Advertising Guru Roy Spence Advocates Purpose-Driven Leadership
Austin-based advertising legend and entrepreneur Roy Spence shares his views on on leadership, team building and company culture.
Roy Spence, co-founder and chairman of GSD&M
What is the importance of corporate culture? Can you suggest some best practices on how organizations can better retain employees?
It’s the absolute. When you talk about company and corporate cultures, it will be the deciding factor in winners or losers. It goes back to team building. It goes back to purpose. It goes back to values. It goes back to if you don’t have a great company and corporate culture, you’re not going to hire the best talent. Millenials are not going to work for mean people. They’re just not.
Without getting too soft here, the love cultures are going to win. Let me tell you the three components. It’s not ooey-gooey at all. Number one, ‘I love what I do.’ Getting people who love what they do. Second, ‘I love the people I’m doing it with.’ Third, ‘I love the impact I’m making on other peoples’ lives.’
So think about this in the [context] of the security industry. If you really are passionate about providing security for people, you love what you do. If you really are going to build a great team of other people who are passionate about improving peoples’ lives, you love the people you work with. If I love the idea that I can give that family the most precious thing one can have, and that’s peace of mind, that’s the virtual circle.
I love what I do, I love the people I do it with, and I love the impact I make on peoples’ lives. Those are the cultures like Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods, Container Store and Patagonia. These are companies that build their culture around those three values.
Where do you see owners, executives, and top managers fail in their ability to build highly motivated teams?
There have been hundreds, if not thousands of books and articles written on this idea of how do you actually build a motivated team. Let me break it down in two pieces.
I played on a 1965 state championship football team under a coach named Gordon Wood. He was the winningest high school football coach in the history of football. Someone may have overtaken him recently, but he had 396 wins and that’s like 10 wins a year for 40 years. I asked him before he passed away – this is very relevant – I said, “How did you accomplish do this?” And he said this, and it’s a great quote, “Here’s the way it works with team building. No. 1, coaches believing in coaches. Number two, players believing in players. Number three, players believing in coaches. And number four, coaches believing in players.”
Now, I was stunned. I went, “Oh my God, look at business.” When you want to build a motivated team, leaders have to believe in each other. The first thing that has to happen in order to build a wildly successful team is the leaders of the company, no matter if there are 10 or seven or two, have to believe in each other.
Secondly, your employees in a company have to believe in one another. The old “one bad apple” it happens all the time. If someone comes in to disrupt the company and [proclaims they are going to be a] “change agent,” they’re really just a disrupter, that’s different. So employees have to believe in each other. That doesn’t mean you agree with each other.
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About the Author
Rodney Bosch, Senior Editor
Although Bosch’s name is quite familiar to those in the security industry, his previous experience has been in daily newspaper journalism. Prior to joining SECURITY SALES & INTEGRATION in 2006, he spent 15 years with the Los Angeles Times, where he performed a wide assortment of editorial responsibilities, including feature and metro department assignments as well as content producing for latimes.com. Bosch is a graduate of California State University, Fresno with a degree in Mass Communication & Journalism. In 2007, he successfully completed the National Burglar and Fire Alarm Association’s National Training School coursework to become a Certified Level I Alarm Technician.
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