,000 employees pulling together to make it happen for their customers. Their employment brand and the external brand they go to market with is built on dedicated and committed employees who feel empowered to do what makes the most sense for our customers.  By creating the environment for their employees to excel with this vision, they create opportunities for career growth, successes for our customers and growth for our shareholders.

Over the years, CareerBuilder has spoken with some of the industry’s most successful and influential leaders as part of our CareerBuilder Leadership Series to discuss the importance of attracting the right talent in order to maintain success. Time and again, these discussions reiterate the important role people play on every aspect of the business – from shaping the way these leaders lead to driving organizational growth, to increasing the bottom line.

We recently incorporated highlights from these conversations into CareerBuilder’s Mid-Year Hiring Forecast, but you can see them here, below:

• “A company is its people. The other resources that are available – cash, inventory and fixed assets – aren’t really valuable unless they are properly deployed by people who have the best interests of the enterprise at heart, are motivated to do the right thing – both in terms of being honest and doing business with high integrity – and people who align themselves with the goals and mission of the enterprise. The people in a company are everything.” – Bob Carr, Chairman and CEO of Heartland Payment Systems, on the impact people have on organizational growth.
• “As a company, it’s important to us to be viewed as a thought leader and organization that is both innovative as well as active in certain public policy debates.   I think people want to join organizations that they think are leaders, that have good values, and that value diversity. I think one of the things that we do well as an organization is value diversity, both in the traditional senses of gender, ethnicity, religion, sexual preference, disability, et cetera, as well as diversity of ideas and approaches to solving problems. That makes us an attractive destination for talent.”  – Ronald A. William, Chairman and CEO of Aetna, on the importance of employment branding to set yourself apart
• “We made an acquisition in 2007, and the company that we acquired had a brand line: “Never settle for less.” We decided to adopt that brand line across the enterprise because, ultimately…that’s what the culture is – that’s what this company is – for people. It kind of plays like going to work anywhere else should be thought of as settling for less….The reality is that we’re in the people business.  People are the core of what we do: They are the face to our customer, they are our brand, and in many cases, they are the extension of our customers’ brands. We have to care about them – we don’t have a choice.  It’s that big of a deal.” – Tom Nightingale, Vice President, Communications and Chief Marketing Officer, Con-way, Inc., on the importance of fostering corporate culture.
• “At the center of every leader comes a passion for people, because leaders never get to where they are by themselves. They always get there because they have people around them who can be inspired, who believe in the journey ahead and get the work done as you go forward. You have to have the ability to rally people and inspire people to believe. That’s part of it. The other part is you have to give people respect, have to give people their dignity and you have to be a good listener. You can’t ever demand respect along the way, and if you don’t give people their dignity, you’ll never get people to believe.”  – Jon Luther, Executive Chairman of the Board, Dunkin’ Brands on how people influence his leadership philosophy
• “People truly are the cornerstone of our ability to serve our clients – without them, our business would not exist.  Every client relationship is formed from the talented individuals we place front and center to act as an extension of their business.  Our employees are our greatest advantage, and the service we provide places our company’s integrity and reputation in the hands of our employees every day.  We place a great deal of trust in them and believe they will deliver on Kelly’s promises to provide the highest quality service and solutions to our customers, employees, shareholders and communities.” – Carl Camden, CEO, President and Director of Kelly Services, on the role people play on day-to-day business
• “It’s important to understand each of your employees’ gifts, goals and passions – both in- and outside of work – as those passions can be leveraged and further drive performance at work. We all work to live, and it’s important to understand the ‘live’ part and to tie people’s goals to that life or focus. It creates that leverage in performance….Our people are our most valuable asset. It’s important to give them the freedom and responsibility that will maximize their potential, and thus their impact on your company.” – Mary Delaney, President of Personified, a CareerBuilder company, on the importance of engaging your people.
• “I don’t believe that [micro management] fosters creativity and excitement in the workplace. My personal philosophy is to hire the right people, give them their job description and what their key result areas are, and then let them go ahead and figure out how they are going to achieve those results…We believe that nobody’s perfect, and you’re going to make mistakes, and your mistake is like an education. We are here to guide you, but you’ve got some freedoms and some flexibility to make your own decisions on how you’re going to run your business.” – Martha O’Gorman, Chief Marketing Officer at Liberty Tax Service, on the importance of giving employees freedom to do their jobs
• “Ensuring you have the highest quality of talent in place makes your job as a leader that much easier. When you have people in place who you can rely on and have confidence in, you don’t have to be concerned that the day-to-day basics won’t get done. Especially today, if you have people who are underperforming or fall short of expectations when you’re already tight on headcount…it really hurts your ability to move your business forward.” – Richard Castellini, Chief Marketing Officer of CareerBuilder, LLC, on the importance of having the right talent in today’s economy.

