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In the Firm: Top Attorneys Profiled by Practice Areas
Phoenix Rising Phoenix Rising Phoenix Rising Meet the leaders changing the face of business
Competitors Build on Collaboration Risking Heart in Leadership Automation as Workforce? $7.95 INBUSIN ESSPHX.COM
THIS ISSUE National Association of Women Business Owners – Phoenix
Two double-shot macchiatos before 10, then it’s decaf all the way. Chai tea, soy latte or regular joe, we make it our priority to understand what makes you, you. In doing so, we address your legal needs with a uniquely tailored approach. Find out more at swlaw.com
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FEBRUARY 2020 COVER STORY
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Phoenix Rising
In Business Magazine takes a cross section of the Valley’s economic foundation and introduces those at the helm of their company who are changing the face of business. FEATURES
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Competitors Build on Collaboration
Within Phoenix’s business community, competitors find unexpected value in open collaborative environment.
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Merging Culture and Strategy
Bruce Weber and Charlie Smith’s series examines developing and sustaining organizational capacity.
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Risking: The Heart of Daring Leadership
Eileen Rogers series explores the strength of risk in leaders’ calculations of risk and return in business. DEPARTMENTS
9 PARTNER SECTION
Guest Editor
Brian Cassidy, president and CEO of CCBG Architects and chairperson of Phoenix Warehouse District Council, introduces the “Phoenix Rising” issue.
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Feedback
Calvin Goetz, Debbie Hertle and Darlene Newsom respond to In Business Magazine’s burning business question of the month.
45 National Association of Women Business Owners – Phoenix
SPECIAL SECTION
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Briefs
“Human Transcribers Help Startups Reach Audience,” “Online: Instant Cost Segregation Quote,” “Phoenix Gets 5G from AT&T,” “Optimize Time/Place for Meetings,” “Local Standouts Recognized for Achievements and Philanthropy,” “Stop the Overwhelm” and “Kaleidoscope Juice Moves East”
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Startups
“Startups in 2020 – How to Get an Idea Funded” and “Finding a Home In-Between”
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By the Numbers
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Healthcare
“RealAge for Better Health,” “One-Stop Solution for Sleep Health” and “FastMed Seizes Opportunity in VA Extension”
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Technology
“Front Expands to Greater Phoenix” and “Technology Impacts the Traditional 9-5 Workday”
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Books
New releases give fresh insights on business thinking.
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Economy
Major catastrophic events are not the only source of danger; Tim Brunner shares risk management tips for business owners.
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Legal
Marketing through unsolicited texting and calling may result in legal blowback; local attorney discusses steps that can protect a business against TCPA claims.
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Social Impact
Focusing this month on Avnet, Tyler Butler’s series explores the myriad ways that businesses give back and the positive ways their programs are impacting our community.
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From the Top
Bringing alternative pain management to the masses, Peter Holt leads The Joint Chiropractic to notable franchise growth.
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Assets
2020 Hyundai Palisade Limited AWSD Plus: Deals may rest on appropriate business dining etiquette.
Are we becoming an automation nation?
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Pomelo’s Welcoming ‘Home’ Plus: Mainstream restaurants take up the Girl Scout Cookie Dessert Challenge.
CRE
“The Future of Commercial Real Estate Is Flexible,” “Incomplete Properties to Redesigned Neighborhood,” “SixBuilding Medical Campus in Surprise,” “Leasing Open on 3900 East Camelback,” “The Grand Wins BOMA Building of the Year,” “Papago Plaza Razed, Papago Plaza Raised” and “SingleFamily Home Community for Adults with Disabilities”
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Power Lunch
Roundtable
Kerry Goyette discusses why and how courage drives emotional intelligence in business leadership.
Manufacturing is booming in Arizona, a majority of which is taking place in the West Valley. WESTMARC reports that manufacturing entities have the added benefit of the Greater Maricopa Foreign Trade Zone (GMFTZ), which includes six sites throughout the West Valley with locations in the City of Goodyear, the City of Surprise and one west of the Town of Buckeye.
Let’s talk.
FEBRUARY 2020 In Business Magazine is a collaboration of many business organizations and entities throughout the metropolitan Phoenix area and Arizona. Our mission is to inform and energize business in this community by communicating content that will build business and enrich the economic picture for all of us vested in commerce.
PARTNER ORGANIZATIONS Kristen Merrifield, CEO Alliance of Arizona Nonprofits (602) 279-2966 www.arizonanonprofits.org Jess Roman, Interim Chief Executive Officer Arizona Small Business Association Central Office (602) 306-4000 Southern Arizona (520) 327-0222 www.asba.com Steven G. Zylstra, President & CEO Arizona Technology Council One Renaissance Square (602) 343-8324 www.aztechcouncil.org Doug Bruhnke, Founder & President Global ChamberÂŽ (480) 595-5000 www.globalchamber.org Angela Garmon, President NAWBO Phoenix Metro Chapter (480) 289-5768 www.nawbophx.org Anne Gill, President & CEO Tempe Chamber of Commerce (480) 967-7891 www.tempechamber.org Our Partner Organizations are vested business organizations focused on building and improving business in the Valley or throughout Arizona. As Partners, each will receive three insert publications each year to showcase all that they are doing for business and businesspeople within our community. We encourage you to join these and other organizations to better your business opportunities. The members of these and other Associate Partner Organizations receive a subscription to In Business Magazine each month. For more information on becoming an Associate Partner, please contact our publisher at info@inbusinessmag.com.
ASSOCIATE PARTNERS Ahwatukee Foothills Chamber of Commerce ahwatukeechamber.com Arizona Chamber of Commerce & Industry azchamber.com Arizona Hispanic Chamber of Commerce azhcc.com The Black Chamber of Arizona phoenixblackchamber.com Chandler Chamber of Commerce chandlerchamber.com Economic Club of Phoenix econclubphx.org Glendale Chamber of Commerce glendaleazchamber.org Greater Phoenix Chamber of Commerce phoenixchamber.com Greater Phoenix Economic Council gpec.org Greater Phoenix Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce gpglcc.org Mesa Chamber of Commerce mesachamber.org North Phoenix Chamber of Commerce northphoenixchamber.com Peoria Chamber of Commerce peoriachamber.com Phoenix Metro Chamber of Commerce phoenixmetrochamber.com Scottsdale Area Chamber of Commerce scottsdalechamber.com Surprise Regional Chamber of Commerce surpriseregionalchamber.com WESTMARC westmarc.org
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Giving Arizona’s manufacturers skills beyond their size.
The Arizona Commerce Authority is helping our state’s manufacturers grow and prosper through meaningful programs like the Arizona Manufacturing Extension Partnership (Arizona MEP). Using a proven approach that combines decades of leadership, manufacturing, operational and business expertise, Arizona MEP offers custom, hands-on solutions to help clients achieve their goals. Whether you’re looking for minor improvements or a major transformation, we provide the right knowledge, skill set and flexibility to support your team. Join the more than 200 manufacturers in Arizona who have chosen Arizona MEP to help enhance their business.
Learn more at azcommerce.com
© Enterprise 2018
FEBRUARY 2020 Publisher Editor Graphic Design
NATIONALLY RANKED.
Contributing Writers
LOCALLY FOCUSED.
Enterprise Bank & Trust was recently ranked number 14 out of 161 nationally-ranked banks1. And while we’re proud of that fact, it’s just part of who we are. Whether your focus is on your business, your family or the quality of life in your community, you’ll find us there. We’re committed to supporting dreams, securing financial futures and delivering on community investment.
VOL. 11, NO. 2
Rick McCartney RaeAnne Marsh German Wegbrait Nicolas Barrios Benjamin Little Tim Brunner Tyler Butler Kerry Goyette Mike Hunter Garrett Olexa Eileen Rogers Vinay Saranga, M.D. Sharon Schweitzer Jason Shepherd Kristina Skindelytė Ben Smith Charlie Smith Lane Tassin, M.D. Matt Thomas Bruce Weber Margie Wojciechowski
ADVERTISING
Learn more at enterprisebank.com/phoenix
Operations Louise Ferrari
Business Development Louise Ferrari Erik Laudenschlager Cami Shore
Member FDIC 1. Bank Director, 3rd Quarter 2017, Volume 27, Number 3
Events Amy Corben
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Corporate Office InMedia Company 45 W. Jefferson Street Phoenix, AZ 85003 T: (480) 588-9505 info@inmediacompany.com www.inmediacompany.com Vol. 11, No. 2 In Business Magazine is published 12 times per year by InMedia Company. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to InMedia Company, 45 W. Jefferson Street, Phoenix, AZ 85003. To ubscribe to In Business Magazine, please send check or money order for one-year subscription of $24.95 to InMedia Company, 45 W. Jefferson Street, Phoenix, AZ 85003 or visit inbusinessphx. com. We appreciate your editorial submissions, news and photos for review by our editorial staff. You July send to editor@inbusinessmag.com or mail to the address above. All letters sent to In Business Magazine will be treated as unconditionally assigned for publication, copyright purposes and use in any publication, website or brochure. InMedia accepts no responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts, photographs or other artwork. Submissions will not be returned unless accompanied by a self-addressed, stamped envelope. InMedia Company, LLC reserves the right to refuse certain advertising and is not liable for advertisers’ claims and/or errors. The opinions expressed herein are exclusively those of the writers and do not necessarily reflect the position of InMedia. InMedia Company considers its sources reliable and verifies as much data as possible, although reporting inaccuracies can occur; consequently, readers using this information do so at their own risk. Each business opportunity and/or investment inherently contains certain risks, and it is suggested that the prospective investors consult their attorney and/or financial professional. © 2019 InMedia Company, LLC. All rights reserved. No part of this magazine July be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without written permission by any means without written permission by the publisher.
INBUSINESSPHX.COM
BRIAN CASSIDY, CCBG ARCHITECTS, INC.
On the Rise
Brian Cassidy, AIA, is the president of CCBG Architects, Inc., which has studios in downtown Phoenix and San Diego. His firm has been involved in many adaptive reuse and mixed-use highdensity housing projects in Greater Phoenix, including several thousand new apartment units and a diverse body of warehouse renovations that are breathing new life into our city. Cassidy passionately advocates to build Phoenix into a world-class city in which to live, work, worship and play. CCBG Architects, Inc. ccbgarchitects.com Phoenix Warehouse District Council phxwd.com
Greater Phoenix is the fifth-largest metropolitan area in the nation, so it’s no surprise that there is nothing static about our business community. With a strong core of major corporations and a thriving startup community, business here is continually pushing new boundaries. One way I believe we can help our own businesses to grow is to support other businesses in our community, including some of our direct competitors. Our firm is in the middle of the resurging Phoenix Warehouse District, and, as architects and with me as the chair of the Warehouse District Council, we are promoting every business, property owner and resident, and are collectively providing grassroots, volunteer-led effort to brand and promote the area. No city in the United States has a brighter future to rebuild and reenergize its urban core than Phoenix. Our missing ingredient in downtown for the past two generations is people. Now, Phoenix is on a tremendous trajectory, with thousands of housing units recently finished or underway, with business expansions, retail, transit options, and food and beverage growth. There could not be a more exciting community to work in as a designer and visionary. February’s cover story takes a cross-section of core business sectors and examines the direction select businesses are taking to grow. Those at the helm of leading businesses in technology, hospitality and more share with In Business Magazine some of the challenges they encounter and strategies they implement that are changing the face of business in the Greater Phoenix area. Another story of “changing the face of business” comes from the example of competing marketing agencies creating a collaborative community of support for each other. In Business Magazine editor RaeAnne Marsh shares their experiences and surprising insights in “Competitors Build on Collaboration.” Continuing series from local industry experts are Bruce Weber and Charlie Smith’s articles on capacity building for for- and not-for-profit organizations, Tyler Butler’s articles on the social impact being made by businesses here, and the first in a new series from Eileen Rogers on how risk plays a role in business. Regular departments of Healthcare, Technology, CRE, Legal, Economy and more offer new information on trends, advances and opportunities and even cautions for businesses, from startups to major corporations. In Business Magazine continues to be a resource to help strengthen the Valley’s business community. I hope you enjoy this February issue of In Business Magazine; I’ve enjoyed working with the editorial team to bring it to you.
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Sincerely,
Brian Cassidy, AIA President and CEO of CCBG Architects, Inc. Chair of Phoenix Warehouse District Council
CONNECT WITH US: Story Ideas/PR: editor@ inbusinessphx.com
Sustained Growth So many cities in the U.S. have a lot going for them, but none like Phoenix. A steady population growth, frequently named as one of the top places to build business, and burgeoning business districts that are improving and expanding. There is an awful lot to be proud of. So in this issue, we spoke to several companies that are helping us rise to the top. They are companies that are investing in more than just growth, actually. They are companies that are inspiring others to grow as well and are creating opportunities and leading by example.
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I want to thank my friend Brian Cassidy for leading this issue. Who better to speak to the rise of our community than this visionary? He and his efforts are rebuilding Downtown Phoenix, resurging great properties and influencing other companies to do the same. Businesspeople like Brian are what is making Phoenix a great city of the future and, together with a steady influx of people who want to live here, will ensure strong growth and a hub for business.
—Rick
McCartney, Publisher
Let us know what you think of this issue of In Business Magazine. Email our publisher at feedback@inbusinessmag.com.
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SPEAKING OUT
WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO NURTURE LEADERSHIP WITHIN YOUR ORGANIZATION?
