We recently held our annual Virginia Air Distributors Professional Contractor meeting in Richmond, VA at the historic Main Street Train Station. Thanks to all the customers who attended from far and wide, it was an excellent meeting and we greatly appreciate your time and participation. Most notable was our keynote speaker Jason Jennings. Jason is a world renowned business speaker and best-selling author who has worked with business leaders like Warren Buffet and Bill Gates. Even though this event was limited to our Virginia Air subsidiary customers only but I did want to share the main takeaways and lessons of this very impactful speech with our entire customer base.
Prior to speaking Jason spoke with a number of our contractor customers and heard the same consistent messages, they told him:
- Want help finding, engaging and keeping the RIGHT people
- Want to grow the business
- Need to be more open to change
- People are my fulltime job, help me be better at it
- How do I get my people committed and wanting to go to the next level
- Need help building the right culture
- Help me be a better Chief Assistant to everyone who works here
Based on this feedback Jason shared his 4 secrets for building an innovative culture of growth that attracts and keeps the right people.
Secret #1
– Every company must have a
PURPOSE
, not what you do but WHY you do it, the non-financial reason for existence, something that gives meaning to people’s lives. This is not a vision or mission statement and is especially important to the millennial generation. Eventually this purpose becomes the culture of the company.
Secret #2
– Every company must have innovative cultures of
GROWTH
. The old saying “If you’re not growing your dying” is true. Growth helps you attract and retain the right people and offer them the opportunity winners desire. Growth also forces you to think differently and challenge the status quo.
Secret #3
– Successful companies know when to
LET GO
. Embracing change and a form of continuous improvement is a must to be successful in today’s world. No more “well that’s the way we’ve always done it!”
Secret #4
– Successful company leaders are
GOOD STEWARDS
to their families, communities, organizations, and customers. They put others before themselves and constantly work to make everyone and everything around them better. Good stewards are also fearless about growth and have a fierce sense of urgency.
A copy of Jason’s presentation is available at the link below:
