Inside Great Business Minds with Jared Isaacman

Name: Jared Isaacman

Company/Organization: United Bank Card, Inc.

Year company/organization started: 1999

Type of company/organization: corporation; payment processing

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1) Define your leadership philosophy in a headline. Balancing the strategic vision with tactical micromanagement.

There's a very fine, delicate balance between focusing on the vision of the company and micromanaging some - not all - of the little tasks in order to allow me to stay in touch with my sales force and customer base.  I know leaders and business owners who get overwhelmed with the day-to-day minutia and lose track of the big picture.  And I know others who are entirely focused on the strategic direction of the company, but don't have the hands-on ability to make sure it's executed properly.  Achieving the right mix of strategic planning and being hands-on has really been the focus of my leadership.

2) Most people look down on the term "micromanager" but you embrace it.

 I understand the perspective that micromanagement can be frustrating and it's looked at negatively but I disagree.  The details are what get you.  You can have a phenomenal business plan and extraordinary organizational skills, but unless you stay connected to the details your execution will fall behind.  You can't just sit back and draw the blueprints.  As a leader you must to be involved in the trenches.

Micromanagement is really a means to an end.  It's intended to keep me in touch with our business so I can speak to the business in its entirety when out in the marketplace.  I've come across a number of owners who, when asked about the details, can't respond.  And it's those details that create the big picture for clients.  I don't want to be like that, so answering those questions is important to me.

3) Other than micro-managing, what is unusual about how you run your organization?

We never put the drawing board down and we don't get comfortable doing the same thing over and over again.  Historically UBC has always created the trend, not followed.  We don't stop innovating. We've never hit the point where we're coasting or just relaxing.  We're always improving what we've already put out to the market all the while developing our next initiative.  There's always some sort of a new project, something big scale in the works.

4) Did you always see UBC growing to be 250+ employees with as many transactions and clients as you now have? Just like we're constantly innovating and never satisfied, we're constantly pushing for the next level.  I had the intention to be one of the players in the industry, but didn't have aspirations to be this big when we started.  In the beginning we were told that "250 deals/month is a lot."  And then we reached 250/month and they told us "500 deals/month is great."  And then we found it was 1000 deals/month. So we're always pushing to the next level.

5) How do you define success for your organization from a leadership perspective?

Right up there with profitability and growth of our company, success is seeing our visions become a reality.  And the success we have achieved thus far is a direct result of the involvement that the executives and key staff members have had over the years. As technicians who started this company in a basement, we continuously strive to take an idea and see it through to fruition and then to making a difference.  The first time we reached this success was our first technological innovation, which is still in our product line and, as expected, has evolved ten times over. Seeing things through to completion and achieving that burning excitement really shaped us and continues to do so.  In 1999, this was the most instrumental asset we had because there were so few competitors and we were the innovators at the time, changing the industry.  We still are innovators, moving from concept to reality in a short period of time.

6) What has been your most critical leadership challenge? As the world economy fell apart in 2008/2009, we had to let some people go.  From my personality and who I am, I found that to be daunting and incredibly challenging.  I take personal responsibility for my employees.  The organization we built is one where our people are proud to work for UBC and they're happy to be here.  And as such, we really do take care of everyone, from our managers to our team working the graveyard shift.  Our belief is that when you employ someone and give them a job, it really should be theirs to lose.  It's a failure on my part as a leader though there may not have been any other choice.

7) Can you speak to the culture of your organization during your "basement days"? The thing that defines a successful startup is that it's all about sacrifice.  Everybody there was sacrificing their time and their lives for the company, for the work we were doing.  Everything took second place to the company, family, friends, vacations…  We worked on through the weekends, had late night white board meetings, ate Chinese food at 4am while coding.  There was nothing we wouldn't do.  It was much easier then because we were all 16 and 17 and could make the sacrifices.  We didn't have families and hobbies that we couldn't part with.  We just had the company.