What is your leadership philosophy? Please share your own thoughts and insight in the comments section below…

Liberty Tax Service has been the recipient of several awards in the past couple years – which of these are you most proud of and why?

We’re proud of all of them, but I think the one that we’re most proud of is one that we just received locally from Inside Business magazine, calling Liberty Tax Service “one of the best places to work in Hampton Roads” (which is the Tidewater Region of Virginia). To be named the best place to work in an entire metropolitan region was really special to us because we really embrace our culture, and we are proud to be recognized as a great place to work. Our rankings in Entrepreneur Magazine also stand out because that’s an industry-wide franchise publication that many people refer to when they’re looking to purchase a franchise opportunity. To be recognized by them as one of the fastest growing franchise opportunities – and one of the best out of 500 opportunities – is good for the franchise system in general.

The Liberty Tax Service franchise opportunity is #9 on the fastest growing franchises list of the 2010 Entrepreneur “Franchise 500.” To what do you attribute your growth?

I think the number one thing is the experience of the management team. Our CEO, John Hewitt, founded Jackson Hewitt Tax Service in 1982 and grew that to a very large franchise system, a system that today still bears his name. I, myself, am one of the founders of Liberty Tax Service, and I have over 20 years of experience in the income tax industry. When we decided to start another income tax company, we made a bunch of rules: to learn by our mistakes, to help foster the culture, and to promote people to jobs that they were good at. I think that the reason that we’ve been so successful is because we have been able to hire the right people, make them happy and then bring on great franchisees.

How would you describe your philosophy as it relates to people and their impact on your daily business?

I believe that people should be left to do their jobs. I don’t believe that [micro management] fosters creativity and excitement in the workplace. My personal philosophy is to hire the right people, give them their job description and what their key result areas are, and then let them go ahead and figure out how they are going to achieve those results. One of the principles of our company is, “Mistakes are a wise person’s education.” We believe that nobody’s perfect, and you’re going to make mistakes, and your mistake is like an education. We [as managers] are here to guide you, but you’ve got some freedoms and some flexibility to make your own decisions on how you’re going to run your business.

How do you engage and relate to your people? What experiences or lessons influence your leadership style?

Many folks who work with me have been with me for a long time, from the beginning of starting Liberty Tax Service. We are, as a group and as a department, very tight. There’s a lot of laughing that goes on, but when the work needs to get done, we push to be the best and to really get results because everybody is proud to be a part of the marketing department. If I attribute anything to my management style, it’s the fact that I let people do their jobs. I truly believe that you can have fun every single minute you’re at work if you enjoy what you’re doing.

How do people affect your business, particularly as it relates to your revenue stream?

We manage our employees though the position-results description method: Our employees set a goal for what their job is, and then there are key result areas that they agree with their manager are “the things that I am going to achieve this year.” We make sure that each key result area is measurable, but we also make sure that they are attainable. We work together throughout the year to make sure that everybody is on track. It’s a really good way to kind of put your goals down on paper and then track if you are achieving them.

Some people believe HR to be the only department with a responsibility for the organization’s people, yet you’ve made your overall talent strategy a priority in your role. Tell me about that.

I think our company operates quite a bit differently from some other large companies to attract good people. We have a referral program that motivates our employees and our franchisees to seek out good people. Our HR department is not a traditional HR department. They help us with issues, but when it comes to the actual hiring process, it is really left up to the managers to find and interview those people and make the hiring decision. We look for the right people, we bring them on, we test them in different positions, and we find the right job for them. It really boils down to this: you’ve got to hire for attitude and then train for skill. If somebody doesn’t have the right attitude, it doesn’t matter what job you put them in, they are not going to perform. We like to hire people who are happy, positive, and willing to stretch and to learn.

