Winning Spirit Magazine March-April 2018 | Page 3

Clark Whitworth: Lessons from Leadership Conference Focus on Values A s I began to write this message for Winning Spirit, I wanted to make sure that it was relevant to each of you, not only as employees but as members of the community in which you live. Over the last 30 years, while working for the Larry H. Miller Group, I’ve had the opportunity to learn many lessons from my interactions with the owners as well as the great employees of the Group. What makes this Group great is that the values and principles we follow were not just taught to me by my leaders but also by employees in many other positions in the Group. The recent Who We Are event that was held on February 20 was focused on following the values of the Group. The values of Integrity, Hard Work, Stewardship, and Service were presented in different ways. Gail and I spoke concerning the importance of our values and encouraged everyone to continue to learn and follow them every day. We also had video presentations of actual employees living these values and even had the people who were involved in these videos speak at the event. Hopefully, seeing these events and hearing from those involved will help each of us to recommit ourselves to understanding and putting into action these fundamental keys to our success. Earlier this year, many of the leaders of the Group gathered to discuss and be instructed concerning values-based leadership. The meetings were excellent and the speakers were selected from both the LHM Group as well as other successful leaders from outside our Group. All of the presentations were recorded and are available ON, VISION, & GUIDING NCIPLES The Larry H. Miller Group of Companies to view (vimeopro.com/LHMGroup/LC2018). I encourage each of you to take some time and view the messages that were delivered during the conference. I would like to share a few of the highlights of the presentations that were related to integrity and trust. Steve Starks, LHMSE president, emphasized that the LHM signature that we use on our logos and signage is a symbol of our reputation that was established by Larry. In all my time with Larry, without question, it was not only our integrity but how we managed the business was that was the most important focus of the organization. General Hugh Shelton spoke of how leaders must have integrity at all times and that it can’t be compromised. He also said that you can measure the quality of a leader by the attitude of those who work for them. Everything we have been taught or learned from these two events—Who We Are and the video presentations from Leadership Conference—is critical to our ongoing success. However, these values are just written words unless we practice them every day and make them part of who we are. I encourage each of you to develop a personal action Clark Whitworth, CEO, LHM Group of Companies plan that will focus your actions and ensure your individual commitment to the Group’s mission, vision, and values. Marshall Goldsmith, a presenter at Leadership Conference, taught that as we follow our personal action plan, it will lead to improved work performance and personal growth. I am grateful for everyone’s effort, and I challenge you to focus daily on your individual part in making this the best place in town to work and the best place in town to do business. ◆ “These values are just written words unless we practice them every day and make them part of who we are. ” Clark Whitworth, Leadership Conference and Who We Are 2018: In today’s digital age, the power to shape a company’s reputation has shifted from an organization’s leadership to its employees, customers, and anyone else who has a social media account. It’s increasingly important that we, as a workforce, go beyond being simply aware of our company’s mission, vision, and values. Instead, employees should personify them and help make them part of our corporate culture. We each own a part of the company culture by the way we engage with coworkers, customers, and the community. As Clark Whitworth emphasized, “These values are just written words unless we practice them every day and make them part of who we are.” Discussion ideas for managers, leaders, and teams: 1. As you take time to explore the video assets from Leadership Conference (vimeopro.com/LHMGroup/LC2018) and Who We Are (vimeopro.com/LHMGroup/WWA2018), what lessons or instructions would be most beneficial for your team/coworkers? 2. Which company value(s) do you or your team most strongly represent and why? What areas could be stronger, and what can you do to help make that happen? LHMWSM.com 1