8) Describe the transition from startup to small business to medium-sized to where you are now? As we started to grow, I rode the wave and never got behind it.  I was lucky to be able to know when we went from one phase to the next and adapted myself and the company accordingly.  I miss each stage, of course, each was an integral period for the company and I can look back and appreciate that period of time, but it's impossible to go back. The business evolved and so we had to adapt to a different culture.  We moved from the startup/basement culture to small business, then to mid-sized company, and now to a much larger organization.  Early on, whether it was in the basement or it was 25 of us working out of a small office, we could show up in shorts and sandals.  There was a different atmosphere around because everybody knew each other on a very personal level.  Compared to now - our organization of 250 employees - back then it was a much closer and tight knit culture.  We've gotten further away from the friendliness, which isn't a bad thing.  The people who have joined since our founding days did not come to work for a startup and we can't ask them to be part of that culture.

United Bank Card, Inc. 

United Bank Card, Inc. (UBC) is a payment and transaction processor serving businesses nationwide. Ranked by the Nilson Report as one of the largest payment processors in the United States, UBC currently handles the merchant accounts for over 110,000 merchant locations and processes in excess of $9 billion annually, with those numbers constantly increasing.

Consistently recognized as a leader in innovation, United Bank Card is a five-time consecutive Inc. 500/5000 honoree (2005-2009) and was ranked on Deloitte's 2008 "Technology Fast 50" list. UBC has developed several revolutionary programs that have been acknowledged across the industry. 

Vision, Inspiration, Team Management -- IGBM Interview: RAYMOND McCREARY

Name: Raymond McCreary

Currently: Seeking leadership opportunity with startup or turnaround situation.

Previously: CEO/Founder of Paragon Household Products (founded 1995; sold 2010)

Type of Company: Manufacturing and distribution of consumer goods

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1) Define your leadership philosophy in a headline.

It comes down to three concepts: 

• Vision: A leader must have a clear vison of a goal and be able to communicate it effectively to others.
• Inspiration: Getting others to believe in and buy into the vision, own it, embrace it and believe in it as much as you do.
• Team Management: Develop a working atmosphere where members inspire one another - their collective knowledge, skills and achievements surpass rote management direction.

2) How does one person develop that quality to inspire?

I am not sure a person can develop the quality to inspire. It is a combination of one's natural personality and a strong passion or belief. Since personalities are different, inspiration can come in different forms.

3) It sounds as if your three concepts build on each other, needing one to reach the others.

Correct. It starts with the leader and a vision. Then the need to clearly communicate and inspire others to help achieve the vision. Team management is the simple leveraging of the passions of others to achieve the vision/goal.

Each aspect becomes more externalized - vision being most internalized, inspiration involving both internal and external aspects and finally team management which, if handled correctly, is mostly an external element.

4) What was unusual about how you ran your company?

Allowing "the whole to become greater than the sum of the parts". This has to do with leveraging the passions of the team. One of the best things about my company was that I didn't have to make many decisions. Team members could and would identify problems and work with their co-workers to determine alternatives to resolve issues. Before final actualization, they would come to me, state the problem concisely and propose their best collective solution. They always made the best decision. I was constantly blown away by their teamwork and what they would come up with. Seeing my positive reactions to their solutions really reinforced the message of teamwork, further building their confidence. Over the last 10 years I can't think of any time where I was presented with a solution that I thought was a crummy idea.

5) Tell us about how you started your business.

Years prior, I was contracted by a Japanese firm to run a similar manufacturing facility and turn it around. In 6 months I took the company from an annual operating loss to profitability. Within the first year I was able to increase sales by 33%. With the increased growth and turnaround, the owners were able to sell the factory to a competitor located in the Midwest, who then closed our east coast factory within two years.

When the dust settled from the closing and subsequent consolidation, I came back to New Jersey. After being burned by my previous employer and not having a non-compete in place, I did what I knew best: I opened up the exact same type of company. All of the previous infrastructure was also there, we still had relationships with sales reps, vendors, truckers, etc. They were all quite supportive of my efforts beyond simply wanting to keep their accounts.

6) So what was the vision when you first started?

My vision was very specific. Start a small manufacturing company that was self-sustaining and that would provide employment for my former workers. It was very simple and a somewhat small vision. Along the way, the vision grew to encompass my belief in keeping manufacturing in the United States rather than outsourcing.

7) Had you planned on selling the company? How was it in line with your vision?

Everyone is entitled to make one or two mistakes. The major pitfall in my vision and planning was that I never planned an exit strategy (which I now tell people is one of the top ten most important things to account for when starting a business). Reason being; it helps you focus your growth and gets you to be where you want to be faster.

In my case, I had no family to come in as second generation to continue the business. Looking back, I would have grown the company in a more focused way, making it more sellable from the start. I really only began that transition in year 8 or 9. Still it was not a priority because I was having too much fun running the company. It turns out that before it needed to become a prime focus, someone approached me to sell.

8) During your time at Paragon how did you define success for your organization as a leader?

As a leader, I would define success for Paragon as "how we grew" - achieving what we did, because of the individuals involved and how we worked together.

The people, the teamwork, shared passions and a commitment to success, are what really moved the company forward. The people were happy and had secure jobs because of their hard work.

It was rewarding for me to watch as well as to be a part of...it seems like I did not have to do much. They made it work and the company grew as a result. All I did was provide some vision, inspiration and a touch of management.

I never had to pull from the top; they were always pushing from the bottom.

I'd like to say I am the smartest guy in the world and that I made it all happen, but I didn't - and I am smart enough to know that!

***

Raymond McCreary http://www.linkedin.com/in/raymondmccreary

Mr. McCreary's background includes a multi-disciplined education and executive tenure with large multinational companies, both domestic and abroad.  Accumulated experiences allowed for his eventual exploration of an inherited entrepreneurial gene.  In a second career, beginning with a series of personal small turnarounds, acquisitions and divestitures, Ray established his own manufacturing company by 1995.  After its recent sale, he now advises and mentors other businesses and its executives.  Placing a high value on human capital, he offers practical solutions to organizational and operational challenges, integrating strategic insight and tactical application.

Treat People Like People -- IGBM Interview: STEVEN AMENDOLA, RSI Silicon / GST

Name: Steven Amendola
Company/Organization: Reaction Sciences Inc. Silicon Products / Grid Storage Technologies
Year organization started: RSI 2006 / GST 2008
Type of organizations: technology (manufacturing) start-ups
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1.  Define your leadership philosophy in a headline.
     Treat people like people.
     All managers want quality people, and most people can be "quality" if their manager treats them like people: treats them with respect, fosters their curiosity, and builds camaraderie amongst the team.

2.  You're a scientist in a business role.  How does your background influence your performance leading a company?
     In science we're always trying to figure out Why: Why did that happen?  Why do the results indicate this?  And I apply that to my leadership style by making certain to tell my team why we're doing what we're doing.  Employees are people and people have a curios nature.  Not only that, but when you show them the "why" they gain a respect for their job and their role within the big picture; they feel involved in the process allowing them to self-initiate and to walk around with a wider view of the problem.

3.  What is your vision as a serial entrepreneur?  How has it evolved over your career?
     It's easier to define my vision of the future as opposed to my vision when I started out.  I don't think I really saw myself as a serial entrepreneur.  Standing from now though, ideally, I'd like to have a think tank where I can work with a team to think of an idea, get the idea to a point where it's worthy of being spun off, and then pass it off to others to take the idea and run with it without  my day-to-day involvement of creating a company.  So, in essence, I want to be the feeder into the think tank, and have the think tank be the serial entrepreneur, the developer of businesses.
     Creating the ideas is what I'm best at and love most and it's where I want more of my time to be focused on down the line.

4.  How do you define success for your organization from a leadership perspective?
     There are two gauges by which I measure success as a leader, both come from my time founding and leading Millennium Cell.  The first is looking out at the parking lot after 5pm on a regular day and seeing 50% of the cars still there.  While I'm more interested in results than hours worked - by no means do I count hours, I don't have a clock, in fact I hate clocks - but a pretty full parking lot at the end of the day without complaints means that they're putting the extra effort in because they believe in the mission and vision that I set forth.
     The second measure is the vibe when walking through the halls and offices.  I want this to be a comfortable, enjoyable environment.  It's great when people are talking and laughing and having fun.  At Millennium Cell I instituted "Pizza Fridays" - a carryover from my academic years - which was an informal time for everyone to get together and talk about whatever they pleased; they could be talking quarks or the baseball game or just relaxing.  It made the group feel appreciated.  You can't put a dollar amount on that, on the intangible result from treating people like people.