I understand that Liberty Tax Service doesn’t advertise nationally, and you’ve relied heavily on guerilla marketing with wavers and franchisees generating most of the buzz about your brand in the market. How have you used social media to extend your non-traditional marketing to reach a wider audience, centralize marketing efforts, and preserve your brand?

We’re new to social media. We knew that we needed to be involved in that, but we weren’t really sure how to do it. The first thing we did was hire an online brand manager who has experience in that environment. We’ve relied pretty heavily on the folks at CareerBuilder to help guide us through that and give us ideas on how we can better position ourselves on the web with social media.

We don’t believe in traditional national advertising. Television has lost a lot of its effectiveness. We continue have a very high percentage increase in business every year, and I attribute it to the fact that we’re doing non-traditional things, whereas our competitors are still acting very traditionally when it comes to media and to advertising.

We’ve developed a persona: We’ve developed a Facebook page that is dedicated to “Libby” and her adventures going across the United States and what she is going to encounter during tax season. We also have a traditional Facebook page where people can ask questions and we can post tax tips. Building the friend base has been very easy. People are interested, especially during tax time. Everybody has to file taxes, so you have a ready-made base of people who are seeking information, and we’ve found a fun way to do it through the interaction on the social media sites. And it has been very successful for us so far.

Tax preparation is a very personal service, and communicating on a one-on-one basis is far more meaningful to our customers than mass media advertising.

What lessons have you learning along the way in regards to social media?

One lesson we’ve learned is that you need to have a solid background in what your strategy is and how you’re going to implement it. I think you can hurt yourself very easily by going out onto Facebook or Twitter and not understanding what the rules of engagement are. You can kill your image as quickly as you can build your image if you don’t respect those parameters.

When we started, we were dabbling in it and didn’t really have a firm grasp of what we should be doing. I think we made some wise decisions by getting help from people who understood the space and could make some recommendations on how we should move forward. I feel really comfortable with where we are now with our social media presence, because we are moving through the environment in a way that is not only proper, but also fun and inviting for the people who are participating on our sites.

How have you leveraged your employment brand to grow your business? Why is this important to you?

It may sound cliché, but we have a group of advocates out in the marketplace, in virtually every DMA in the country who really love Liberty Tax Service, and who love working for Liberty Tax Service. So we’ve got this band of advocates who are out there singing our praises. Just last weekend I was at an office and there was a waver out on the street, and we had three separate people walk in and say, “How do I get that cool job? I’d like to have that job.” It’s rewarding and gratifying, but it also lets you know that people are noticing us and they understand what it means to be part of Liberty Tax Service. We’re just doing an outstanding job of recruiting the right people, showing them the right way to do business, and they in turn tell everybody they know.

I would have to start with our CEO, John Hewitt. John is the consummate workaholic. He is constantly striving for betterment: both betterment of the company and giving the people who work within the company the opportunity to continue to grow and to achieve. His leadership, wisdom and vision are paramount to the success of our company. We like to call him the granddaddy of the industry. His wealth of experience and knowledge is unsurpassed in the income tax industry and in business circles in general.

Then I would have to use the franchisees, collectively, as our second group of people who propelled Liberty Tax Service to where we are today. We’ve got, I think, an unusual group of franchisees. Our franchisees are very entrepreneurial and are constantly bringing us all kinds of great ideas. And they bring them to the table with passion and understanding of what it’s like to be out in the field and on the front lines with the customers. They’re all just very, very motivated and really love what they are doing: They’re the kind of people that you want to hang out with.

What other advice would you share through this piece?

My advice to anyone who is looking to start a business or to re-engineer their business is to look outside of what you know. Just because this is the way that we’ve always done it doesn’t mean that’s the way that it always needs to be done. And that applies to virtually any business – whether it’s manufacturing, retail, science, or anything – because if you don’t look for a different way of doing things, you’re going to get the same results you’ve always gotten.

John likes to say, “If you do what you always did, then you’re going to get what you always got.” Another one of our principles is to break boundaries. You have to take those risks. You have to be able to steel yourself and say, “Okay, I’ve never done this before, but now I’m going to figure out how to do it and here’s the goal that we’re going after.”

