The Advisor’s Corner

A Great Place to Work “For All”

May 8, 2023/in Nuggets and Encouragement Regarding Strategy and Focus/by Tom Doescher

Tom Doescher

Last year I had the good fortune of connecting with Michael Bush, CEO of Great Place to Work. His company is the consulting firm that conducts the Fortune 100 Best Places to Work confidential surveys. Most of my readers know that my former firm, Plante Moran, has been on that list for 25 years (yes, I’m bragging). Recently I read Bush’s 2018 book, “A Great Place to Work for All,” which I would highly recommend.

“A Great Place to Work for All” could hardly be more timely. When I ask clients and other business owners what their most significant business problem is today, nine times out of 10, their response is that it’s getting qualified people to join their company. After two decades of managing the Fortune List, Bush and his team at Great Place decided to dig deeper into their findings to determine whether there was any disparity in the answers in four employee categories: Job Level (executives vs. line workers); Generational (baby boomers vs. millennials); Gender; and Racial/Ethnic Groups. It may be surprising, but it turns out that even the greatest companies have employees who rate their experiences differently. For example, executives rate the company higher than line workers.

One of the reasons I like Great Place is that they correlate all their findings to financial results — stock value is analyzed for public companies, and revenue growth is considered for all companies. They take into account the size of the gap between executives’ and line workers’ job satisfaction, and look at whether the companies with the smallest gap outperform those with larger gaps financially. (Yes, they do.)

As I read Bush’s book, I had flashbacks to Frank Moran speaking to the entire firm at our annual conference and praising Arne, a second-career office assistant/Jack of all trades, and Joanne, the switchboard operator. He talked about how Arne had done something to serve the rest of our team, and made the connection between that and how Frank thought we should take care of our clients. When it came to Joanne, he told us that she was often the first Plante Moran team member with whom clients, prospective clients, and referral sources would interact. Then he reminded us that you only get one chance to make a good first impression. How do you think the rest of the administrative/support staff felt when Frank told these stories? He was doing what Bush recommends in his book.

An example of executives being out of touch occurred years ago when I learned that senior executives at Detroit-based auto companies parked their vehicles in a separate parking structure from the rest of the employees. During the day, auto mechanics would routinely check out the execs’ vehicles and fix any problems. At the end of the day, the executives would return to their vehicles and drive them home. Surprisingly (yeah, right), their vehicles never had any problems.

How aware are you of the daily struggles of your line workers? Do you interact with the team members on the lower rungs of the ladder, or do you have a system to get reliable feedback from them? I could say more, but I think you get the point.

One last story, and then I’ll stop preaching. I was with my millennial-aged son the other day; he’s an extremely successful, hard-working business owner who serves his clients like Frank Moran would. I can’t remember exactly what we were talking about, but he blurted out, “Dad, I’m not like you. I have a lot of other interests besides my business that I want to pursue.” It got me thinking. My own son, of whom I’m very proud, may not rate my business experience as highly as I would.

Hopefully, these last few stories have whet your appetite to read “A Great Place to Work for All” by Michael Bush. I truly believe that he and his team have unearthed some valuable nuggets, and by adopting their recommendations you just may be able to find and retain the employees you desperately need to serve your customers.

Small Giants: Companies That Choose to be Great Instead of Big

April 17, 2023/in Nuggets and Encouragement Regarding Strategy and Focus/by Tom Doescher

Tom Doescher

A client recommended that I read this book, written by Bo Burlingham. I found it to be a refreshing contrarian point of view, and it hit a hot button for me. I have a number of professional service firm clients who are amazing Hunters. They’re like a magnet to prospective clients. All three of them are good leaders, but none of them are interested in managing or supervising people. My suggestion to all three clients has been to create an alliance with a competitor that isn’t nearly as good at developing new business, and split the fees accordingly.

Burlingham comes at the subject from a different point of view than me, but it still applies to my clients. Although his book isn’t based on extensive, empirical research like the work of Jim Collins and his Stanford MBA students, he provides some interesting thoughts. For almost two decades, he was the editor of Inc. magazine, so obviously he had access to a lot of great companies. From those, he selected 14 for the 2005 first edition of the book. (Sadly, three of them had been sold when he updated the book in 2016.) One of the companies he covers in detail, and had previously written about in an Inc. magazine article, is Zingerman’s Deli in Ann Arbor, Mich., which is about a half-hour drive from my home. It’s not a huge company, but it is a great company. He also talks about Danny Meyer, a restaurateur and CEO of the Union Square Hospitality Group in New York City. I had the privilege of hearing Meyer speak a few years ago about his passion: the intersection of hospitality and humanity.