5.  And how do you define success for yourself, as a leader?
     My references.  When someone is looking for a job a lot of emphasis is put on his/her references.  But as a CEO I don't have a boss.  Instead, I value the references from the people who work for me.  And this is most evident when people who worked for me previously want to come back.  It means a lot to me.
     Last year when money was tight we had to let a few really great production guys go.  I didn't want to do it, they were great employees and highly trained, but we were having funding issues.  I called them recently to check in - they all had new jobs in similar lines of work - and all said that when I can provide them the security of a stable job they'd come back.

6.  What is unusual about how you run your organization?
     I am the anti-MBA type, nothing against MBAs, it's just not who I am.  What I mean by this is that I don't like putting people in boxes; we don't have titles here nor do we have an organizational chart.  The roles here aren't rectangles that sit next to each other.  We're more like a jigsaw puzzle where the role is somewhat unique to the person and we're all intertwined with one another.  I hire the person for what they can contribute instead of hiring to the job description.  If I have two great candidates and one can't stand being behind the computer while the other is magnificent at it, I'll make sure that when placing them they balance each other out.

7.  What is your most critical leadership challenge?
     My greatest overall challenge comes from external forces, those outside my control.  But the biggest leadership challenge is "defocus," getting distracted by other ideas.  I'll go online and start some work on patents, looking at the various types of carbon for a project.  As I start reading, ideas start coming into my head.  They're all good, valid ideas.  But these ideas came in while I was supposed to be focused on an active project.  So I print out the info collected, put a note on it, and file it away for more research later.  This helps me to an extent, but I will always have more ideas than I'm able to execute.

8.  Tell me about being a leader.  What do you see as your responsibilities?  What characteristics do you hold that are unique to your leadership?
     It's important for me to be the buffer between the Board and the employees, to absorb the pressure from above and safeguard the employees from the Boards concerns because we're a very entrepreneurial and innovative organization.  Creativity drives us.  It takes time to produce something so I have to constantly remind others that the employees are working even when it doesn't look like they are.  Creativity takes time.
     As to characteristics, I like to macro-manage not micromanage because I hired people to let them do their jobs, so how can I get so involved?  Not to mention I don't enjoy micro-managing.  It's also important for me, as the leader, to be confident, honest, and transparent because not only am I the example that the rest of the organization follows, but everyone takes their cues from the leader's emotional state.  When the leader looks nervous, everyone gets worried.

9.  How has your leadership style evolved over your career?
     My responsibilities went up over the years as I took on more managerial positions and then started my own company.  As a result I became more creative and versatile in my role to get more done and I learned to trust others to a greater degree.
     I became aware that my decisions directly affect whether the company closes or not and thereby I've also become a fundraiser for the company.  If I don't fundraise the lights go off.  Back in November, we were down to the wire with funds running out before the end of the month.  At the time we were in talks with an investor and also a potential strategic partner who agreed to a site visit towards the end of the month.  The investor was moving along quickly, even so we were strapped for time so we made a deal with the landlord for half-a-month's rent and we negotiated with the power company to keep our power on for an extra week in order for us to keep the equipment running for the presentation.  It was close, but luckily we got the money wired to us on November 30, 2pm.
     In essence, my shoulders have broadened to take on more responsibility while, at the same time, I'm delegating more.

10.  How did you lead through the difficult economic climate of 2008 - 2010?
     Transparent communication.  I remained truthful to my team and didn't hide my opinions.  I told the employees where we were, what we had money for, and if I thought we could close with the investor, even if it wasn't looking good.  Everyone knows there is risk working for a company like ours, especially during such a volatile market.
     There are all sorts of gossip that can be destructive, and a lot of that is because management keeps secrets.  When management is open it basically kills the gossip circle.  I give them the bad news, so what's left to gossip about?  And I know that when I give bad news that resumes are going out the door.  I fully understand that.  I even tell my employees not to be afraid of listing me as a reference.  I'm not vindictive.  They're jumping ship not because they don't like it here, but because they need to.  And I get that.

***

RSI (Reaction Sciences Inc.) Silicon Products LLC http://www.rsi-silicon.com/
     RSI will be manufacturing solar grade silicon only.  RSI's technology addresses the high cost of purification in a commercially viable chemical purification process, before silicon is produced.
     Its founders recognized that the processing of solar grade energy was too expensive and dependent on the Siemens Process Methodology.  RSI has rewritten the way to make solar grade silicon using proven processes from other industries.  This new innovative methodology will assist many countries achieve their renewable energy goals by making Solar Energy a viable proposition for energy producers.

Grid Storage Technologies http://www.gridstoragetechnologies.com/
     Grid Storage Technologies has developed a proprietary, fully rechargeable zinc-air battery technology.  GST's focus is on utility scale energy storage, however GST is working with strategic partners to pursue electric vehicle and other energy storage applications.
     GST's battery cost is below a $1.00 per watt.  With 6 hours of storage in our standard module, the cost per watt/hour is approximately 16 cents.  These costs are projected to decline in the coming years.  Our battery technology is scalable, environmentally and operationally safe, has a very long life cycle, and has minimal operating cost.  Our industry-leading cost and performance will enable our clients to generate superior investment returns on their storage assets.

Teams Make It Happen -- IGBM Interview: JAMES WEINBERG & CASSIE SCARANO, Commongood Careers

Name: James Weinberg (Founder and CEO) and Cassie Scarano (President and Co-founder)
Company/Organization: Commongood Careers
Year company/organization started: 2005
Type of company/organization: corporation
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1.    Define your leadership philosophy in a headline.
CS: We each have individual leadership philosophies under the core concept of leading by example.  For me that includes working hard, respecting people around me, having fun, and being supportive.  Plus, I strongly believe in making others better and I actively strive to do so.

JW: Right, CGC fully embodies the leading by example mantra.  Additionally, my personal philosophy is: Teams make it happen.


2.    What was your vision for your organization when you first started the company?  How has it changed over the past 5+ years?
JW: Before we started CGC, Cassie and I were working in fast-moving non-profits that didn't have any internal capacity to support the hiring process.  The existing recruiting firms at that time were mainly working with for-profit companies; when they did work with non-profits, it was far too costly, except when searching for senior level staff.  In all honesty, they just didn't seem to "get" our type of organization.

Cassie and I noticed this.  It was a pervasive problem that everyone seemed to be talking about and we had first-hand experience of how important human capital is to the success and growth of any high powered non-profit.  So our motivation came from experiencing the need within the non-profit sector.  And our founding vision was simple: to help non-profits hire on all levels at a near break-even business model.  We further narrowed the target client to growth oriented, fast moving, entrepreneurial nonprofits.

Five years later that vision has not changed.  In fact, we've made progress towards actualizing it and realizing it.  Now that we've made it to this level, part of our future vision is to bring this resource (CGC) to as many organizations as possible by further increasing our market share domestically and considering international expansion as well.


3.    As the joint leaders, how do you define success for Commongood Careers?
CS: Externally, at the highest level, we want to make sure that we have a powerful impact in the sector by getting the right people in the right roles at the right organizations.  Placing people has a direct influence on the organization, which in turn trickles down through the industry and their respective communities.  Our 450 placements over the last five-and-a-half years are doing amazing work within their organizations and within the sector.  We're proud of the placements we've made.

Our internal measures of success are focused around our team and the sustainability of our organization.  We are constantly asking ourselves (and clients) the following two questions: How can we improve the quality of our service?  How can we continue to adapt to the marketplace to serve the sector as it changes?  We have metrics and goals, but our key measure is the retention of our employees and their satisfaction.

JW: When starting CGC I went around the country and sat with a variety of non-profit CEOs to ask them about human capital: how they managed it and what they thought of the human capital systems within their organizations.  I was surprised by the answers because most CEOs answered similarly: 1. Human capital was one of their top organizational priorities; 2. They had little to no infrastructure dedicated to supporting human capital.

The irony was not lost on them.  Their organizations were clearly people focused (many were service organization) but yet when it came down to it they hardly gave it any investment.  They were organizations comprised of 20+ employees but their HR departments were often just a recent graduate (with no HR training) who was split between HR and some other responsibility.  Staff turnover was 50% per year in some places, which is a huge burden on the organization, not to mention the cost impact.

