Verne Harnish is founder and CEO of Gazelles, a global executive
education and coaching company, Verne has spent the past
30 years educating entrepreneurial teams. He’s the author of
Scaling Up that uses approaches honed from over three decades
of advising tens of thousands of CEOs and executives.
their remote employees on the West
Coast. In 2018, InfoTrust plans to make
the Thanksgiving Basket Brigade an
international initiative.
The letters Yastrebenetsky receives from
families who have received InfoTrust’s
deliveries hang on a “giving tree” at his
office. As you might imagine, they often
bring tears to his eyes and those of the
team.
A typical letter might say, “Our daughter
is on a four-hour leave from the hospital
next week. She’ll be able to enjoy this
meal,” he says.
InfoTrust has also donated $15,000
to Paige’s Princess Foundation. This
nonprofit organization makes grants to
pediatric patients with lifelong disabilities
and works closely with Cincinnati
Children’s Hospital.
THE REAL BENEFICIARIES OF
CHARITABLE EFFORTS
Although the families greatly appreciate
the support InfoTrust gives them,
Yastrebenetsky realizes that he and his
employees are the true beneficiaries of
the company’s charitable campaigns.
His employees, too, appreciate the
opportunities to give. “It’s incredibly
positive and motivating,” says Kaylee
Kipe, marketing manager.
The Basket Brigade has become a
much-awaited annual tradition. “It’s one
of the things people really look forward
to around here, and it’s a great team-
building exercise,” she says. “People
consider these events to be core not just
to the company but to who they are.”
GETTING INSPIRED
Yastrebenetsky’s inspiration for giving
back came, in part, from being a long-
time student of Tony Robbins. “He has
always taught the importance of giving,”
says Yastrebenetsky. One lesson that
stayed with him: “If you won’t give a
dime out of a dollar, there’s no way you’re
going to give $100 million out of a billion.”
I met Yastrebenetsky in 2015 when he
brought his leadership team to an in-
person Scaling Up training in Raleigh.
In these training sessions, leaders learn
how to apply the principles for growing
a company that I discuss in my book
Scaling Up.
One topic of our discussion was personal
growth. As I mentioned, if you really want
to grow, you have to find ways to motivate
yourself to grow beyond yourself.
SCALING A GIVING PROGRAM
It was an idea I later learned had
resonated with Yastrebenetsky, who kept
in touch.
Aiming to give even more to the
community, the InfoTrust team reached
out to the hematology department at
Cincinnati Children’s Hospital in 2016
and asked how many families the
hospital team would like them to support
that year.
“How many can you do?” the hospital
asked. There were 121 families at
the time, plus an additional group of
households in need in the community
that brought the total to 140.
“We’ll take care of all of them,”
Yastrebenetsky said. The company also
planned to deliver another 20 baskets
to families who lived near its West Coast
employees. To stretch available funds,
Yastrebenetsky and his team shopped
at Costco. The shopping trip became an
opportunity for Yastrebenetsky to explain
to his four-year-old son the importance of
helping those in need.
The experience was so meaningful to
Yastrebenetsky that during the holidays,
he wrote a letter to his customers. “I
explained how much we appreciate their
giving us an opportunity to contribute,”
he says.
BUILDING A GREAT CULTURE
InfoTrust’s focus on giving has contributed
to an outstanding culture that is winning
considerable third-party recognition.
The company made it onto Inc.’s Best
Places to Work for 2017 and made the
Best Employers in Ohio list issued by
Best Employers in Ohio. InfoTrust is one
of only a handful of companies in its state
certified as a Great Place to Work by the
Great Place to Work Institute.
Giving back has become so important
to InfoTrust that Yastrebenetsky recently
rewrote a one-page document on the
comp any’s purpose.
“Our purpose is not to help the enterprise
sell more stuff,” says Yastrebenetsky.
“This is what we do. We’re really, really
good at what we do. Our purpose is to
become better people in pursuit of what
we do.”
Becoming better people as we do our
work can be challenging for all of us
mere mortals, but it is well worth trying
to achieve. u
SPRING 2018
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