Describe your leadership style. I set
the vision, goals, and standards and then
work through my team to achieve them.
I refrain from micromanaging, except
in those rare situations when I have a
team member who is underperforming.
In those cases, in addition to giving
specific feedback and coaching on how
to improve, I will be micromanaging
for a time to ensure the business unit
attains its goals. Thankfully, I rarely
have to partake in micromanaging. I
do, however, have a solid grasp of the
important details of the business. I
don’t see understanding the details as
a negative in any way.
What has inspired your leadership
style? I do believe, to some extent,
that most successful leaders possess a
similar behavioral or personality profile. Therefore, to some degree, I would
say that I was born with leadership
characteristics or that it developed
during my childhood. My behavioral
profile is more dominant than accepting, more independent than compliant,
more driving than relaxed, and more
analytical than sociable. With that as
the backdrop, it has been my practice,
since first getting into business, to seek
out successful leaders and learn from
them. Sometimes it is in a mentee role.
Other times in listening to them speak
or reading their books. One of the most
significant mentors in my career has
been Don Lowe, CEO of the multibrand franchising company Franchise
Services, Inc.
What is your biggest leadership challenge? Learning to focus on the most
important three or four drivers of the
business, saying “no” or “not right now”
to many other good ideas or initiatives,
and keeping my team focused on implementing or effecting those same three
or four key drivers. Concentrating resources, essentially my people’s time
and money, on the few most-significant
drivers of the business is important to
maximizing the success of the company,
while at the same time remaining open
to new opportunities. In short, there are
always a thousand competing ideas, but if
you spread yourself too thin, you’re not
going to achieve as much as you would
if you remain focused on the important
few key drivers of the business.
How do you transmit your culture
from your office to front-line employees? Once the vision is set and
the company’s key strategic objectives
are determined and the desired resultsoriented culture is defined, my job is
to reinforce, focus, and cheerlead the
team. I begin every meeting, whether
with my team members or franchise
partners and their employees, with a
review or discussion of FastSigns’ four
key strategic objectives, which outline
our mission. By my personal example
and reinforcing their importance, the
entire team comes to understand that
this is what FastSigns International
is all about. These four key strategic
objectives are: 1) to increase franchise
partner profitability; 2) to increase average unit volume; 3) to increase the
value of the FastSigns brand; and 4)
to further improve franchise partner
satisfaction. We have specific metrics
for each of these strategic objectives
and ensure that every team member
understands their role in fulfilling them.
I also believe that language is critically
important. A simple change, such as using the term “franchise partner,” rather
than “franchisee,” has resulted in subtle
improvements in our culture.
Where is the best place to prepare for
leadership: an MBA school or OTJ?
Since I don’t have an MBA, I would have
to say on-the-job training. An MBA
teaches you principles and educates you
about business and finance. You cannot
develop your leadership skills unless
you’re leading people. Of course, it is
also essential to be confident in regard
to your business. Therefore, having
an MBA—which would increase your
confidence in regard to