From that we decided to work to close the gap between the importance of human capital and how much nonprofits actually invest in their people.


4.    What is unusual about how you run your organization?
JW: We have built a company with an inverted organizational chart, where our service managers, who do the primary work in running searches for our clients, are at the top and every other position is there to help them.  From recruiting to sales to marketing, we map each role back to how it supports the service managers.

In doing so, we encourage everyone to be a leader in the organization in one way, shape, or form (which is difficult to orchestrate without falling prey to "too many chefs in the kitchen").  We want leadership to come organically from within the person, so we instituted cross-organizational committees in varying subjects, ranging from improving client services to increasing diversity to bolstering internal culture.  Each staff member chairs one of these committees - the one that is most in line with his or her passion so that it becomes more natural and less of a struggle.


5.    Speaking of struggle, what do you struggle with as leaders?
CS: The biggest leadership challenge we see is recognizing that our clients' needs are constantly evolving.  We have to be consistently on top of what's going on in the marketplace while also staying true to our core competencies all the while making sure we aren't pulled in too many directions (i.e., "mission drift").


6.    How do you manage the process of constant evolution?  How do you keep from diluting your vision?
CS: Our work with clients is partnership based as opposed to transactional.  We offer much more than "Here's the candidate we suggest.  Tell me what you think."  We're always talking to our clients to see what they're really looking for beyond someone who can just fill a role.  And this type of deliverable, or level of customer service, is really how we stay ahead of the game.

But heeding against "mission drift" is a bit more difficult.  To stay in line, we are always seeking to understand the deeper meaning to share it with the rest of the team and gain their feedback.  Our company is comprised of continuous learners who constantly ask questions.  We support, balance, and focus each other.


7.    How has your leadership style evolved over your career?
JW: My evolution has been from an authoritative and directive role to a leader who tries to primarily facilitate and empower.  It was a conscious and willful decision to change, but by no means was it easy.  It was difficult for me to learn to trust people.

Both styles were out of need - in the beginning stages of starting the company the authoritarian style of perseverance was necessary.  But after we gained traction, there just wasn't enough time in the day to do everything.  This became even clearer as I considered the growth of CGC and of my role in the sector.  So I learned to delegate more.

I'm at a point now where my goal is to have the team own the vision.  They must feel empowered and I try to make sure they aren't waiting for me to give them the answer about what I want, but rather that they are using their minds to define critical issues and to determine the best path to take.  I've learned that my main job is to get the right people here and empower them to do their roles.  It's not about me.  I'm just trying to set some of the mechanisms in motion.


8.    The analogy has been made that James is the accelerator and the brakes (controlling velocity) while Cassie is the steering wheel (directing the trajectory of the organization).  Can you speak further about your co-leadership?
CS: We complement each other well; we have somewhat of a yin-yang leadership as co-CEOs.  James' philosophy of teams make it happen really speaks to his role as the accelerator and guardian of the vision.  When James brought me into CGC during the preliminary stages my role was primarily as the implementer, in essence to make it happen.

Another way to look at it is: James gets things moving strategically and I get people on board to turn it into action, determining who should be involved in which decisions.


9.    What advice would you give to aspiring leaders?
CS: Don't force yourself into a particular leadership style that doesn't fit.  There are many different styles and your own unique combination will evolve over time.

JW: Right, it's important to be an authentic leader.  And I'd like to extend that to finding out what you're good at and what you're not early on, and then seek out the group of people who complement you well and go forward with complementary leadership.


10.    What gets you out of bed in the morning?
JW: My passion is to help social entrepreneurs apply all their energy to their missions and to maximize their potential to fundamentally transform society.

Throughout my career it became evident that finding and hiring talented individuals, that is, human capital, is of utmost importance and has the highest impact in the sector.  This realization became the spark for CGC.

CS: It's interesting that here again shows both the difference in our styles and how complementary we are.  James has an outside-in perspective while mine is more inside-out.  There's overlap between our goals, but we come at it from different angles.  What gets me up in the morning is knowing that I'm creating something that in turn is creating change in the world.  And that creation is building CGC, working with great people, achieving success, and delivering a great service.