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FEEDBACK QUESTION: Let us know what you want to know from the Valley’s top business leaders. editor@inbusinessphx.com
CALVIN GOETZ
DEBBIE HERTLE
DARLENE NEWSOM
Founder and President Strategy Financial Group Sector: Finance
Human Resources Director MST Solutions Sector: Technology
Chief Executive Officer UMOM New Day Centers Sector: Nonprofit
In order to nurture leadership within our organization, I focus on creating systems and processes for each role within the firm. That way, each person has a clear understanding of their role and expectations, and their teammates understand what each other team member is responsible for. This transparency allows each team member to see how their role contributes to the entire firm, and foresee how they can create additional leadership opportunities. In addition, we’ve created our Vivid Vision, which is a three-year business plan that clarifies each role and expectation of the team within the plan. Employees are then compensated based on their effectiveness for each individual role. We have multiple compensation structures customized for the outcomes of each division. This Vivid Vision has two main goals: reduce complexity, and create a self-managed company that is not reliant on any one individual. By reviewing this vision on a quarterly basis, each team member is aware of their leadership position and how it fits in to the overall vision of the firm.
One of MST’s core values is to “encourage and support the growth of our colleagues.” Thiru Thangarathinam, MST’s founder and CEO, is a strong advocate and a promoter of a growth mindset and a continuous learning culture. He along with our executive leadership team are truly committed to facilitating and empowering whole-person growth where colleagues develop personally as well as professionally. At MST, we have taken a comprehensive and blended approach comprised of formal and informal strategies to build and nurture leadership. We offer groupbased development opportunities, from book reviews, lunch and learns, and external coach-led trainings, to individualized coaching and mentoring to all colleagues. Every year, MST hosts an immersive Leadership Development Program for our internal emerging leaders. The program focuses on foundational and essential leadership skills from emotional intelligence to stretched assignments. Other benefits that include reimbursing paid certifications and trainings and offering generous PTO and flexible work hours are just some of the things we provide to nurture our colleagues’ overall growth and leadership skills.
UMOM is a business; we operate very similarly to a profit-making business. If we are profitable at year-end, the excess goes back into mission programming. I strongly believe in shared leadership and building our bench strength in developing leaders. Investment in employees allows us to create an environment that prioritizes ongoing learning and recognition of achievement, and provides the backdrop to make decisions. This past year, we conducted several exercises with the leadership team to identify emerging leaders within the organization and what level of resource commitment is necessary to grow UMOM’s leadership strength, and then invested in tools and coaching that provides us the information to better understand individuals’ talents. The reports give us insight regarding behavior, driving forces and competencies. We believe these reports allow us to understand strengths and weaknesses in each of the three areas, which will lead to personal and professional development and a higher level of satisfaction. As a result, we have increased internal promotions by 20 percent and have moved to a bi-monthly structured discussion on reviewing each other’s metrics that will improve overall performance.
Strategy Financial Group strategyfinancialgroup.com
For all past Feedbacks go online to inbusinessphx.com and see what Valley executives think on various business topics.
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For more than 15 years, Calvin Goetz has dedicated himself to helping retirees and preretirees attain their financial and retirement planning goals. Goetz is author of the books Climbing the Retirement Mountain and The Retirement Roadmap. He is also a Forbes Finance Council member, contributing original articles on Forbes.com. An Arizona native, Goetz is a proud graduate of Northern Arizona University.
MST Solutions mstsolutions.com Debbie Hertle, leads the HR team at MST Solutions. She has more than 15 years’ experience and is most passionate about scaling innovation, diversity and inclusion, and to provide opportunity for borderless careers. Founded in 2012, Chandler-based MST Solutions is a leading provider of CRM and marketing automation consulting, specializing in higher education, healthcare, financial services, manufacturing and public-sector technology solutions.
Sign up for the monthly In Business Magazine eNewsletter at www.inbusinessphx.com. Look for survey questions and other research on our business community.
UMOM New Day Centers umom.org Darlene Newsom has worked in the nonprofit sector in Arizona for more than 44 years. As CEO at UMOM New Day Centers since 2002, she has led UMOM to expand its capacity and improve the services offered to families experiencing homelessness. She oversees the entire $20 million agency budget and 280 employees. Newsom is widely recognized as an expert on issues affecting homeless families.
QUICK AND TO THE POINT
BYTES
by Mike Hunter
Online: Instant Cost Segregation Quote
Photo courtesy of GoTranscript
Human Transcribers Help Startups Reach Audience According to marketing experts, one of the biggest reasons that only 25 percent of startups succeed is the others do not fully comprehend their Ideal Customer Profile — the demographic and psychological makeup of their target clients. This misunderstanding means that many startups often adopt a one-size-fits-all communication strategy, which does not factor in foreign languages, regional dialects and other cultural variables. Human-driven transcription services may pose the solution to this problem, as they are able to translate their transcribed company content into different languages, and offer a higher accuracy rate than their artificial intelligence counterparts. In recent years there has been an increase in quality in AI-driven transcription services. A 2018 report published by Microsoft stated that robot transcribers now have an accuracy rate of 95 percent when placed in surroundings without external variables such as background noise and multiple speakers. However, the robot’s level of comprehension is slightly lesser than that afforded by the human ear, which is able to understand foreign languages, multiple speakers and regional dialects. Additionally, despite a robot being able to understand much of the language a human does, it is engineered to work within a pre-programmed set of words. It is worth noting that, given the robot’s restricted pre-programmed vocabulary, it is unable to understand specialist terminology and other subtle linguistic nuances. Human transcriptionists, on the other hand, can help a startup by offering translation
services as a form of attracting potentially new customers. In the United States, according to a census report, 20 percent of residents speak a language other than English at home, with more than one in 10 speaking Spanish. By translating the transcribed content into the native languages of target markets, startups have the potential to access a wider market beyond that of the traditional English-speaking world. By outsourcing the write-up of audio or video files, startups do not run the risk of making mistakes by doing their own in-house transcription. The lack of errors afforded by a human-driven transcription service also means that startups can use their time to develop their business and better understand their ICP, as opposed to fixing mistakes in written documents. The human ear’s ability to understand and interpret specialist language means that transcription services employing human transcribers are able to offer better quality services in specialized fields such as market research transcription, business transcription, as well as financial, medical and legal language. Transcripts can be used in everything from video subtitles and closed captions, to information intended for use in e-publications and in infographics. —Kristina Skindelytė, with GoTranscript (gotranscript.com), a human-based transcription provider that believes transcription services of this nature are able to present a solution to the startup’s lack of time, as well as the difficulties experienced in accessing new markets
Scottsdale-based RCG Valuation & Monetization recently unveiled an instant cost segregation quote feature on its website. “This tool can help you generate the right information needed to maximize your investment potential. A cost segregation can be the difference between a successful real estate venture and a failed one,” says Scott Roelofs, owner of RCG Valuation, which helps small to medium-sized businesses grow through advanced financial analysis and specialty tax planning, with focus on technology, documentation and transparency. rcgvaluation.com
Phoenix Gets 5G from AT&T
As of the beginning of last month, AT&T has brought mobile 5G service live in parts of Phoenix. 5G+ service is provided over high band spectrum and offers extra speed and capacity to serve high-traffic areas. 5G is not only about how fast phones can transfer data, but also about how quickly they can process and respond to data, called “lag time” or “latency.” Currently, business customers can access 5G+ using the Samsung Galaxy S10 5G and the NETGEAR Nighthawk 5G Hotspot Router. AT&T expects to offer 5G service to consumers nationwide in the first half of 2020. about.att.com/innovationblog/2020/01/2019_5g_ recap.html
Optimize Time/Place for Meetings
Aiming to make all meetings easier to “Join / Control / Analyze,” meetings technology provider Synergy SKY offers trailblazing yet user-friendly software for all business meetings. “Our systems are built to monitor efficient usage of business facilities and equipment with the goal of allowing employers to better optimize the extremely expensive real estate that is provided expressly for meetings,” says Vemun Waksvik, VP of marketing. synergysky.com
Fake Meetings According to a study by Synergy SKY, 10 percent of workers are regularly booking fake meetings into their diary to keep colleagues thinking they are busier than they really are. Data shows 32 percent of fake meetings are booked where nobody ever attends and 46 percent of fake meetings waste time and resources after an actual meeting ends. synergysky.com
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QUICK AND TO THE POINT
LOOKING GOOD Local Standouts Recognized for Achievements and Philanthropy
ACHIEVEMENTS
More Laurels for Wisdom Natural Brands Industry publication Progressive Grocer chose Wisdom of the Ancients® Organic Yerba Maté Hibiscus Tea as one of its 2019 Editors’ Picks Top New Product awards, and Prevention magazine recognized SweetLeaf® Liquid Stevia Pumpkin Spice Sweet Drops™ in the top 10 of “35 Pumpkin Spice Foods That Are Actually Good for You.” Both are products from Gilbert-based Wisdom Natural Brands®; its SweetLeaf® Stevia, a natural, plantbased sweetener, has won more awards for taste and innovation than all other low- or no-calorie sweeteners combined. sweetleaf.com
Wins for OTOjOY Audio Tech Breakthroughs Scottsdale-based audio technology company OTOjOY is one of 10 winners out of 80 applicants in Arizona Commerce Authority’s most recent Arizona Innovation Challenge, awarded for its loop technology that is designed to be installed in large gathering places. Individuals can use their own hearing aids and cochlear implants to connect wirelessly to the venue’s sound system and receive crystal-clear sound without any distortion or background noise. OTOjOY’s first invention, OTOjOY LoopBuds, won a 2018 CES Innovation Award, an Edison Award, and was nominated for a Global Mobile award. otojoy.com
PHILANTHROPY
Subway® Meals Aid Local Food Banks More than 350 Subway Restaurants in the Phoenix area recently joined together to feed their local neighbors in need by helping provide 150,000 meals to local food banks through Feeding America via its Feed the Need campaign, one of many actions taken by Subway and its local owners to fight hunger and food insecurity around the world. subway.com/FeedTheNeed
Wilde Wealth Management’s Cheer for Children Wilde Wealth Management Group, an award-winning independent financial services firm, helped make the recent holiday season a little merrier and brighter for more than 1,200 Arizona children in need with its donation of 900 toys as well as more than $2,500 in cash donations to Toys for Tots in December. It was the firm’s 15th year supporting The Marine Toys for Tots Foundation. wildewealth.com
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Stop the Overwhelm Doing more with less has been the obstacle for many organizations, entrepreneurs and employees. Unfortunately, it’s taken a toll on productivity and has even led to stress, overwhelm and burnout in the workplace. Following are some tips to being more productive while eliminating the downsides. Schedule email time. E-mail inboxes are a big anxiety trigger. One way to eliminate unnecessary stress is to set aside a time to check the inbox and otherwise stay focused on the tasks at hand. A lot of people check email three times daily with great success. It’s also a good idea to clean out the mailbox from time to time. Just seeing all those old emails is overwhelming, not to mention slowing down the system. Set a productivity timer. Approach a large task by setting small steps to avoid overwhelm. If possible, work in 30-minute to one-hour segments. Set a timer to change pace and take a break to refresh. Stop multitasking: Multitasking is one of the greatest lies of all time. Focusing on one task until completion will result in greater progress on the task and increased quality of the work.
Clean the workspace: Organization and productivity go hand-in-hand. Studies show a messy environment heightens stress levels in the workplace. Learn to say ‘no.’ We must learn to say no to others and yes to ourselves. Helping others is great, but not when it causes us stress trying to complete our own tasks. If delegating is an option, use it. Eliminate distractions. Save browsing the web and checking social media for break time or even as part of decompression after completing a task. Finding a quiet place to work uninterrupted may be a solution if one’s workspace is surrounded by noise or other distractions. Clean out the mental inbox: One of the biggest productivity killers in the workplace is letting one’s personal life bleed over into one’s professional life. Of course, some things can’t wait, but generally speaking, it’s best to take care of everything that requires one’s personal attention before heading off to work, and keep the two as separate as possible. —Vinay Saranga, M.D., a psychiatrist and founder of Saranga Comprehensive Psychiatry www. sarangapsychiatry.com
Kaleidoscope Juice Moves East Marking a change in its retail operation, local juice and health food company Kaleidoscope Juice is including a baking production area in the new store it opens this month in Gilbert. “We wanted to bring the baking experience into our shop to showcase what we have always done behind the scenes,” says Alexandra Maw, founder and co-owner. The onsite baking area enables the Gilbert store to expanded its offerings of glutenfree, vegan and sugar-free baked goods on Kaleidoscope’s menu of fresh-pressed and coldpressed juices, smoothies, coffees, acai bowls, grab-and-go salads and current variety of protein cookies, gluten-free muffins, keto brownies and quick breads. Located at 60 W. Vaughn Avenue just off Heritage Square, the new 1,100-square-foot space will feature a walnut wood bar, banquet seating and a communal table where guests can dine in. Referring to this first East Valley location for her company, Maw says, “We are buzzing with delight to open our shop in Gilbert and share our passion for mindful eating and high-vibe foods with this new community.”
Locally owned and operated since 2008 and now with seven locations in the Greater Phoenix area, Kaleidoscope Juice is committed to offering healthy food fast using the best organic ingredients — sourced locally when possible. —Mike Hunter Kaleidoscope Juice kaleidoscope.love
Although there has been an increase in quality in AI-driven transcription services in recent years, robots work within a preprogrammed set of words and are therefore unable to understand specialist terminology and other subtle linguistic nuances.
