CEO profile:
brand has a bell-shaped curve, and we
strive to have a “tight” bell that is well to
the right of other brand averages. This
represents a high degree of consistency
and financial performance. Easier to say
than to do, but our franchisees get high
marks from me in this regard.
How do you transmit your culture from
your office to front-line employees?
Passion. I love what I do, and my management team loves what they do. It is
genuine and contagious. This passion
trickles down and creates something
truly special among our 3,000-plus
AlphaGraphics employees worldwide.
People see how jazzed we are, and they
want to share in that excitement.
Where is the best place to prepare for
leadership: an MBA school or OTJ?
Even more important is self-awareness
and a thirst to learn. Couple that with
experience and great mentors, and it
is hard for any degree to match that.
I benefited from that as well as a great
education, and each experience contributes in its own way. Since this is an
either/or question, street smarts edge
out book smarts. Both are valuable. An
active learner will augment their OTJ
with outside learning opportunities to
develop a broader perspective.
Are tough decisions best taken by
one person? No. Surround yourself
with bright individuals that you trust,
and honest conversations amongst the
group will typically render the best results. It doesn’t mean it’s a democracy
where everyone’s vote counts equally, but
you have to trust those you put around
you. At AlphaGraphics, we are highly
collaborative with our colleagues and
franchisees. It develops a better decision
rather than compromising the best. I
have no problem making tough decisions, nor do my executive teammates.
sure that I have all of the information.
I collect their feedback, ask for recommendations, and make the decision
that I think is best based on the vision
of our company and then go the extra
mile-plus to communicate the decision
and enlist support. In a network like AlphaGraphics, we have more than 260
CEOs with valid concerns and insights.
We draw out their thinking, make the
decision we feel is best, and move forward as a network.
Do you want to be liked or respected? This may sound strange, but I am
generally a likable guy by nature and
I don’t worry too much about that. I
think I am trusted by our franchisees
and my team because we encourage authenticity in our interactions.
I work hard to make well-informed
decisions in the best interest of the
brand long term and uphold our system standards. Challenging us to be
the best we can be and leading with
integrity engenders respect, which
is more important than winning
the popularity contest.
Together with our franchisees we are
writing the story of one of the greatest transformations of a brand in the
history of small business and franchising. That’s worth getting out of bed
for every day! We are very proud of
and grateful for our franchisees. My
management team is made of seasoned,
skilled individuals. We have great empathy for small-business owners. I am
currently a franchisee while also being
CEO. Our team has a healthy mix of
real-life business experience and ownership, industry-specific experience,
and franchising experience. We’re all
reaching toward a common goal. And
we’re all in agreement that we will be
the leading provider of marketing and
business communications services to
small and medium-sized businesses in
the world. The team comes to work
each day working toward that vision
Advice to CEO wannabes: Get
outside of the jar. Work on your
business more than you work in
your business. Take the time to
clearly articulate your vision and
the strategy to achieve that vision,
and then focus your energy on
keeping your team motivated
and inspired to drive the strategy to success. My six favorite
words: learn, learn, learn, grow,
grow, grow.
Management
Describe your management style:
Informed, collaborative, accountable, communicative, and genuine.
How do you make tough decisions?
What does your management team
look like? I have a management team
I have a great team that I have worked
very hard to build. When making tough
decisions, I work with my team and our
Network Leadership Council to make
that is very intense and passionate about success. They
are AlphaGraphics
evangelists.
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