***

Commongood Careers http://www.commongoodcareers.org/
Commongood Careers is a mission-driven search firm that enables innovative nonprofits to recruit and hire outstanding talent so that they can achieve even greater social impact.  Founded in 2005, Commongood Careers was created by a group of nonprofit professionals who experienced the challenges of recruiting and hiring in their own organizations and knew there must be a solution.  Today, Commongood Careers works with over 130 organizations in 26 states, and has completed over 400 searches for positions at all levels of the organizational chart.  A proponent for best practices in recruiting and hiring, Commongood Careers frequently presents at conferences, as well as hosts an annual convening of nonprofit leaders and publishes reports focused on key issues in talent management.

Leadership by example: utilizing a mix of confidence, solid communication, and mutual respect. -- IGBM Interview: STEVEN BOTWINICK, Botwinick & Company, LLC

Name: Steven Botwinick
Company/Organization: Botwinick & Company, LLC
Year company/organization started: about 40 years ago
Type of company/organization: began as a small, local accounting firm and now small/medium size accounting firm
Year started with the company: 1991
 
1. Define your leadership philosophy in a headline.
Leadership by example: utilizing a mix of confidence, solid communication, and mutual respect.

By working hard and setting an example through how I treat and respect others, my teammates and colleagues have learned the culture that we've set and how we operate.  Our environment is one in which each of us has responsibilities spanning many different areas so it's very hard to micromanage and instead requires quality communication to build understanding and trust.  That trust plus mutual respect goes a long way and inspires us to work for a common cause.


2. What was your vision for your organization when you first came on board?  How does it compare to where you are now?
We're well on the road to accomplishing the goals I set upon entering the firm: to establish a firm that builds on the trust our clients have in us and allows us to expand the services that we offer through both in-house ancillary growth and strategic referral sources.

My vision was, and still is, for our clients to know that when they come to Botwinick & Company, they are going to get exceptional service and knowledge in a multitude of areas.  We've worked hard to build the internal infrastructure necessary to provide many of our deliverables, and we've also worked just as hard to establish relationships with service providers that are complementary to our core functions and core values.


3. How do you define success for your organization from a leadership perspective?
If everyone is happy.

If people are happy to come to work every day.  If they're happy while they're here.  If they enjoy what they are doing and if they're constantly challenged.  If they feel and know they're treated fairly and with respect.  And if they have the opportunity to set their goals, work hard to meet their goals, and are rewarded for doing so.


4. What is unusual about how you run your organization?
We're very family oriented.  People who work here feel they're part of something bigger and that their input matters and that their happiness is important to us.  We work hard to make sure that they enjoy being here.  Ultimately, it reflects on the service we provide our clients.


5. How are you solving your leadership challenges using your mantra of "leadership by example"?
I've worked hard to be able to delegate work and have moved beyond not trusting others.  I'm now handing work down and walking away from it, fully trusting that the work is going to be done in an accurate and timely manner.  It's really delegation through example and I've noticed that my partners have followed my lead.

This is beneficial in not only lessening my workload but it's also getting better production out of the staff because we're challenging them.  Before we'd do all the difficult work and just give them the menial tasks.  Now, by challenging them, they are happier in the environment, they feel more challenged, and they feel like they are growing.


6. Can you recall the organizational climate when you first felt like a "manager" or a "leader"?
That came 5 years ago when I decided it was time to step up and assume more of a leadership position in the firm and expect my father to (somewhat) step aside.  We had reached a point where the type of work we were doing and how we were marketing ourselves was really the maximum possible for a small accounting firm.  It was time to take that next step to become a medium size firm offering more than just the simple tax and bookkeeping services.  We had to take that step otherwise the growth had ended.


7. How has your leadership style evolved over your career?
As I've matured and assumed more responsibility and, at the same, as I've learned to trust my employees and fellow partners, I have been enabled to do more.  Specifically I'm now able to step out from behind the desk and work in front of the desk creating a professional relationship with the staff and changing the way I service our clients.  It also has allowed me to assist my partners on some of their roles, which I wasn't able to do before.  In that sense I'm taking a larger leadership role within the broader context of the organization.

My growth as a leader is due in large part to delegating responsibility and my staff and partners embracing me as a leader.