ENTREPRENEURS & INNOVATORS
Startups in 2020 – How to Get an Idea Funded Many of us think we have a “great idea,” but getting that idea to a point someone will write a check for is far more complex than many may think. To get funded, it’s important to look for three key elements: Is the idea scalable? Is the team behind it solid and capable to get it there? And is the market actually ready for it? The goal is to convince the potential funders that these three areas are 100 percent solidified. To do this, a pitch deck is the best starting point. The entrepreneur’s first step in this is to put everything he can find in it — capturing data points, competitors, profiles of the team and their experience, and a plan on how to grow and scale. The next step is to start combining all the slides that are similar and distilling them down. In the end, there should be no more than three points per slide, and as few slides as possible to still get the investor to see the plan and believe in the vision. Next is networking — a must. For every 100 potentials a person will meet, he can expect maybe five to be willing to listen to his pitch. From those, he can expect one to possibly write a check. This illustrates the importance that one should be out pitching 24/7. Early-stage companies should not
rule out anyone as a potential investor. If they can believe in —Ben the plan and have liquid capital, they are a target. Smith, CEO of Xcellerate Biomedical Technologies (www. xcelleratebio.com) and a seasoned entrepreneur, executive and marketer with nearly three decades of experience serving across a variety of sectors
Photo (bottom) courtesy of Tweener Homes
Finding a Home In-Between An unfilled niche in the real estate industry?! Explains Nick Calvi, “My wife and I were in between homes and in need of a comfortable furnished home for three to four months. We found the process to be very frustrating, calling and emailing owners and property managers, not getting any response. This created extra stress in an already very stressful time. We thought it should not be this hard to have a central website people could go to and find all the homes that fit their criteria, apply, book and pay online.” So, in October 2018, Calvi founded Tweener Homes. The company is the first technology-based real estate brokerage with a sole purpose to offer a stress-free process for people to rent a furnished home and for people who want to rent out their furnished home — on a monthly basis. Calvi was already well versed in the real estate industry as a licensed and experienced real estate agent. But to start Tweener Homes, he first needed to obtain a broker license. Next, having established his real estate brokerage with the Arizona Department of Real Estate and obtaining insurance coverage, the next challenge was marketing. “Getting the word out on what we do is challenging,” Calvi says. He worked with a marketing and branding company on website, imaging and marketing collateral. “People need our service, but letting them know we are here and what we do is
a challenge — having people believe in what your business is all about and how we can make their lives easier, better.” He focuses on meeting this challenge one person at a time, to “get the word out with what we do, and then execute.” Shares Calvi, “After two years of laying the foundation for the business, I want progress and growth to happen quickly. I have a vision for where I want the company to be and want to wiggle my nose and make it all happen. Unfortunately, that only gives you a wrinkled nose! The best advice I was given was ‘enjoy the journey,’ which I keep reminding myself of every —RaeAnne Marsh day.”
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Tweener Homes tweenerhomes.com
Veteran-owned small businesses are struggling to thrive all around the country. According to a recent report from Moneypenny, only five states saw more than 1 percent growth: Wyoming (4.75%), Arizona (4.17%), Idaho (3.83%), West Virginia (1.81%) and Utah (1.23%). moneypenny.com/us
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METRICS & MEASUREMENTS
Are We Becoming an Automation Nation? Where will machines most affect jobs around the country? by RaeAnne Marsh
Of increasing interest to commerce today is automation of the workforce — either heralded or bemoaned. What Henry Ford’s assembly line started in reducing individuals to replaceable cogs in a replicable process, robots seem poised to finish in replacing humans completely. At least in some jobs.
Methodology Kempler Industries’ study analyzed occupations that are the most susceptible to automation, using data from the University of Oxford’s “The Future of Employment: How Susceptible are Jobs to Computerisation” study, which analyzed the probability of automation for 702 detailed occupations. From that list, Kempler analyzed the top 170 most “at-risk” occupations and compiled the number of employees within those occupations for each state as well as 350 metro areas using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment Statistics. kempler.com/automationnation
As Kempler Industries reports, “From automotive manufacturing to cashiers, automation has already started to disrupt occupations and industries across the country. Machines and robots have replaced humans for various workrelated tasks and will continue to do so in the coming years.” Kempler, which has been in the business of buying and selling used machinery through three generations of family ownership and recently added new machinery to its inventory, studied data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment Statistics and the University of Oxford’s “The Future of Employment: How Susceptible are Jobs to Computerisation” study to get an idea of how big an impact automation is expected to have within each of our United States. Kempler’s analysis reveals that no state is immune to automation. Overall, roughly 41 million, or 28 percent of all U.S. jobs, are most susceptible to automation. Occupations within the service industry are some of the hardest hit in terms of being at risk for automation, specifically cashiers, retail salespersons and fast food employees.
Automation in Metro Cities Kempler also looked at automation on a more granular level by analyzing the percent of potential jobs lost within the 50 largest metropolitan areas. Texas has three metro areas all within the top 10 cities on Kempler’s list that could experience the largest amount of jobs lost, including the San Antonio, Dallas and Houston metro areas; Florida has the dubious distinction of placing the most cities within the top 10 list — Miami, Tampa, Orlando and Jacksonville — all of which could all see 29 percent or more of their current workforce, or 5.8 million jobs, lost to automation. Out of the top 10 “honors” but still high on the list at number 26 is the Phoenix-MesaScottsdale metropolitan area, expected to lose 27.8 percent of its current jobs. Kempler’s report concludes, “Automation has the potential to fundamentally transform industries, jobs and lives, but the scale and pace of that transformation remains to be seen. As automation continues to make advancements in both our personal and professional lives, it will be interesting to see how industries and people adapt to these changes.” Kempler Industries kempler.com
AUTOMATION BY STATE State
% of Jobs
# of Jobs
Alabama
31.4%
609,690
Alaska
26.6%
83,920
Arizona
28.0%
782,150
Arkansas
29.4%
356,010
California
26.8%
Colorado
28.2%
Connecticut
State
% of Jobs
Louisiana
28.3%
Maine Maryland
# of Jobs
State
% of Jobs
# of Jobs
542,200
Ohio
29.3%
1,584,730
28.7%
173,970
Oklahoma
29.9%
476,340
25.1%
672,550
Oregon
28.1%
529,420
Massachusetts
24.5%
876,490
Pennsylvania
28.6%
1,674,300
4,565,050
Michigan
28.3%
1,222,990
Rhode Island
29.1%
140,220
738,300
Minnesota
27.1%
777,660
South Carolina 30.5%
629,120
26.4%
437,630
Mississippi
28.7%
322,720
South Dakota
33.5%
141,360
Delaware
29.7%
133,310
Missouri
30.2%
846,210
Tennessee
28.7%
849,630
Florida
31.5%
2,709,720
Montana
31.1%
144,120
Texas
30.4%
3,679,270
Georgia
28.8%
1,266,660
Nebraska
30.0%
293,890
Utah
27.6%
Hawaii
29.2%
187,440
Nevada
32.5%
437,590
Vermont
27.1%
Idaho
28.7%
202,700
New Hampshire
30.3%
197,640
Virginia
27.4%
1,051,580
Illinois
27.0%
1,615,180
New Jersey
26.9%
1,091,070
Washington
26.9%
876,840
Indiana
29.1%
886,610
New Mexico
28.2%
228,870
West Virginia
30.0%
208,940
Iowa
29.5%
455,530
New York
26.3%
2,464,940
Wisconsin
29.1%
828,070
Kansas
29.1%
400,200
North Carolina
29.9%
1,310,400
Wyoming
30.0%
80,700
Kentucky
29.5%
557,720
North Dakota
28.1%
117,030
402,070 82,790
Source: kempler.com/automation-nation
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A study by Kempler Industries predicts 41,067,920 — or 28 percent — of all U.S. jobs are most susceptible to automation. kempler.com/automation-nation
PROPERTY, GROWTH AND LOCATION
The Future of Commercial Real Estate Is Flexible Ever-changing consumer demands drive industry trends, and real estate is no exception. Today’s younger consumers are increasingly drawn to services that are ondemand, easily accessible and flexible. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that this shift is changing the nature of commercial real estate. Forward-thinking entrepreneurs have already begun demonstrating how underutilized spaces can be rented through sharing and trust. Real estate sharing improves the economy and vitality of neighborhoods and its future is very promising. Scratching the Surface of Real Estate Sharing Airbnb is the most widely known form of real estate sharing to date. Since the company’s inception, it has continued to innovate and grow. Although sharing property would have seemed outlandish years ago, people began to accept that it is not only safe but cost-efficient and, better yet, easy. It gives consumers a simple and flexible way to “purchase” living arrangements. As the popularity of shared homes increased, WeWork was busy making shared workspaces the norm. Co-working spaces provide entrepreneurs, startups and small businesses with leasing flexibility. The option to lease an office at a shared workspace helps renters relieve the stress of a longterm lease and, instead, use their energy to focus on growing their business.
As these companies demonstrate, the sharing economy is a powerful engine fueling the economy of progressive cities and creating myriad opportunities for business innovation. More Opportunity Lies Ahead Now that the feasibility of real estate sharing has been established, it's time to get creative with opportunities that benefit landlords and property owners, neighborhoods needing new life, and entrepreneurs seeking affordable space with flexible terms. As space sharing continues to catch on, opportunities for creative utilization will unfold, adding an economic, social and cultural boost to any city. Although all new industries advance in fits and starts, the sharing economy has already yielded positive results. A great example is REACTIV, an online marketplace featuring vacant and underutilized commercial venues for rent, that launched in November 2019. REACTIV provides solutions for owners to showcase their properties and earn revenue, while providing solutions for entrepreneurs and creatives to activate their innovative concepts. Real estate sharing and flexibility will continue to be a powerful future trend. Consumers already experience flexibility in hospitality with Airbnb, at work with WeWork and in the restaurant business with food halls. Flexible options in asset classes will become a requirement as shared real estate is embraced and becomes the new standard. —Jason Shepherd, co-founder of REACTIV (reactive.io) and Atlas Real Estate (www.realatlas.com) by Mike Hunter
GET REAL
The Grand Wins BOMA Building of the Year Lincoln Property Company won “The Outstanding Building of the Year” award last month from the Arizona chapter of Building Owners and Managers Association for its management of The Grand — the first of eight Class A office buildings LPC is developing at the 60-acre Grand at Papago Park Center mixed-use development in Tempe, Arizona.
Photos courtesy Landsea Homes and Colliers International (bottom, l to r)
The Desert West
Incomplete Properties to Redesigned Neighborhood
Six-Building Medical Campus in Surprise
Leasing Open on 3900 East Camelback
Model homes have opened at Landsea Homes’ newest community, Centerra, in the City of Goodyear. The opening of Centerra marks a significant victory for Landsea Homes and Goodyear, where the downturn of the market 12 years ago left the community in a state of incompletion. Implementing environmentally conscious building materials and smart home automation features, Landsea Homes will complete the development of the site and construct a series of beautiful new singleand two-story homes in a highly desirable location. landseahomes.com/arizona/centerra
Auviana, a six-building medical complex being constructed at the southwest corner of Reems Road and Mountain View Boulevard in Surprise, has filled 19,500 square feet of its 52,000 square feet total with Regency Specialties as its anchor tenant. The practice includes specialists in plastics and reconstruction surgery, dermatology, hand and microsurgery, dermatopathology and breast pathology, and facial aesthetics and reconstructive trauma work. The project is slated for completion in mid2020. Leasing for the Auviana Medical Complex is through Colliers International in Arizona. www2.colliers.com/en/United-States/ Cities/Phoenix
The 3900 Camelback Center office building, a Class A project completed in 2009 and recently sold for $54.5 million, offers one of the corridor’s largest contiguous blocks of first floor space available and is situated in the dynamic east end of the submarket. “The midpoint of the Camelback Corridor is shifting eastward,” says Ryan Timpani, executive vice president with Colliers International. “3900 Camelback Center benefits from an incredible wealth of nearby and walkable amenities that offers convenient options to employees in the building.” www2.colliers.com/en/United-States/ Cities/Phoenix
Airbnb, the most widely known form of real estate sharing to date, has generated $53.3 million in tax revenue in the State of Arizona since the company began collecting and remitting applicable taxes in 2017.
Region of international full-service real estate firm Lincoln Property Company, which includes Arizona, Nevada, Utah and New Mexico, is based in Phoenix and has been operating since 2001. In that time, the regional office has developed almost 6 million square feet, acquired more than 10 million square feet and manages approximately 10 million square feet of commercial space. —Mike Hunter lpcphx.com
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PROPERTY, GROWTH AND LOCATION
BY MIKE HUNTER
Papago Plaza Razed, Papago Plaza Raised
Single-Family Home Community for Adults with Disabilities Luna Azul, a new gated single-family home community, offering a new approach to independent living for adults with disabilities, recently celebrated its grand opening and the move-in of the community’s first residents. The 4.5-acre development located in North Phoenix also launched its Community Association, which provides heightened attention through 24/7 on-site monitoring by a team of Community Coordinators who also organize a full calendar of social activities for residents and their guests. The 30-home “pocket neighborhood” was designed to address and accommodate the needs of adults with intellectual, developmental and acquired disabilities, allowing them to live independently (or with a family member or caregiver). Luna Azul’s approach, as the first in the nation to implement this model, offers the option of independent living for adults with disabilities through home ownership and a Community Association with a full-time team of on-site Community Coordinators. Coordinators help ensure the overall safety and
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Anticipated completion date is fall 2020. Papago Plaza was originally built in the 1960s by the Malouf family and subsequently renovated to the “pueblo” look in the early 1980s. Mashburn purchased the property from the Maloufs six years ago and began the concept of redeveloping the property. “Sigma is honored and very excited to be working on this project with Lee Mashburn and Pivot Development,” says Dan Hinkson, president of Sigma, an Arizona-based company founded in 1983 and licensed in eight Southwestern states. “We have worked together on various projects for almost 20 years. We started on this project shortly after Lee purchased this property almost seven years ago and helped bring a variety of concepts to the table over time along with potential tenants.” “We are extremely proud of this project. We look at it as the gateway to South Scottsdale. With SkySong across the street, we want to create a synergy at this intersection,” says Mashburn, president of Pivot. Sigma Contracting Inc. sigmacontracting.com
well-being of residents, monitor the community, assist with home maintenance issues, and plan social and recreational activities for regular engagement among residents. “We created Luna Azul because we wanted something different for our daughter, who has a rare disability,” said Mark Roth, founder and developer of Luna Azul. “Our goal was to build a place for her to live safely and permanently and have a socially fulfilling life with lasting friendships. With residents now living there, we’re seeing the Luna Azul concept work, even to the point where some residents are flourishing beyond their parents’ expectations and their need for in-home care is less than was originally planned, confirming all my expectations of how impactful friendship and inclusiveness is on our lives.” Luna Azul’s first phase of 14 cottage-style homes are available and on-track to sell-out by year-end. Construction of the second phase of 16 new homes is expected to begin in early 2020, with completion of the full development slated for fall 2020. Luna Azul lunaphx.com
Luna Azul, which is located just south of Loop 101 and 16th Street at 1500 E. Wahalla Lane in Phoenix, is the nation’s first community of its kind, offering adults with disabilities and their families the financial benefit of home ownership.
Photos courtesy of Sigma Contracting Inc. (top) and Luna Azul (bottom)
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Construction of a more contemporary Papago Plaza has begun over the demolition of the iconic, shopping center at Scottsdale and McDowell roads in Scottsdale. The new Papago Plaza will feature an adaptive re-use design of natural elements that include brick, stone and wood with a mid-century modern aesthetic. The retail development will include art murals, neighborhood gathering areas for events, a common heavily-landscaped park area with full-service Wi-Fi, fountains, benches and child-friendly water feature. The new project is being broken into three main phases: retail buildings plus a possible three-story office on one of the retail buildings and parking structure (Pivot Development and Sigma Contracting), hotel (PEG Development) and multifamily (Alliance Residential). Sigma’s portion of the project is valued at $11 million to $16 million and will consist of the complete demolition of the original Papago Plaza that was constructed in the mid-1960s and renovated in the early 1980s. The three retail buildings total 21,000 square feet, a grocery store will be 22,000 square feet, planned office building will be 45,000 square feet and parking garage will be 120,000 square feet. This portion of the project totals approximately five acres of site work.
YOUR BENEFIT IN BUSINESS
WELL WELL WELL
by Mike Hunter
RealAge for Better Health Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona (BCBSAZ), the state's largest locally based healthcare insurer, and Sharecare, the digital health company that helps people manage all their health in one place, have formed a strategic partnership to empower every Arizonan, regardless of insurance coverage, to improve their holistic health and well-being. Additionally, this deal provides exclusivity to BCBSAZ as the only Arizona-based health plan to offer the Sharecare platform to members or commercial customer groups. Founded by Jeff Arnold and Dr. Mehmet Oz, Sharecare helps people better understand their health and get timely and actionable steps to improve it. Starting with the proprietary, scientifically validated RealAge test — which calculates the actual age of the user’s body based on lifestyle factors and key indicators for health risks — Sharecare enables people to go from assessment to action, and connect to the personalized information, evidence-based programs, benefits, community resources and health services they need to live their best lives. As part of the new partnership kicking off in 2020, any Arizonan can download Sharecare to learn their RealAge, earn green days and follow a personalized, evidence-based journey to better health. Additionally, Arizonans who are BCBSAZ members will have enhanced services through Sharecare, including access to claims data; custom challenges and incentive fulfillment; and additional tools and information, including best-inclass lifestyle coaching. azblue.com sharecare.com
One-Stop Solution for Sleep Health Full-service population sleep health company FusionHealth and sleep diagnostics leader Nox Medical have joined forces to form Nox Health, becoming one of the world’s largest providers of sleep health solutions. “Sleep issues affect half the world’s population,” according to Dr. Jeffrey Durmer, co-founder and Chief Medical Officer of FusionHealth, “yet many of today’s programs fail to keep people engaged long enough to see tangible results and improvements.” By investing in employees’ sleep health, companies can reduce healthcare costs, prevent fatigue-related errors and improve performance while supporting the overall well-being of their employees. noxhealth.com
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FastMed Seizes Opportunity in VA Extension FastMed Urgent Care, one of the nation’s largest urgent care providers and the largest that is Joint Commission-accredited, is honored to be included as part of the network of community providers that now serve veterans, a result of the 2019 urgent care expansion by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). The extension of benefits, made possible by the MISSION Act passed by Congress and signed into law by President Trump in 2018, allows community network urgent care clinics to provide care to veterans without prior authorization. This new change allows FastMed to service the needs of veterans throughout local communities. Before passage of the MISSION Act allowing enrollees to seek medical assistance beyond VA hospitals and clinics, veterans seeking affordable and convenient healthcare services commonly endured long periods of waiting for an available appointment at VA healthcare centers, where wait times have been recorded at 30 days or more. Under the MISSION Act, FastMed visits are now covered when veterans have acute illnesses and injuries such as colds, cough, flu-like symptoms, sore throat, earache, skin infections, wounds, back pain, joint and muscle sprains and other acute healthcare needs. Diagnostic X-rays and many lab tests are also available on-site. With this change taking place, FastMed has made internal adjustments to better educate both veterans and the general public alike regarding when it’s appropriate to seek care in an urgent care clinic compared to when severe or complicated medical issue should be evaluated and treated in a hospital Emergency Department setting. While FastMed has added a new patient group to its roster and is now treating more patients than
FastMed operates 109 walk-in locations, 30 of which are in Arizona.
ever before, the clinics are suited to accommodate the needs of this group. FastMed has not needed to alter the physical layout or structure of its 30 clinics located within the Greater Phoenix and Tucson metro areas. To make this option efficient for both our employees and veterans, FastMed continues to explore and invest in optimal methods for sending veteran patients’ information back to the VA for inclusion in their medical records and to be available to their primary care providers. Additionally, the number of visits at each clinic is continuously monitored and staffing levels are adjusted to optimize the efficiency and flow of the clinics. Veterans can now visit several urgent care walkin clinics and hospital EDs for their healthcare needs, significantly reducing their wait times. The aim of increasing access to community providers is to reduce the time veterans wait for acute healthcare veteran wait times by more than half. Since last June’s extension of the MISSION Act, FastMed has experienced a significant increase in urgent care visits from veteran patients. Veterans, like other patient groups, seek timely access to high-quality healthcare. As this new option of health coverage outside of the VA system becomes more available, FastMed expects to reach an even larger audience of veterans seeking prompt care for non-critical medical conditions in the communities in which —Lane Tassin, M.D., regional it operates. chief medical officer for FastMed Urgent Care’s western region, which covers Arizona and Texas, since 2018 after six years as regional medical director with FastMed’s Tucson providers (www. fastmed.com)
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INNOVATIONS FOR BUSINESS
TECH NOTES
by Mike Hunter
Front Expands to Greater Phoenix Front, the company replacing corporate email with an inbox built for teamwork, will create up to 50 new jobs in Greater Phoenix in 2020. With offices in San Francisco and Paris, the company considered multiple markets for its expansion, including Salt Lake City and San Diego, but ultimately selected Greater Phoenix due to the region’s competitive costs to do business, the availability of talent and access to local resources. In addition, the executive team was inspired by the energy in the local startup ecosystem and community, and felt an alignment of values with the entrepreneurs working to advance its interests. Founded in 2013, Front is building a platform that unifies people, messages and apps — starting with email. In place of Gmail or Outlook, Front is an inbox that unites teams to do their best work. Front brings email together with team collaboration, other communication channels and business-critical apps, all in one place. By fixing email, Front untangles convoluted processes, miscommunication and the crossed signals that hamper most teamwork, helping teams get aligned, stay focused and act
Technology Impacts the Traditional 9–5 Workday ect Themselves? There was a time when the traditional nineto-five work schedule was a governing model of a day’s work. With the rise of the gig economy, nine-to-fives are dying and companies are feeling the effects. In fact, about 36 percent of U.S. workers are now considered freelance workers, according to a survey Gallop released last August. Companies need to do their best to keep their employees engaged or they risk losing them to the gig economy. Technology has changed the way employees work, allowing them to have access to their work wherever and whenever. As a result, employees are wanting to work from home more than ever. Nine-to-fives are still preferred among most companies, but many are struggling to keep their employees productive throughout the workday. According to the 2018 Mercer Global Talent Trends Report, nearly 51 percent of employees want their company to offer more flexible work options. Below are a couple of reasons why the eight-hour workday is failing and how companies can address it.
faster than ever before. “While the world of work has changed all around us, one paradigm has remained constant for over three decades: our corporate email. As a result, we are more overworked, more burned out and are lacking vocational fulfillment unlike ever before. That’s the problem Front is solving in the marketplace,” says Anthony Kennada, a Greater Phoenix local who has been named chief marketing officer and head of the Phoenix operation. Front is Kennada’s second business expansion to Greater Phoenix, having brought San Francisco-based Gainsight, the customer success company, to Downtown Phoenix in 2013. Front has raised $79 million in funding from respected venture firms, including Sequoia Capital and Threshold Ventures, and is proud to work with more than 5,000 customers representing leading brands such as Cisco Meraki, MailChimp, Shopify and Arizona-based Carvana. In 2019, Front was recognized as the No. 1 Small Workplace in the U.S. by Fortune and Great Place to Work. frontapp.com
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Productivity Decreases in the Eight-Hour Workday During the workday, it is rare that employees are actually productive throughout the entire day. Over the course of an eight-hour day, the average employee works for only about three hours. The rest of the day is spent doing things other than work, including eating, socializing or reading the news. By offering a flexible work schedule, employers enable employees to better prioritize their lives outside the office. The term, “remote work” has been given an unfair reputation. Over the years, there has been a myth surrounding the idea of remote working arrangements, claiming those who work from home are slackers or unproductive. However, the ability to work wherever and whenever is extremely appealing to U.S. workers. According to research reported in the New York Post last October, 59 percent of American workers stated that they feel more productive when working from a remote location. With remote work taking the modern workforce by storm, it is important for companies to find ways to help employees become more productive. Since many individuals work in different ways, remote opportunities may be the best solution for a company’s productivity. For example, morning people like to get their tasks done and out of the way first thing in the morning.
Night owls, on the other hand, often get their burst of energy when the sun goes down. By offering the option for flexibility, a business can help its employees become more efficient as well as productive on their preferred schedule. Promote a Healthy Work/Life Balance Millennials and Gen Z have grown up in the technological age and have become accustomed to it. As millennials and Gen Z continue to take over the workforce, they have come to expect employers to offer flexibility. To them, remote working arrangements and flexible work hours are seen as a required luxury. Also, millennials and Gen Z are starting to have families and are wanting a company that offers flexibility to fit their increasingly busy schedule. Flexible work arrangements are an easy way to provide employees with a healthy work-life balance. A flexible work arrangement can allow employees to shift their everyday schedule by starting the day later or leaving earlier, meaning the total number of work hours doesn’t change. While technology has opened the door to many opportunities, it has also presented significant challenges. The younger generations have constant access to their phones and emails. This causes an unprecedented amount of stress outside the workplace. Yet, employers are trying to find innovative ways to offer flexibility and benefits to help keep their employees engaged. Implementing the steps above is a good starting point to help employees remain productive and more engaged overall. —Matt Thomas, president of WorkSmart Systems Inc. (www. worksmartpeo.com), an Indianapolis-based Professional Employer Organization founded in 1998 that serves more than 200 client companies in 37 states and is an active member of the National Association of Professional Employer Organizations
According to a recent CareerBuilder study, more than one-quarter of employees (29%) say they regularly search for jobs while employed. In addition to this, 50 percent of workers believe they have just a job and are searching for their career. press.careerbuilder.com
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Contact us today at 888-995-4945 or Info@RedirectHealth.com to learn more. © Copyright Redirect Health® 2019. All Rights Reserved. inBusiness OCT 19 Issue Ad 0919
Phoenix Phoenix Phoenix Rising Rising Rising Meet those who are changing the face of business by RaeAnne Marsh
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x x
It’s not “business as usual� at many companies throughout Greater Phoenix, where entrepreneurs and corporate executives have been breaking out of the box and helping strengthen business in this fifth-largest metropolitan area in the nation. In Business Magazine has taken a cross-section of sectors key to our economy and has spoken with leaders of select companies to present an inside view from some of those helping to change the face of business here in the Valley of the Sun.
Next Gen Hospitality?
Shaun Baker, Cambria Hotel Phoenix Downtown Shaun Baker is the general manager of Cambria Hotel Phoenix Downtown, which, he says, “is a one-of-a-kind unique concept unlike any other Cambria around.” The property has been designed to welcome out-of-state travelers but also provide a premier venue for the local neighborhood. It is littered with local art, murals painted by local artists and an entertainment calendar filled with what Baker describes as “can’t-miss” happenings. Cambria Hotel Phoenix Downtown offers spacious sleeping rooms, including three suites. The property also offers a 900-square-foot flexible meeting space. “In addition, the property features Poppy restaurant, which is open seven days a week for brunch and dinner service as well. In addition to amazing food, Poppy also offers a full lounge — all of which is open to the public. From the Rooftop is the property’s premier venue, providing 360-degree views of Downtown Phoenix. Here you can host a special event, rent private seating, or stop by for some casual food and hand craft cocktails.” Pointing to awareness as a significant issue, Baker says, “The
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challenge with any new business is making sure people know we are here so the business can survive. We work diligently with our PR/ Marketing Firm and leverage all of our partner relationships to create not only local awareness, but National awareness as well.” Baker reports the Cambria’s CompSet, or competitive set analysis relative to a group of hotels seen as direct competitors, grew 31.9 percent year over year this past December, and notes months that used to be considered off-season or shoulder months are starting to see a lot more demand. Baker sees the continued growth and development in the Downtown market having a very positive impact on his and other new businesses. Baker has been on this project since soon after its opening a few days before Thanksgiving last year. He shares, “I would definitely say our biggest accomplishment has been taking a concept and making it come to life. We spent many of hours with the community to provide not only the area’s newest business, but a place for everyone to feel welcome. With that,” he concludes, “we had to hire numerous staff members, retain, train and act, but the fruits of our efforts are starting to realize. Pretty cool …”
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Disrupting the Food and Beverage Industry Jamie Baxter, Qwick
Qwick is solidly in the technology space as well as serving the staffing and employment sector. Its CEO, Jamie Baxter, co-founded the company in October 2017 as an on-demand staffing platform for the food and beverage industry, bringing freedom and flexibility through high-quality, reliable staffing in real-time. Baxter explains, “Our hospitality technology allows business partners to access thousands of vetted and qualified professionals.” The concept applies principles that are becoming mainstream in other areas of our lives, disrupting the traditional hiring practices in the restaurant industry. “The same way that you order food through an app and it’s delivered to your door, an executive chef can hire a prep cook for the day. And the same way that you can order a nearby car ride, a catering manager can order a banquet server to show up and work an event,” says Baxter. “Qwick is empowering food and beverage business partners to grow and succeed on their terms, and encouraging professionals take control of their schedules. With our unique algorithm that matches highly skilled professionals with available shifts, business partners no longer need to rely on traditional staffing agencies that don’t understand the industry or on their own list of on-call staff to fill lastminute needs or take on business opportunities.” According to Baxter, understaffing is the most common issue and frustration encountered by food and beverage business partners. Qwick offers them a fast, reliable and high-quality solution, and many are now using the service. “To date, we work with over 900 business partners across the hospitality industry,” says Baxter. “Our partners include Marriott, ProEm, Santa Barbara Catering, The Scott Resort & Spa, Hilton Phoenix Airport and more.”
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Qwick currently has more than 62,000 professionals on its platform, who have worked more than 235,000 hours via Qwick. The most difficult challenge the company faces continues to be team growth — finding, as Baxter puts it, “enough amazing people fast enough, and making sure they are in the right seats.” The company aims to be in 20 markets by 2020, and forecasts the need to hire more than 40 additional people and doubling the size of the current team. But, says Baxter, “with in-house recruiters, a uniquely developed company culture, and a collaborative interview process in place, we believe we are equipped to not only grow our team, but grow it with fantastic people.” There have been significant changes in both the economy and the food and beverage industry that have impacted Qwick’s growth and development – some negatively, some positively. Explains Baxter, “Recent state policy changes around the status and future of 1099 workers have been one of the largest hurdles we’ve encountered over the past year. This impacts the types of business partners we can work with, and it also impacts the freedom
and flexibility that we pride ourselves on providing to professionals. With policy changes still up in the air, our team is working diligently to find the ideal solution to continue offering our professionals the freedom and flexibility and business partners the high-quality, experienced professionals they’ve come to expect from us. “Another factor that greatly impacts the hospitality industry is the low unemployment rate, making it difficult for business partners to obtain a high-level of talent or even hire at all. We’ve been able to use this to our advantage, as we have professionals on the Qwick platform who are looking for additional work outside of their full-time jobs and can fill shifts that business partners have a hard time hiring for.”
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New Directions in Economic Development Chris Camacho, Greater Phoenix Economic Council
The Greater Phoenix Economic Council, the region’s economic development organization, has been changing the face of business since its inception in 1989 through its recruitment of businesses to establish a presence here. Chris Camacho has been at its head as president and CEO since 2015. Specifically, the Greater Phoenix Economic Council actively works to attract and grow quality businesses and advocate for the competitiveness of Greater Phoenix. As the regional economic development organization, GPEC works with 22-member communities, Maricopa County and more than 170 private investors to accomplish its mission and serve as a strategic partner to companies across the world as they expand or relocate. Says Camacho, “GPEC is focused on putting Greater Phoenix on the map. Through our strategic campaigns and intentional business development strategies, we have led the recruitment of 800-plus businesses to the market, resulting in more than 130,000 jobs for Greater Phoenix residents. We’re setting the trajectory nationally for how public-private partnerships can optimally operate using a consultative model that advances marketing automation and data science practices to drive outcomes for the region.” And internally, he adds, “GPEC is focused on developing and living out our organization's core values, ‘The GPEC Way.’ The implementation of these key principles has resulted in improved staff morale, an elevated onboarding process and a strong professional development program.” GPEC works to attract highly talented individuals with a strong focus on civic mindfulness and social responsibility, but “the challenge with this is that you never truly get a sense that the work is done or that your project is final,” Camacho notes. “The work we do at GPEC is interwoven with so many industries and global initiatives, our team needs to be mindful of how this can impact the fulfillment of our mission.” For instance, global trade policy can impact our region’s targets around foreign direct investment, a low unemployment rate can make the competition for talent incredibly fierce, and the evolution of business expansion has resulted in many data-driven factors impacting the expansion or relocation decision. “All three of these factors require the GPEC team to evaluate our strategies and
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stay on the cutting edge of economic development best practices.” Not just staying on top of, though, but also setting new paths. A case in point is The Connective, a framework built from a publicprivate-partnership that facilitates our development as a “smart region.” Explains Camacho, “A lot of cities across the U.S. adopt smart technology because a smart technology widget gets pushed upon a city council or a city staff — a solution seeking a problem. Instead, we’ve determined that you can unify a regional system of municipalities — in this case, 20-plus cities in the fastest-growing region in the United States — and, instead of incrementally adopting smart technology, rather you have CIOs, city managers, mayors and [other] elected officials, working together to adopt a smart regional governance model that evaluates … problem sets first.” Camacho remembers his “Aha” moment. “I was at a smart city conference with a couple of my peers, and we saw this kind of siloed approach to smart technology adoption as almost like a fad. Rather than going down that path, we wanted to be very thoughtful in how we leveraged GPEC’s system of regional coordination and collaboration with our cities and Maricopa County and the private sector. Stephan [Frijia, GPEC SVP of strategy] and I and a lot of organizations (The Institute for Digital Progress, ASU, Maricopa Association of Government) immediately came together and said, ‘Can we absolutely reverse engineer the process that exists currently across the country;
can we build this governance framework so that we’re very disciplined in the way we adopt these smart technology platforms?” That’s when we unleashed our team to go out and meet with the CIOs, city managers, economic development directors, the mayors to assess whether there was unity in this approach. And we had overwhelming feedback that this could create a new disciplined way of adopting smart technology and advancing this digital framework — unlike any other place in the United States. We think this transformational thinking is warranted, and we have the partnership model that exists that can be leveraged into success. “I haven’t seen this anywhere across the country, where you have all of these partners — the public sector to identify problem sets, and the back-end industry partners to identify solution sets — and that’s what makes this overarching system unique.” INBUSINESSPHX.COM
Commercial Real Estate Firm Breaks the Mold Jonathan Keyser, Keyser
Keyser was founded in 2013. Founder Jonathan Keyser launched the company with seven other founding members in a shared office space in the corner of a local architectural firm. “We have grown rapidly since,” he shares, noting, “Today, we are one of the fastest-growing occupier services commercial real estate firms in the country.” The company exclusively represents tenants or occupiers of space, helping them with their real estate needs that include leasing, purchasing, constructing or disposing of facilities. “We specialize in helping companies leverage their real estate buying power to secure incentives and attract today’s knowledge workers, all while reducing cost and risk,” says Keyser. He elaborates on that: “Whether it’s managing a global portfolio of office and industrial leases, helping a retail franchise brand roll out locations nationally, negotiating sites for specialty healthcare clinics, assisting rapidly growing technology companies with their expansion, or helping with our clients’ datacenter strategy and space needs, our advisors take deep pride in serving and going above and beyond for our clients.” Keyser’s extensive experience in Phoenix’s business community has shown him that, for tenant brokers, a hot real estate market typically makes it harder to recruit because everyone is making money, which sometimes overrides dissatisfaction at their current firms. A hot growth market also causes business leaders to be less concerned about maximizing their real estate spend and securing optimal terms because they are growing and making money. “Things shift dramatically in a market downturn,” Keyser notes, “as leaders seek our help as they seek to reduce their real estate spend or get out of leases, and brokers start thinking about making a change to a better culture.” Keyser notes that, while his company’s main service is commercial real estate, its goal as a company is to help strengthen the client’s business. “Many of our clients have needs that go beyond the four walls, which is why we offer business advisory services — leadership training, efficiency and strategy development — and culture development courses — Keyser Institute — that can work in conjunction with or separately from our commercial real estate offering.”
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Keyser describes his company as a new kind of commercial real estate firm intent upon disrupting and re-imagining the brokerage industry. “Founded upon 15 core operating principles, our mission is to transform the commercial real estate industry through selfless service and prove that, even in one of the most cutthroat industries in the world, you don’t have to be ruthless to win. “We bring one simple philosophy in all we do: Serve others and success will come to you.” While selfless service as a business strategy has been immensely successful for the company, Keyser believes it only works well if it’s implemented as a long-term plan. “You can’t expect to have quick wins or go in with the mindset that if you serve your prospects a certain amount of times, they will become clients. This isn’t a quidpro-quo strategy I am advocating; it’s the long game. And, when you do secure a client relationship through service, you gain more than a client; you gain a friend and experience ambassador who is willing to continue or share your brand message and values.” Observing that, for most companies, this process is too long and difficult to stick to long term, Keyser says, “For that reason, we’ve developed the Keyser Institute to teach companies to see success through selfless service, faster and more effectively than they would alone.”
Keyser’s experience this past year has been “a bit surreal,” he says. “My team and I have launched my No. 1 bestseller on The Wall Street Journal and Amazon, You Don’t Have to Be Ruthless to Win; been interviewed on morning news shows across the nation, been hosted on over 60 podcasts, been invited to speak at a TedX event at Grand Canyon University, been featured in Inc., Forbes, Fast Company, CEO World, Chief Executive, Entrepreneur and the Business Journal.” Internally, the company has positioned itself for long-term success and growth by hiring a chief growth officer, a new controller and a designated broker, and by recruiting best-in-class marketing and support staff. The company has continued development into two new service lines: cultural development courses from the Keyser and Jonathan Keyser’s professional speaking practice. “To say the least, this past year we’ve made massive strides towards a stronger future. I am so proud of my team and their individual success and growth; I am certain it will yield success for us in the upcoming years.”
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Repositioning the Nonprofit Sector
Kristen Merrifield, Alliance of Arizona Nonprofits
The Alliance of Arizona Nonprofits was founded in 2004; Kristen Merrifield has been at its helm since 2015. She has added the strength of her extensive experience working with Arizona’s business community to the organization’s efforts collaborating with and on behalf of its more than 1,000 members to promote healthy, vibrant communities. The Alliance works with government to advocate for nonprofits, provides resources to help nonprofits save money, and creates opportunities for nonprofits to connect and grow. “As Arizona’s largest nonprofit advocacy organization, the Alliance of Arizona Nonprofits provides a strong, united voice to support nonprofits and the great work they do in communities statewide and to further the common interests of the nonprofit sector. We also believe that the nonprofit sector deserves a place at the table with for-profit businesses and government agencies to engage in important conversations for the greater good of the community. We are committed to changing the perception otherwise by positioning the nonprofit sector as a vital player --- economically, socially and meaningfully.” Merrifield points to two key events this past year that evidence success the organization has achieved. The first was the effort the
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Alliance led to change Arizona tax laws, allowing taxpayers to take deductions for donations to nonprofit organizations even without filing itemized returns. The impact is still being assessed, but Merrifield notes the effort helps offset changes in recent Federal tax laws that doubled the standard deductions and caused many taxpayers to not itemize — changes that were projected to result in the annual loss of hundreds of millions of dollars in contributions to the state’s nonprofit organizations. Merrifield believes, in fact, that the most significant change in the economy that affected the entire nonprofit sector was this change in Federal tax laws that led to a significant decline in year-end and tax-deadline donations, not just in Arizona but nationwide. “With support from Arizona Governor Doug Ducey and members of the Arizona Legislature, by signing HB2757 into law, Arizona nonprofit organizations will be able to recoup those dollars so critical to their missions and impact.” The second achievement was raising a record $3.6 million for Arizona nonprofits through Arizona Gives Day, a one-day, statewide fundraising campaign. Since 2013, Arizona Gives Day has raised more than $17 million for Arizona nonprofits, and Merrifield says, “We hope this year’s event on April 7 sets even more records.”
The Economy and Beyond Noting that the economy plays a key role in the Alliance of Arizona Nonprofits’ growth as well as that of the entire nonprofit community, as do government regulations and tax reform, Merrifield says, “We hope the tax-reform challenge and its impact on Arizona nonprofits with the new state law described above will address the challenge, but the direct impact won’t be clear for some time.
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“Each of those factors affects our ability to recruit new members and retain existing ones. To build awareness of the Alliance’s value to the community and to engage additional nonprofits, we have increased our grant funding and expanded staff, benefits and resources we offer to nonprofits statewide. Among the most important was bringing the Organization of Nonprofit Executives (ONE) under the Alliance umbrella to provide complementary resources that leverage the synergy between the Alliance and ONE to educate and prepare nonprofit executives for the challenges of leading the sector.” There is another important issue facing nonprofits that is not so much financial as it is overcoming the perception that the nonprofit community doesn’t have a place in important conversations with the for-profit community for the greater good of the community. That
perception persists in spite of the powerful 2016 report “Arizona Nonprofits: Economic Power, Positive Impact,” based on a study conducted by the L. William Seidman Research Institute at ASU’s W. P. Carey School of Business, which showed that nonprofits are a leading driver of economic development as well as serving their individual missions. Says Merrifield, “Even though $23.5 billion of Arizona’s Gross State Product is generated by nonprofits, along with nearly 10 percent of all state and local income taxes, we find ourselves constantly fighting for a place at the table. “We are committed to continuing our pushback against misperceptions and myths standing in our way, because our voice is vital in identifying and solving issues to move Arizona forward.”
Alliance of Arizona Nonprofits arizonanonprofits.org/
Keyser keyserco.com
Cambria Hotel Phoenix Downtown cambriahotelphoenix.com/en-us
Qwick qwick.com
Greater Phoenix Economic Council gpec.org
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Strategies
The “agency forum” developed organically among members of the Arizona chapter of Entrepreneurs’ Organization. Melissa DiGianfilippo, co-founder of Serendipit, describes EO: “There is a strict non-solicitation rule, which I love because you automatically know when you enter into a conversation with an EO member from Arizona or somewhere else in the world that they aren't trying to sell you anything. The premise of EO is all about sharing experiences to help other members through challenges they are facing in their business or personal life. Members are never permitted to give each other advice, but rather we share stories with each other of things that have happened to us and how we got through that certain situation in order to allow those we are sharing the story with to take their own learnings from our story.” Member agencies that contributed to this feature article are: The James Agency thejamesagency.com Meltmedia meltmedia.com Off Madison Ave offmadisonave.com Serendipit serendipitconsulting.com Skyhook Interactive skyhookinteractive.com Synapse Studios synapsestudios.com
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BUSINESSES’ MUTUAL BENEFIT
Competitors Build on Collaboration
Business competitors find unexpected value in open collaborative environment by RaeAnne Marsh
“I've definitely realized that there is more than enough business to go around,” says Dallin Harris, founder and president of Skyhook Interactive, discussing an “agency forum” group he takes part in within a larger business owners’ organization. It’s an unexpected assembly. Explains Harris, “In normal EO [Entrepreneurs’ Organization] forums, we try to stay away from our competitors, so as not to share trade secrets. But Adam Arkfeld at Paracore flipped that whole concept on its head when he asked, ‘Hey, we all believe in this EO community experience. Why don't we try getting together as competitors, with the belief that there is more to be gained by collaborating than there is to lose?’” Arkfeld says he initially joined EO to help him grow his business faster, and expected to realize that through training, tactics and learning strategies from different business owners that he could incorporate into his business. He discovered that, while that forum gave him the most benefit personally, it was from talking to other agency owners that he gained more tactical benefits he could use in his business. “At events, I found myself talking to agency owners about different problems I was running into — hiring, compensation, HR, pricing, anything and everything in between. I found that other owners were having similar problems and our conversations were really impactful, although they were limited in time. The agency owners in EO are impressive, so I thought if I could get everyone in the room we'd probably learn a lot from one another and be able to take strategies back to the office to help our businesses. I emailed all the agency owners in EO, had positive feedback, and we started meeting shortly thereafter.” While all respondents to this article expressed similar reasons for joining EO, benefitting from openly sharing best
practices within their industry has taken it to a higher level. “It’s never been an issue that many of us directly compete against each other,” says Serendipit co-founder Melissa DiGianfilippo. In fact, DiGianfilippo continues, “It has helped me understand better some of the core strengths that some of my fellow agency owners have so that when something isn't a great fit for Serendipit, I can refer that lead to an agency who better fits that need. It's also made me feel validation in many of our practices at Serendipit by seeing how other agencies price services, pay employees and more. “This has been one of the most valuable parts of joining the group!” she continues. “We all have experienced some interesting employee issues, from making bad hires that could potentially lead to legal issues, to hiring the right person for a totally wrong position, to what to pay, to bonus structures; there are so many things that come up when you own a business and you have employees. Having a safe place to air these challenges without judgment and with real insight into experiences that my fellow agency owners have gone through has been such a tremendous relief. We made a really bad hire at Serendipit a few years ago for a very senior-level position and, at the time, we felt like were alone on an island dealing with the drama that unfolded once we realized this person wasn't a great hire. Now I have, basically, a mini-board of directors to talk with when things like this come up, and I can share my experiences when others go through similar situations.” Says Meltmedia CEO and partner Justin Grossman, “Many of us are dealing with similar business challenges and it made sense to take an industry lens to them. While in the greater
“If we are all succeeding, it is good for the market in total. If others see the value of what our services can do, more business opportunities will come to all of us.” —David Anderson, Founder of Off Madison Ave and CEO of LighthousePE
BETTERING YOUR BUSINESS EO organization you might learn specific things to running a business, not everyone can share experiences that are so direct to our industry. For example, sharing the types of software we use, what are the right pay rates for specific types of talent, et cetera. Those solves can be very unique with an industry, and having insight into what others have tried and what has worked or not is very valuable.” Notes Harris, “It's interesting to hear about the services my competitors are offering, and whether those service areas are growing or shrinking. It helps me create a more holistic view of what customers are looking for, and where the trend is headed.” “This group provides perspective, above all else,” says Synapse Studios principal Chris Cardinal. “It's really difficult to run a business in a vacuum, and having others validate concepts through their experiences is the most valuable thing of all. If we see a strategy, approach, culture, process, technique, piece of software or something along those lines working well for someone in the group, it's something worth seriously considering bringing home to our own businesses.” He believes that, addition to giving context so they aren’t “flying blind,” it helps illuminate the true size of the market and the nature of competition here, and helps the agencies further define their respective focus. “I think the key here is understanding the different parts of the market from the group,” Grossman explains. “This is a large and dynamic market; we can’t all know everything. Being able to see what is happening in different segments is very valuable. It also helps to be able to quickly reach out to others who are experts in their area to help solve a client issue or make an introduction.” Expressing a view shared by the others, Veronique James, CEO of The James Agency, says, “All of the agencies in the Valley are incredible at what they do, and it seems they all specialize in very specific verticals and are experts within those lanes. I love that, as peer leaders even outside of EO, we can often call on each other for employee advice or support.” Observing that the market is pretty big and there is still a fair amount of difference to set the firms apart from each other, Cardinal says his firm, for instance, focuses primarily on custom mobile and web apps, whereas many of the other firms are more marketing focused. “This,” he notes, “provides me a trusted network of firms I can refer work to when there's a request we can't fulfill.” Harris, while respecting the policy of confidentiality regarding what is discussed at their meetings, shares, “I love hearing about how Serendipit does student housing, or how Meltmedia does pharma, or how Synapse does government. It makes me realize that there are a lot of other industries out there beyond the ones I'm focused on who might also need the services I provide. Also, it's cool to see how different companies put a totally different spin on similar services. So, for example, Colling Media does websites, too, but they're a lot more focused on supporting paid media campaigns, as opposed to mine, which are more focused on functionality. So when I've had opportunity to refer business, I'm able to send it to a company that not only offers the service my referral is looking for, but who offers it in a way I know they'll enjoy and benefit from.” Acknowledging, “Yes, we all have conflicts or areas of specialty,” David Anderson, founder of Off Madison Ave and CEO of LighthousePE, adds, “If we can pass someone who is not a good fit for one of us to another company, that is helpful to all of us. “We learn from each other. We share best practices. You learn quickly that there are very few ‘secret sauces’ to success and that sharing makes us all better,” Anderson says. “You also learn that if we are all succeeding, it is good for the market in total. If others see the value of what our services can do, more business opportunities will come to all of us.”
Authenticity
A common problem in marketing is, what a brand says in advertising isn't always what customers and employees experience. This book shows how to align one’s marketing efforts with the purpose of one’s brand. Too many companies depend on marketing tactics that don't match the needs and concerns of their customers, or embrace messaging and causes that don't connect. Authenticity is an anti-gimmick business book. It prescribes clear strategies that enable companies to communicate in a more genuine, emotional way. Authors Mark Toft, Jay Sunny and Rich Taylor provide a series of approaches to help embrace and communicate the purpose of one’s brand with effectiveness. Helpful for business executives who wants to be more persuasive or advertising professionals looking to grow their brand, this book combines the authors' successful experiences at top agencies into practical advice that can work for anyone in any business. Authenticity: Building a Brand in an Insincere Age Mark Toft, Jay Sunny and Rich Taylor Praeger
198 pages Available 1/30/2020
$39
Next Generation Leadership
Employers who refuse to adapt to the expectations of younger generations are losing out on top talent, as they leave for positions at companies with more modern practices. Learn what companies need to do to fit into the new normal in the workplace. Generation Y sees the world differently from any other generation in modern memory. And nowhere is this more evident than in the workplace. The astronomical shifts that this generation has seen in the economy, technology and the world have changed what they want from life and work — which is not a 9-to-5 existence for 40-plus years leading to a typical retirement at 65. What older generations call a poor work ethic from a spoiled generation, Gen Y sees as a different way of doing things. Companies that don’t get on board risk losing the diverse young talent that is critical for them to be able to compete. Next Generation Leadership: How to Ensure Young Talent Will Thrive with Your Adam Kingl
224 pages
HarperCollins Leadership
Available 2/4/2020
$24.99
The Expansion Sale
Industry analysts report that up to 70–80 percent of business growth comes from existing customers. So why are businesses still investing mainly in attracting new customers? And leaving renewals and upsells to chance? Or, worse yet, using a one-size-fits-all approach to acquisition as for expansions? The Expansion Sale provides everything needed for business owners to seize the competitive edge in the customer-success space. Authors Erik Peterson and Tim Riesterer explain how the buying psychology of existing customers differs from that of new customers and show businesses how to adapt commercial engagement strategies accordingly. They provide clear, easy-to-apply messaging frameworks for creating and delivering winning conversations in the four must-win commercial moments of customer success: ensuring renewals, communicating price increases, increasing upsells and apologizing effectively for service failures. The Expansion Sale: Four Must-Win Conversations to Keep and Grow Your Customers Erik Peterson and Tim Riesterer McGraw-Hill Education
256 pages Available 2/11/2020
“It's really difficult to run a business in a vacuum, and having others validate concepts through their experiences is the most valuable thing of all.” —Chris Cardinal, Principal of Synapse Studios
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Economy
DEVELOPING & GROWING BUSINESS DYNAMICS
Managing Risk for Business Owners Major catastrophic events are not the only source of danger by Tim Brunner
Tim Brunner is a senior business advisor with Alerus. A banking professional for more than three decades, he has broad experience working with business owners throughout Arizona and helping them reach their financial goals. Brunner has held several leadership positions, including assistant vice president and vice president, at other commercial banking institutions. Before joining Alerus, he was a senior vice president with BNC National Bank. alerus.com
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People often associate “risk” with big things, like a fire, accident or major theft. After all, the definition of risk can be most commonly described as “a situation involving exposure to danger.” But risk can be more subtle, like rising raw material prices or a slow sales period. And what about a business’s risk of losing its top salesperson or its most experienced technician? Managing risk is a multilayered process for businesses that need to balance the cost of protection with the chances of something going awry. To integrate a wide mix of financial products, processes and tools, businesses benefit from working with a business advisor who can help bring it all together. Protect the business with insurance, savings and financial flexibility. A first step is to ensure continuity in a range of scenarios. Insurance is a proven and necessary tool for major events, and don’t forget “key man” insurance for people critical to business success. For subtle or slow-moving risks, a cash reserve or other financing can help weather a temporary issue or buy time to readjust to new realities. Succession planning helps businesses — and people — prepare for the unexpected. Many small businesses delay or avoid talking about succession plans. They shouldn’t. In small companies, talk of succession planning may seem unnecessary or even “bad luck.” But planning what happens to one’s business not only ensures business continuity, it relieves families of the burden of sorting out ownership, and is crucial for the well-being of employees and partners, too. Simply put, how one plan for leadership change, whether expected or unexpected, will determine its impact on one’s organization. Install fraud protection tools and policies — like reducing paper. Fraud is a top risk for small businesses, and the sources can be surprising. A business advisor can help business owners address their business’s greatest fraud risks, whether it be email fraud, internal financial controls, hacking of customer data or theft of intellectual property. It’s also wise to move transactions to digital systems, as lost and misused paper checks and records are still a leading cause of fraud. Business Email Fraud Let’s take a deeper look at email fraud. Business email fraud, also known as Business Email Compromise (BEC), is on the rise across the country. One of the best ways to protect one’s business is to educate oneself and one’s employees. Unlike other cyber-attacks, these types of fraudster emails don’t contain malware or malicious URLs. Instead, they take advantage of social engineering. Who do they target? Business email fraud attacks target people — usually a business’s CFO or people in its human resources, finance or payroll departments. Using a technique called “spoofing,” the attacks trick these
people into thinking they’ve received an email from a boss, co-worker, vendor or partner. The imposter requests wire transfers, tax records and other sensitive data. These fraudsters succeed because they create emails that are deceptively similar to legitimate messages. They also ask victims to perform tasks that fall under their normal job duties. This is another area where a business advisor can help, offering expertise about ways to help a business prevent becoming a victim of BEC. Create and share a disaster recovery plan. It is not necessary to know exactly what the risks are to have a plan. Start with the most likely issues, such as weather closures — what triggers the plan, how are employees notified and what happens? Then develop a plan assuming a disruption for a week or longer, or scenarios like an office closure, a server going down or recovering from a major loss. It’s important that employees know there is a plan and where to find it. Be proactive during an emergency. One key mistake many businesses make in a crisis is hunkering down right when they need help the most. Business advisors have seen it before, and individual businesses can benefit from their experience. But don’t wait for emergencies; a good time to build a trusting relationships is when things are good. Banks can help with emergency financing, and business advisors can point to resources business owners might not find on their own. Even risks from non-emergencies like a business sale can be mitigated more effectively if advisors are in the loop. There are pragmatic things that can help protect a business’s success even when things don’t go as planned. The good news is that risk management is largely about thinking ahead, and a business advisor who has seen a lot can help a business owner make smart choices.
