You must create a winning culture when growing your small business. On this week’s Small Business Radio Show, Jeff Hayzlett joins us. Jeff serves as a prime time television host and former Fortune 100. He says it’s all about creating a “hero factor.” Jeff’s book “The Hero Factor: How Great Leaders Transform Organizations and Create Winning Cultures” talks about why the word hero is perfect. It applies to every CEO building a company.
Jeff believes that business heroes stand by their values and always “pick a side”. In a climate of political division, many companies have a hard time doing this. But Jeff believes that it is critical if the business is going to find its loyal customers. Companies like Chick- Fil-A, Patagonia and Nike have picked sides in cultural issues. And each have been able to boost the loyalty of their customers.
It keeps getting easier now to display a company’s values. Because social media allows all customers to look directly inside a business. So they see if that brand is really delivering on its stated values. Jeff believes it is even more important to pick a side because many employees don’t know what the company stands for. This hurts the business when they are trying to achieve their goal.
Jeff says that the benefit of hero culture companies is that they create loyal customers, happy employees, willing vendors and more profits.
Nurturing a Hero Culture
In order to boost the hero factor inside your company, Jeff suggest the following:
- State your values clearly and repeatedly.
- Get others to buy into the vision.
- Meet with your team and customers to determine if the company lives these values.
- Get rid of the employees that don’t contribute to the shared common values of the company.
Jeff points to the best hero cultures are the companies in the local communities that support organizations like the Chambers of Commerce and the Little League. These are the businesses that are famous in their own community (and it’s a good marketing strategy to attract customers too!)
Listen to the entire interview here with Jeff Hayzlett.
The interesting thing about values is that they are not always obvious. Most companies don’t wear their values on the their sleeves. But if something goes wrong, the company’s values – or lack thereof – are thrown under the microscope. And with social media, that microscope can be big and tough. It pays to define your values and to make sure that you are consistent. Else, a crisis will define your values for you. Ouch!
Aira Bongco
It is about giving people a chance to become heroes as well as ensure that everyone adheres to your values.