8. What advice would you give to aspiring leaders?
The most important attribute a leader can have is confidence.  Everybody wants a confident leader.  Your team needs to understand and believe that you're going in the right direction, that you believe you're going in the right direction.  If you don't believe it, they're not going to believe it either.  And, second, always respect those that you're leading.  There's got to be a mutual level of respect.  If you show confidence and treat them with respect you're an effective leader.


9. How do you remain confident and exude confidence when you stumble or hit a road block or make a mistake?
If you truly believe in yourself then there is no such thing as road blocks, they just slow you down.  You work your way around road blocks.  If you believe in the direction you're going in, you're going to get there ultimately.

That doesn't mean that along the way things won't change.  They do.  Things always change.  You must be able to change with times, whether the change stems from regulations, code changes, requirements from different agencies, etc.  But at the same time, never show that you're not confident in the direction you're taking the firm.  You may change direction at times, when you do, you need to show confidence that you believe in what you're doing.


10. Business owners often talk about "what keeps you up at night?" but we'd like to know what gets you out of bed in the morning?  What gets you excited and driven to start the day?
The ability to help a client to the point where they feel that we're a valuable part of their team.  Very often a client will say to me, "You're really a part of our team.  I know you're an accountant, but you're part of our management team and we rely on the advice you give."  That's what gives me the best feeling.


11. Botwinick & Company is very well trusted beyond your core business of accounting services.  How did you build this brand?  How much of it was intentional versus a product of good leadership and building the right team/culture?
Clearly intentional.  I've had this vision since I was young: "Why can't there be a place where someone can go and receive all services?"  I look at it as a wheel; we're at the center of the wheel as accountants and all the other services are just spokes off the wheel.

We built the brand by going to our clients and gaining their confidence and trust.  A lot of accountants do the work and at the end of the day they say "Ok, here are your records and financial statements."  We don't do that.  We help them with their financial statements and we say "How's your business doing?  We noticed that you've been taking a lot of money for insurance, have you looked at that?  You've got a mortgage and it's at 10%, but it really should be at 5%."  It's about asking the questions, inquiring into the business, understanding our clients' financial affairs, and being interested in what they're doing.  We strive to improve them all around.

Our clients trust us because we speak with confidence and from a platform of knowledge and experience.  When I speak with clients about financial planning I not only have confidence in what I'm speaking about, I have the knowledge.  I went back and got my financial planning certification, I became educated so I could speak to it.  We cherish education.  And we also operate with integrity, so if we don't know about a particular area, we say so and find the person who does.  Our clients are just as appreciative if we say "Y'know, I don't really know much about that, but I'm going to go back and find out."  This is one of our key differentiators.  Other accountants may hand over a phone number and think their job is done.  We won't do that.  We'll go back, we'll learn about it, we'll find out the answer, and we'll come back with the person… together.  We've often been called "the guy with the guy."  Recently I received a call "Steve, you're the guy with the guy.  I need someone to mow my lawn, who's the best landscaper?"  So there's nothing that clients don't ask us.  Nothing.


12. Can you speak to the dynamic of working in a family business with your father and brother?
 It gives me a unique opportunity.  There's no greater feeling than coming to work every day and seeing your father and your brother.  I'm very fortunate to be able to work with them.  I enjoy coming to work and it's worked out terrifically.  My father has taken a step back and given my brother and me a chance to grow.  He hasn't stood in our way of taking the firm towards our vision.  My brother and I have a mutual respect for each other and our abilities.  We know what each other's strengths are and we play to them.  And that works out very well for us.

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Botwinick & Company, L.L.C. http://www.botwinick.com/

Unique in the accounting field, Botwinick & Company, L.L.C. has the resources to handle the complexities of larger companies while still retaining the ability to provide for the needs of the small entrepreneur.

Botwinick & Company, L.L.C. was founded in 1968 by Herbert J. Botwinick.  Over the years, our firm has been successful in establishing a large client base encompassing a broad range of industries including: medical and dental practices, retail, manufacturing, real estate, professional services, not-for-profit organizations, sports, and entertainment.  While needs vary, all our clients depend on us as skilled accountants and trusted advisors.