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About Liberty Tax Service

Liberty Tax Service is the fastest growing retail tax preparation company in the industry’s history. Founded in 1997 by CEO John T. Hewitt, Liberty Tax Service has prepared over 7,000,000 individual income tax returns. Liberty Tax Service provides computerized income tax preparation, electronic filing and online filing through eSmart Tax. Each office offers customers audit assistance, a money back guarantee and free tax return checking. The Liberty Tax Service franchise opportunity is #9 on the fastest growing franchises list of the 2010 Entrepreneur “Franchise 500.” For more information on Liberty Tax visit www.libertytax.com

In the following excerpt from CareerBuilder’s recent interview with Jim Greenwood,  chief executive officer of Concentra, Greenwood discusses the importance of giving colleagues an opt out, getting the right people “on the bus,” and what it means to be “chief encouragement officer.”

How do your people affect your business, particularly as it relates to patient care?
To [our] patients, the Concentra brand is defined by the warmth and respect they experience from our people. In some of our worksite settings, where we have taken health care to the workplace, there may be only one or two Concentra colleagues who represent our brand on a daily basis. Each and every one of these colleagues has an opportunity to deliver a positive, memorable customer service experience.

What is your philosophy as it relates to people and their impact on your daily business?

We believe that a patient’s healing process begins when they enter one of our medical centers, and therefore we strive to create an environment that is warm and welcoming. This philosophy, coupled with skillful care that is delivered in a respectful manner, forms the foundation for our organization.

How do you engage with and relate to your employees?

I consider myself the “chief encouragement officer” of the company. Outstanding service begins with me, and as leaders, our senior team members view themselves as servants – our leaders realize that they are here to equip the colleagues we serve and to lead by example.  I personally write dozens of notes to outstanding colleagues each month (or sometimes to their spouse and family members). These notes go to the homes of colleagues who have impressed a patient or a co-worker in a remarkable manner, who are celebrating an anniversary, or who have been noticed for sacrificing in other ways. I started asking our leaders to send in examples of such colleagues a couple of years ago, and now there is a consistent flow of great care stories from internal support organizations and client facing colleagues. Many of our senior leaders are now doing the same thing.

How do you define Concentra’s culture? As a leader, what role do you play and what is your impact on the culture?

Our core values drive our culture. They are: Healing Focus, Selfless Heart and Tireless Resolve. As leaders, it is imperative that we make decisions in concert with these core values; including hiring decisions, promotions and unfortunately, in some cases, terminations. The leaders set the tone for our culture, and if we have someone in a position of authority who does not share these values, they are not going to model positive game changing behaviors or serve their people well.

What are the most important leadership lessons you’ve learned?

Our duty is to serve our 6,000 colleagues, who in turn will serve our patients. Happy, fulfilled colleagues are much more likely to deliver a positive customer service experience to our patients. As a leader, it is important to focus on the people who actually want to improve, learn, and maximize their potential. My time as CEO will be a mere chapter in the Concentra story; I hope to make the company better each and every day, for as long as I am in this role.

I understand that in the past 5-6 years Concentra has centralized many of the corporate recruiting functions. How has this been received by the organization and how has it improved your efficiencies?

We aligned regional field recruiters with each of the five zones to better serve the hiring managers. This regional alignment has been well received and has allowed the regional recruiters to assume most of the interviewing administration, management and tasks. This model has allowed our regional recruiters to develop a partnership with the hiring managers in the field, to develop a clear understanding of the local cultures, and thereby to source candidates who best fit the profile for success.

What other advice would you share with your executive peers though this piece?

As leaders, we work diligently to establish cultures, get the right people on the bus, train those people, [and] coach and equip them to reach their potential. I am encouraged by the fact that more and more CEOs are gaining an appreciation for the importance of creating a culture of health within their workplace. My message to these peers is that YOU can make a difference. You can improve the health of your people and, in doing so, enhance their productivity, their customer service levels, and their loyalty to your organization!

Any closing remarks?

In my opinion, America is facing a health crisis, not a healthcare crisis. As leaders, we need to change this culture in order for our nation to compete in a global economy. If we don’t act, the threat of additional job migration to other parts of the world will become a reality. More importantly, for the first time in the history of our country, the life expectancy of our children is likely to be less than ours.

About Concentra
Concentra is a leading national health care company focused on improving America’s health, one patient at a time.  Through its affiliated clinicians, the company provides occupational medicine, urgent care, wellness and preventive services, physical therapy, physical examinations, travel medicine and drug testing from 300 medical centers located in 40 states, with over 100,000 employer clients.