Business email fraud, also known as Business Email Compromise (BEC), is on the rise across the country.
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Legal Pitfalls of Unsolicited Texting and Calling Simple steps can protect a business against TCPA claims by Garrett Olexa
Garrett Olexa is a member with the law firm of Jennings, Strouss & Salmon, PLC. He practices in the areas of business law and commercial litigation. jsslaw.com
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For businesses that use texting as a marketing tool, it is critical that they become familiar with the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA). Some of the largest well-known companies in the country have paid millions in settlements and verdicts for alleged violations of the TCPA. Capital One reportedly agreed to pay more than $73 million to settle a TCPA class action. Dish Network reportedly had a judgment entered against it for $61 million in a TCPA class action case, and AT&T Mobility reportedly paid $45 million to settle a TCPA class action. While the foregoing are just a few examples, if large companies with in-house legal departments have found themselves being required to pay these types of figures, it should be a red flag to the average business that knowledge of and compliance with the TCPA is a must. So, how does a business avoid becoming the next victim of a TCPA violation? In simple terms, the TCPA makes it unlawful for any person to use an automatic telephone dialing system (ATDS) to call or text another’s cell phone except for emergency purposes or unless prior express consent has been given. Thus, there are several ways a business might begin to protect itself against potential multi-million-dollar TCPA judgments or settlements. Assuming texting is an integral part of your business marketing and there is no desire to abandon or substantially limit the same, the first way to avoid liability under the TCPA is to not use an ATDS. Under the TCPA, an ATDS is defined as equipment that has the capacity to store or produce telephone numbers to be called, using a random or sequential number generator, and has the ability to dial such numbers. While the statutory definition sounds relatively straightforward, it’s important to be aware that courts are divided on what constitutes an ATDS. Some courts have held that equipment that has the capacity to automatically dial numbers or send text messages from a stored list is an ATDS even though the system does not itself generate random or sequential numbers (e.g., the average smartphone) (Marks v. Crunch San Diego, LLC, 904 F.3d 1041 (9th Cir. 2018).
Other courts still maintain the equipment or device used to send the text must be a random or sequential number generator. Thus, businesses should become familiar with how courts in the jurisdiction where they conduct business interpret the statute. A second way businesses that utilize texting as a marketing tool can avoid TCPA liability is to obtain the express consent of their customers before sending texts. For an express consent to be valid and effective, it must be a clear and conspicuous written disclosure that the signer is authorizing the business to deliver telemarketing text messages using an ATDS. Thus, a customer supplying a business with his or her cell phone number is not sufficient. If a business is not one in which customers come in and sign a formal agreement that might contain such consent language, some businesses employ a “double opt-in” procedure. An example of a double opt-in is a consumer initially agreeing to receive text messages in a manner other than via a text from his or her phone, such as by completing an online form or verbally agreeing to join the campaign, and then receives a nonmarketing text asking the individual to confirm the agreement to receive marketing texts. For those who may suffer from sleepless nights just thinking about large TCPA verdicts or settlements or even attorneys’ fees that could cripple their business defending even a meritless TCPA claim, a prudent secondary form of protection is insurance coverage. Businesses should first check their existing policy to see if it covers TCPA claims. Note that many insurance companies have already carved out exceptions for TCPA violations in standard liability and cyber coverage policies and thus it cannot be assumed coverage exists for such claims in those policies. If it is not covered, businesses can inquire about the cost of adding such coverage. The bottom line is, if an enterprise is going to use mass text messages to attempt to solicit new business, it is strongly recommended that its decision maker either familiarize him- or herself with the TCPA first or consult with an attorney familiar with this statute to avoid potential liability.
The Telephone Consumer Protection Act makes it unlawful for any person to use an automatic telephone dialing system (ATDS) to call or text another’s cell phone except for emergency purposes or unless prior express consent has been given.
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Social Impact
BUSINESS GIVES BACK
Avnet Cares, Accelerating Community Growth The company’s culture of caring is a top-down effort by Tyler Butler
Avnet joined forces with Benchmark Electronics on a bike build project for foster kids. Like Avnet, Benchmark believes in the power of giving back. Each company purchased 10 bicycles and then had teams compete to see how fast they could put them together. Afterward, the 20 bicycles were donated to a local foster kids program. avnet.com bench.com
Tyler Butler (“Tyler Butler | Giving in Style”), founder and CEO of 11Eleven Consulting, is a corporate social responsibility practitioner and expert leader in the corporate citizenship space. She has served on numerous national and local boards and is often cited as a subject matter expert by Forbes, Entrepreneur, U.S. News & World Report and more. 11elevenconsulting.com givinginstyle.net
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In today’s fast-paced world, time has become the most valuable of assets. As demands on schedules become more and more taxing, the one asset we are not able to replenish, time, has become a preferential way for companies and individuals to give back. Since the company’s inception in 1921, helping others through service has been an integral component to Avnet’s company legacy. With a mission to promote a culture of community service through sharing best practices and ideas that encourage employee volunteerism and charitable giving, Avnet has made a concerted effort to help the communities where they work, live and play. Through the company’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) program, Avnet Cares, the company is supporting communities in more than 20 countries to aid a broad range of nonprofit organizations. It is the employees themselves who drive the giving strategy behind Avnet Cares. Through their passions, the company is reaching further together. Avnet’s tailored global commitment and culture of hands-on volunteerism to meet the needs of local communities from the Americas and Europe to the Middle East, Africa and Asia is making a real impact. As an integral component of the company’s culture, Avnet employees, friends and family in Arizona have been volunteering for the HandsOn Greater Phoenix serve-a-thon for more than 25 years. Every year, this group volunteers on a Saturday morning in April to clean classrooms, paint murals, construct tables and plant flowers for a local school. Avnet Cares programs are designed to enhance support for employees’ independent philanthropic efforts. Through the company’s “dollars for doers” program, an employee receives financial support based on the amount of time that employee volunteers with a cause. The charity of choice then receives a financial allocation based on the employee’s dedication and the amount of time volunteered. In addition to this program, Avnet is also matching employees’ monetary donations. The Avnet matching grant program matches dollars raised for a nonprofit via employee-led fundraising events, goods drives or team charity races. “Avnet believes our responsibility to our employees, industry and global community extends beyond achieving business and financial goals. We are proud of our long history of community involvement both through financial giving and hands-on volunteerism. By sponsoring initiatives important to our employees and advocating for the communities in which we do business, Avnet and its employees continue to make an impact around the world,” shares Jessica Daughetee, Avnet chief marketing officer and overseer of Avnet’s CSR program. Avnet’s philanthropic culture is a top-down effort, to be sure. The company’s CEO, Bill Amelio, and his wife, Jaime, founded and continue to lead Caring for Cambodia, a nonprofit
organization that works to educate the children of Cambodia through building schools, training teachers and providing for basic human needs. From employee activation and C-suite support to actual company finances, one would be hard pressed to find a way that Avnet is not helping communities. The company itself also looks for alternative methods to make a positive impact. Avnet’s philosophy and understanding of the power of working together has brought it to also partner with suppliers, customers and vendors to maximize its impact. This commitment includes financial support. By investing in programs and projects in its communities targeted at improving technology, education, promoting energy conservation and helping underserved groups gain skills and obtain employment opportunities, the company is exploring all means at its disposal to help causes globally. There are a few select signature programs, though, that are elevating Avnet’s impact here in Arizona. The Avnet Innovation Lab partners the company with Arizona State University and its Fulton School of Engineering. Together, they have created the lab to accelerate the success of entrepreneurs and spark next-generation technology ideas. The lab provides critical business consultation and venture support to entrepreneurs developing new technology, especially inventions that make the world a better place. Avnet is also a main sponsor of the ASU Innovation Open, which brings collegiate teams with innovative business ideas together to compete for a chance to win $100,000. This is an annual event that attracts student teams from all over the country. Avnet’s dedication to employee engagement, financial giving and innovation has been improving communities for decades. Its dedication to supporting employee efforts is one most companies aspire to. And its top-down leadership support of its charity programs allows for an authentic approach to its philanthropic efforts. And, as the company continues to develop these efforts through signature programs, our Valley is reaping the rewards. Avnet avnet.com
Through the company’s corporate social responsibility program, Avnet Cares, the company is supporting communities in more than 20 countries to aid a broad range of nonprofit organizations.
Capacity
FOR-PROFIT & NONPROFIT GROWTH
This is the fourth of a six-part series on developing and sustaining organizational capacity.
Bruce Weber is founder and president/CEO at Weber Group. Weber brings more than 20 years of experience to the for-profit and nonprofit community, working with startup, growth and mature organizations. His focus is in strengthening organizations through strategic planning, organizational development, leadership and board development. He is a BoardSource Certified Governance trainer and a founding partner of the Nonprofit Lifecycles Institute.
Charlie Smith is managing partner at the Weber Group. Smith brings decades of experience in the financial services industry, including an extensive background working within organizations to develop high-performance teams. His focus is working with nonprofit CEOs, executive directors and board chairs to build smarter high-performance organizations focused on strategy and execution. He is a BoardSource Certified Consultant, a certified 6 Sigma Black Belt and a Master Black Belt in planning. webergroupaz.com
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Merging Culture and Strategy
Creating a strategic framework to build capacity and ensure sustainability
by Bruce Weber and Charlie Smith
Previous articles explored the concepts of capacity as the ability of an organization to perform and the importance of creating a culture where high-performance teams deliver mission and impact to all stakeholders. With these in place, all is operating well. But can success be sustained as the future is navigated? This requires thinking and acting strategically. For many, strategic planning is a discrete annual activity. Perhaps there is a strategic planning retreat spent reflecting on the past while trying to anticipate the future. Elegant words are written up and then tucked away into nice binders with logos across the front. The job is done. But is it? Crafting and communicating strategy are among the most important roles of effective leadership, yet few express confidence that it is being done right. BoardSource’s 2017 “Leading with Intent Survey” showed that fewer than 50 percent of nonprofit CEOs and boards believe they are effective at creating and monitoring their strategic plans. A recent Boardview study found that 95 percent of employees do not understand their company’s strategy. Why is strategic planning such a challenge? Why so often completely ineffective? Why so often mind-numbingly boring? Part of the reason is the thinking around strategy, especially the way access to and input into the process is managed. Strategic plans have traditionally been created by a few senior leaders in quiet conference rooms and then cascaded across the organization. Staff who receive the plans have had little, if any, experience of or insight into the process. Critical clientfacing, real-time information is often missing and input from those who are closest to challenges and opportunities are left outside the process. While well-intended, the new plan may be insufficient in meeting the needs of the organization. Another reason planning is such a challenge is the rate of change in the hyper-connected world of the 21st century, a reality that requires a plan be dynamic and adaptive. Yet many managers are uncomfortable with change, preferring to deal with what is known and predictable rather than making hard choices about the future in an unpredictable world. This approach requires a major shift if strategy is to be meaningful. As Bob Johansen describes in Leaders Make the Future: Leadership Skills for an Uncertain World, “We are in a time of accelerating disruptive change. In a VUCA world — one characterized by volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity — traditional leadership skills won’t be enough.”