As I was reading “Small Giants,” I visualized Frank Moran, Sam Walton, Steve Jobs, and J. Willard Marriott — or think about one of your own favorite business legends. Their incredible attention to detail was of great benefit to their clients and customers, and the special treatment and care they gave their teams was unbelievable.

Here’s my thought: If you’re like one of my three clients, I would highly recommend getting the book. Don’t feel guilty about not wanting to build a $100 million business. Don’t let someone else set your goals or agendas, or steal your joy. Bigger isn’t always better, and Burlingham shares some great stories that will be encouraging to you.

Do You Want Well-Rounded Leaders On Your Team? NO!

March 13, 2023/in Sharpening Your Personal Leadership Skills/by Tom Doescher

Tom Doescher

Craig Groeschel, one of my favorite leadership speakers, emphatically made that statement at a recent conference. One of the reasons I like Groeschel is that he’s a contrarian who’s always learning and willing to try something new, or look at a situation in a fresh way. He’s also humble, transparent, and willing to share his failures.

In analyzing his leaders, who were performing similar functions, he discovered that some were hitting it out of the ballpark (these leaders have “it”) while others weren’t. He and his leadership team then came up with eight pairs of leadership traits. His most successful leaders possessed one or more of these traits. And not only did they possess a trait, but they were an extreme. Groeschel’s team defined these as a Leadership Paradox (contradictory leadership qualities that, together, create a synergy of undeniable leadership impact). He went on to say that he doesn’t want well-rounded leaders; he wants leaders who are living in the extremes.

Here are the eight pairs Groeschel identified in his best leaders:

Confident, but Humble — These leaders are confident, but not cocky. They’re a magnet to their followers because of their confidence. I can think of a leader I follow who displayed these traits. When I met him, he was an American missionary based in Quito, Ecuador. At the time, there was much government unrest as well as active volcanoes, to name a couple of issues that interfered with his work. Still, he was confident in his mission to help the poor, many of whom lived in the dumps of Quito. I often thought he was like Daniel Boone or Davy Crockett — fearless. However, occasionally when he would be describing all the needs (food, clothing, housing, transportation, education, etc.) of so many of the people, he would spontaneously start sobbing. He knew that he — and we — couldn’t help everyone. He was confident but humble, too.
Driven, but Healthy — We all know leaders who ignore their health, their team’s health, and, sadly, their family’s health.
Focused, but Flexible — For this one, Groeschel described how his team decides what to focus on, according to four tiers: 1) Absolutely mission critical; 2) Very important and strategic, but not critical; 3) Meaningful, but not essential; 4) Externally initiated and often lower priority. He would say that we’re often spending time with Tier 3 and 4 issues at the expense of Tier 1 and 2.The essence of great leadership is choosing what not to do!
Optimistic, but Realistic — My mentor, Ken Kunkel, is a big dreamer and a can-do kind of guy, but he also has his feet on the ground.
Direct, but Care About People (Kind) — This may describe me. I try to be clear and unambiguous, but to some people I’m too direct. That being said, when I was first assessed by Plante Moran, the psychologist said my profile was that of a social worker.
Empowering, but Controlling — These leaders give their team lots of rope, but once in a while they need to firmly set the direction or goal.
Urgent, but Patient — You know people who get it done now. But great leaders know when to wait.
Frugal, but Abundant — I can relate to this one. When I was in charge of Plante Moran’s Southfield office, I wouldn’t approve new carpeting for the building — but at the same time, I committed the firm to leasing an office and hiring professionals in Shanghai, China, even though I didn’t know for sure what they would do.

Who knows if Groeschel’s list is correct? Whether it is or not, I believe it’s a great checklist for leaders to use to help them determine whether they have a high-level leader(s) who possesses each Leadership Paradox trait. I would encourage you to do a self-assessment of your company.

A Great Place to Work “For All”

Tom Doescher

Small Giants: Companies That Choose to be Great Instead of Big

Tom Doescher

Do You Want Well-Rounded Leaders On Your Team? NO!

Tom Doescher

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