Good Guys Really Do Finish First

Former CEO of Kaiser Permanente, George Halvorson, has a saying. “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” (Reiss, 2020).

Clients should be treated with the same amount of respect given to employees, but not more. Yes, we’re serious. Sure, their money pays the bills, but your employees deliver the product. Without your product, you have nothing. As usual, Marcus boils it down concisely. “The customer is not No. 1 to me. They’re No. 2, right behind the employee.”

• Your customers and employees are people. Show them empathy and treat them as human beings, not checks coming in and wages going out. Clients are more loyal to kind people.
• You have two ears and only one mouth, so listen more than you speak. Please keep an open mind about what others are telling you and put yourself in their shoes. Empathy is what makes a good business person.
• Build bridges, not walls. No small-business owner or manager should feel above their employees or clients. Share your experiences, your tastes, and your opinions. As Marcus says, “It’s OK if people know the truth about you. Employees will work harder for you and customers will understand you.” Eyeglass sales company Warby Parker inspires their employees to get to know each other by occasionally sending random employees out to lunch with one another. (Patel, 2015). That’s an easy, innovative way to build camaraderie.

• Nobody should feel like they’re putting on a mask when they enter their workplace, not even a boss who has to interact with countless people all day. Your consistent, kind, empathetic persona should be a reflection of the real-life you. If you find yourself wanting to do a little more to better yourself, look into self-improvement books, seminars, or web classes from reputable sources such as SHRM, the Society for Human Resource Management. You can use what makes a good business person to make yourself into a better person.

• The key to building a profitable business and healthy relationships is authenticity. Sometimes, that takes courage. When everyone else in your industry is doing something one way, but your gut tells you to do it differently, you’re going to have to decide to believe in yourself. Listen to Marcus. “Get comfortable being your true self. Do it at the risk of being criticized.”
• Care about your people and be honest with them. Your opinions are valid and authentic. Being honest doesn’t have to mean that you pull your punches. You shouldn’t sugarcoat your criticism, but you should offer solutions as readily as you hand out disapproval.
• You are 100% in charge, so you have to give 110% effort. Marcus tells entrepreneurs all the time that “A successful business owner subscribes to one theory: They show up first, and they leave last.” Your strong work ethic should also extend to working on your authenticity. You have the most invested in your company as the boss, so put in the leg work and keep improving.

• Each of your employees comes from a different background. Their lives are what makes them unique, and your team has to feel like you understand them. Joe Hart, CEO of Dale Carnegie Training, explains what it means to understand your employees’ lives in a professional setting. “It doesn’t matter the country, language, race or religion, we wanted people to come together around our strong values.” (Reiss, 2020). Celebrate the diversity in your office while bringing everyone back to your company’s ethos.

• Didn’t you love it when you were a kid and your family would give you a birthday or graduation card? One management trick that’s easy to do and will put you in the good graces of your employees is to pick up a stack of congratulatory cards the next time you’re in the grocery store and store them in your drawer. When someone on your team has a particularly good day or gives an excellent presentation, jot down your appreciation for their work and leave it on their desk.
• Everybody loves a good party, especially when it’s celebrating the end of a big project. By giving your employees an hour or two to breathe, reflect on their peers’ work and sacrifices, and come together as a team, you’re turning the pressure valve down to zero and encouraging bonding. If you make the parties a routine, then it gives people something else to look forward to.
• Congratulatory gifts don’t have to be big. If one of your employees’ work merits something more than a card but less than a company-wide celebration, consider giving them something like a free lunch, a month of free coffees at the café down the street, or early dismissals on Fridays next month. As Marcus says, “People will work for recognition and opportunity more than they’ll work for anything else.

• You decide the big play calls. You also motivate your team to be the best they can be. What makes a good business person is their ability to train their employees to succeed everywhere, not just their current job. If you’ve given a loyal employee a space with a positive culture where they’re treated as equals, then they will want to stay. Once a year, Amazon, the online retail behemoth, offers their full-time associates working in their fulfillment centers $5,000 to leave the company. They only want people who want to be there. (Umoh, 2018). Good bosses are willing to pay to have a business full of loyal workers.
• Be generous with your time and your expertise. The more skills your employees have, the more they can help your business. Plus, having a good boss who is bighearted and willing to help will assist with employee retention. Good bosses are hard to find. As Marcus often says, “There is no being generous to a fault. Because there is no fault in being generous.”

Doing the right thing isn’t always easy, but you can set yourself up for success, no matter the difficulty, by doubling down on your values. Your business is a reflection of you. There’s no need to pretend to be the wolf of Wall Street. You’re the hero of this movie, and you can be the good boss employees dream of working for. It’s just like Marcus says. “It is OK in business, no matter what anybody tells you, to be yourself.”