Traditional strategic planning models no longer suffice. Rather than focusing on creating a “strategic plan document,” the focus shifts to creating a “framework” that provides a discipline and cadence for ongoing, ever-evolving, emerging and adaptive strategic conversations. Thinking about and planning the organization’s future should be the most interesting and energizing work of the team. Rather than a one-time activity, it is the team’s way of being! Strategy is alive and pulsing throughout the organization. It is fun, inspirational, collaborative and in touch with reality. Creating a strategic framework requires three things: a conscious decision to do it, describe it and be open to failure; being deliberate about embedding it into the organization’s culture; and establishing time, space and process for connection, interaction and action by all. Developing a strategic framework creates the dynamic where disciplined curiosity and informed change become core competencies of the organization. The process of continuous improvement and innovation is intentional and occurs naturally. A strategic framework is where culture meets strategy. There is no one template for how to set up a strategic framework, as every organization is unique, but there are ways to start, beginning by changing the way senior leaders invite the organization into strategic dialogue. There must be a letting go of ego and opening up to change. It continues with inviting the board to make strategy conversations a vital part of every meeting. Indeed, all meetings should have strategy inherent within them — does this investment of time and resources honor the strategy and move the organization in the intended direction? The Peter Drucker phrase “culture eats strategy for breakfast” — made popular by Ford CEO Mark Fields when he posted it in the boardroom to make a point about radical change — is useful here. Perhaps it does not have to be one or the other, but one and the other. Culture and strategy. A strategic framework makes strategic thinking the driver of the organization’s mindset, embedded and manifested in culture. It challenges current leaders and allows unidentified talent to be revealed, and ensures that all stakeholders get a view and a voice into the ongoing creation of the organization’s success!
“Developing a strategic framework is creating the dynamic where disciplined curiosity and informed change become a core competency within the organization.” —Charlie Smith, Managing Partner of Weber Group
Caring Is Back
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RISK
DARING TO BE BETTER
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Risking: The Heart of Daring Leadership Are we too polite for honest discourse? by Eileen Rogers
After 40 years as president of her print and marketing company, Eileen Rogers' encore career is now as a leadership coach and business advisor through her company One Creative View. She is a seasoned and accomplished entrepreneur and recognized community leader who is fiercely passionate about supporting and growing more vulnerable and courageous leaders. She is a certified Dare to Lead™ facilitator, Integrative Enneagram practitioner and executive coach. onecreativeview.com
Vulnerability is not a concept I learned in business school. Nor, for that matter, theories about soft skills such as self-awareness, risk, emotional IQ, shame or courageous leadership. Yet, for today’s leaders to be relevant, effective and impactful, these ideas must become part of our everyday vocabulary and being. “Command and control,” “armored leadership” and/or fear and shame-based management styles are concepts that don’t resonate well with the workforce we’re hiring today. We need braver and more daring leaders who will remove barriers to good work and healthy workplaces. Dare to Lead by Brené Brown, Ph.D., LMSW, presents her latest research on leadership. Dr. Brown’s most important discovery is that courage is actually a collection of four skill sets that are teachable and observable. She also found significant barriers to courageous leadership. The biggest, with no close second, was the habit of avoiding tough conversations. We are simply not giving our teams the tough and productive feedback they need to be accountable and successful. Often, we choose shame and blame as our tools to avoid the vulnerability and risk in these conversations. Other barriers uncovered in the research include: • Instead of proactively addressing people’s fears and feelings, we spend an unreasonable amount of time managing problematic behaviors. • Perfectionism and fear keep people from learning and growing. • Lack of connection and empathy causes diminished trust with our team members. • Not enough people are taking smart risks and being bold enough to meet the need for innovation. • We get stuck and defined by setbacks, disappointments and failures. • Too much shame and blame — not enough accountability and learning. • People are opting out of vital conversations about inclusivity and diversity for fear of looking wrong, saying something wrong or being wrong. • Organizational values are aspirational, instead of actual behaviors that can be identified, taught and evaluated. Courage is one of my core values and a word our culture uses often. Dr. Brown’s research found it was very difficult for people
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to describe exactly what courageous leadership looks like. Many people simply believe that courage was something a person either did or did not have. So, she asked the question in a different way: “What happens in the absence of courageous leadership? If we aren’t having direct, honest and tough conversations with people, what are we doing?” The answer, in most cases, was that “we are talking about them, not to them.” Often, the excuse given for this avoidance behavior was “we have a polite culture!” (Just a glance at our current political discourse clearly suggests otherwise.) The four teachable “Skill Sets of Courage” that emerged from the data are: Rumbling with Vulnerability — our ability to have tough and important conversations. Living into Our Values — who we are is how we lead; leadership style is simply one’s core values translated into action every day. Braving Trust — most of us believe we are trustworthy yet trust only a handful of others. Learning to Rise — building our resilience to disappointments and failures. As I reflect on my career a business owner (my “insight from hindsight”), I see how I once stumbled my way through these skills. My leadership lessons often came the hard way as “on the job training.” Engaging in a few tough, direct and vulnerable conversations with two team members back in the 1990s would have saved me from an emotionally difficult and expensive lawsuit. At first, it seemed safer and easier to bury my head in the sand. By dealing only with surface issues, I avoided the heart of the situation (known as the “messy middle”). Dr. Brown’s definition of vulnerability is risk, uncertainty and emotional exposure. All three were elements of this key leadership lesson for me. In business school, I remember learning about the inverse relationship of risk and return. Risk was mostly external and defined only in terms of money and finance. This column is a conversation about ongoing, healthy and internal risk, and daring to lead by taking off our armor and showing up instead with courage, compassion and connection. As Joseph Campbell expresses it, “The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek.” Over the next few months, we’ll explore more about these concepts and skills.
Courage is actually a collection of four skill sets that are teachable and observable, according to research by Brené Brown, Ph.D., LMSW, author of Dare to Lead.
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MINDING THEIR BUSINESS
Peter Holt: Bringing Alternative Pain Management to the Masses How The Joint Chiropractic became the fastest-growing chiropractic franchise by Margie Wojciechowski
Holt Builds on a Track Record of Success
Throughout his executive career, Peter Holt’s bold leadership delivered financial and company culture success to dynamic businesses that include Tasti D-Lite LLC, a retailer of lower-fat dairy desserts; Mail Boxes Etc., now The UPS Store, the world’s largest franchisor of retail centers specializing in shipping, business and communications services; and 24Seven Vending, a subsidiary of the New Zealand publicly traded company, VTL Group Limited.Since Holt took the helm of The Joint Chiropractic in 2016 as CEO, • The Joint Chiropractic boasts more than 500 locations in 34 states, with 35 of those clinics operating in Arizona; • The company employs 344 people at its corporate clinics and another 50 at the Scottsdale headquarters; and • The brand is one of the fastest-growing publicly traded companies, with comparable year-overyear store sales growth above 20 percent for nearly four years in a row.
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When Peter Holt assumed the mantle of CEO at the Joint Corp. in June 2016, he knew the company had enormous upside potential. “It was clear to me there was an incredible opportunity to build the company’s culture from the ground up,” he says. “My primary responsibility was to improve our relations with our franchise community and at the same time make our portfolio of corporate clinics profitable.” With the strategic endeavors identified, Holt rolled up his sleeves and went to work on a plan to strengthen the public company’s brand in the marketplace. With a transformative turnaround strategy to reenergize the enterprise, Holt relied on his experience, honed through a track record of success, paired with creativity and passion for the company’s best-in-class offerings to drive rapid and convincing wins. “I began by calling a three-day mission, vision and values meeting and included the entire board, all corporate employees and key franchisees,” he says. The Mission: to improve quality of life through routine and affordable chiropractic care. The Vision: to transform the traditional, often misunderstood concept of routine chiropractic care by making it more convenient, friendly and affordable. And Core Values: respect, trust, integrity, accountability and excellence. While building the company culture from the ground up, Holt also had to shore up franchisee relations. “The company had been so focused on corporate-owned or -managed clinics, its franchise community stopped feeling the love,” he says. To measure the progress as the company focused on rebuilding those relationships, The Joint team deployed a franchisee satisfaction survey. The results? “It revealed we had a long way to go, so I established benchmarks for going forward,” he says. “The power of franchising is you are forced to listen to your franchisees.”
Holt also had to address Wall Street investors’ uneasiness. “I reached out to the investor community and let them know we would not buy or build any additional corporate clinics until the corporate clinic portfolio was profitable,” he says. The group of corporate clinics was reviewed and a strategy to restore financial strength began whereby underperforming corporate clinics were sold or closed. “I had to make some tough decisions early. I surrounded myself with people who could give me good counsel, and I relied on my own experience to make the best decisions possible.”
In less than a year, Holt’s plan to engage and invigorate franchisee relationships while achieving overall profitability of the company owned or managed clinics paid huge dividends. Financially, the company reached positive EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization) and experienced a surge of new clinic openings across the country. The genius behind Holt’s enhancements is an unwavering belief in the franchise model. His career has afforded him the opportunity to experience franchising from multiple perspectives, including franchisee, franchisor, customer, vendor and investor. It’s this holistic view of the franchise business that provided Holt the perspective to propel The Joint Chiropractic’s care proposition. “The exciting thing is building a franchise healthcare model that’s ripe for the time we’re operating in, with chiropractic treatment becoming more accepted as a practice of managing pain,” he says. With plans of expanding The Joint Chiropractic to a potential 1,700 nationwide locations, Holt isn’t sitting idle. “It’s an aggressive goal,” he says. “My responsibility is to make sure my management team has everything they need to perform at their highest level. By tapping into the collective wisdom of the team, we have a better chance of making the right decisions about the company’s growth.” Holt’s confident approach emanates from mentors who have influenced his leadership style, as well as a love of reading. “My father imparted in me the value of personal integrity and fighting for what you thought was right. He taught me that if you work together, you can build something of significance,” says Holt. “I was also deeply inspired as I read history, stories of adventure and science fiction — full of smart, effective leaders making decisions and saving the day. I believe that every moment is an opportunity to inspire others, lead by example and do the right thing.” The Joint Chiropractic has a long runway of growth and financial success ahead, and for Holt, the key to building the premier company in the industry is trusting his team of dedicated professionals. “In my position as CEO, I’ve learned you have to invest time in ensuring others are translating the vision for you,” he says. “As the organization develops, it becomes more about what you accomplish through others rather than any one thing you are doing yourself.” The Joint Chiropractic thejoint.com
The Joint Chiropractic opened its 500th location in November 2019 — an achievement attained by less than five percent of franchise brands, according to FRANdata, a recognized industry resource for unbiased research and analysis.
BY MIKE HUNTER
WE VALUE WHAT WE OWN
2020 Hyundai Palisade Limited AWSD The all-new Hyundai Palisade is a luxury SUV at a not-so luxury sticker price. With its bold, sophisticated styling outside and premium, expansive luxury inside, Palisade makes a big impression at every angle. Under the hood, Palisade has a 3.8-liter V6 matched with a smooth-shifting 8-speed automatic transmission. And the HTRAC All-Wheel Drive means behind-the-wheel driving confidence. Palisade surrounds the driver and passengers with cutting-edge technology that’s incredibly intuitive, seamless and convenient. Full-on digital. All-out modern. The sleek, modern digital look is one thing. Simple functionality is everything else. Palisade
has it all. Available on the limited edition is the Fully Digital Instrument Cluster & Hi-res 10.25-inch Touchscreen. The look of digital is clean, sleek and modern, with all information at the ready, brilliantly engineered and beautifully displayed. The interior is reminiscent of a European top-tier luxury SUV. Premium seats for personal space. The quilted Nappa leather seating surfaces provide comfort and design excellence. Palisade's fresh sense of style presents the rare luxury of an SUV this size and price-point. When it comes to protection of passengers, Palisade takes safety to a whole new level with the latest Hyundai
SmartSense innovations. Available blindspot view monitor provides a dash-screen view of who is approaching in either the left- or right-side lanes to ensure safe lane changes. When turn signals are on, side-view mirror cameras show a video feed of Palisade's blind spots on the digital instrument panel cluster. Heads-up display gives instant, pertinent access to vital information within view at all times. Drivers can get all the important info without taking their eyes off the road. The display puts it all safely in the driver’s line of sight. The core of Palisade is designed using advanced, high-strength steel. And like every Hyundai, it’s backed by a 10-year/100,000-mile powertrain limited —Mike Hunter warranty.
MSRP: $44,700 City: 19 mpg Hwy.: 26 mpg Transmission: 8-speed automatic 0-60 mph: 5.7 sec.
Photos courtesy of Hyundai
Yes, Manners Matter Knowing how to comport oneself is unarguably a positive asset; one’s demeanor over a dining table is as significant as over the boardroom table. Business meals are more than just talking shop or sealing a deal. One can be the best in one’s field or tops in one’s company, but if one messes up the business meal, no one is going to be impressed. Following are a few business dining tips that will help one make the best impression. What to Order? Guests should ask the person who invited them for suggestions on the menu. The response will provide a top and bottom price range based on the entrées recommended. To Drink or Not to Drink? If the host orders alcohol, guests who don’t wish to drink should simply order the beverage of their preference without an explanation. One is under no obligation to consume alcohol at lunch or any other time of the day.
Connections & Conversation: It’s the host’s job to keep conversation going during the meal; guests must contribute with courtesy. Light topics include books, travel, vacation, movies and pets. If a need arises to talk to the server, one should not interrupt the flow of the conversation, but rather catch the eye of the server or slightly raise one’s hand. Tipping: The host is the person who extended the invitation and is responsible for paying the bill. The tip should reflect the total price of the bill before coupons, discounts or gift certificates. —Sharon Schweitzer, J.D., an international business etiquette and modern manners expert and the founder of Access to Culture (www. protocolww.com)
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[Visit www.inbusinessphx.com for a broader and more indepth discussion of business dining etiquette.]
Uber Idea: Hyundai Motor Company and Uber have announced a new partnership to develop Uber Air Taxis for a future aerial rideshare network and unveiled a new full-scale aircraft concept at the Consumer Electronics Show. globalpr.hyundai.com/2020CES
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MEALS THAT MATTER
BY RAEANNE MARSH
Fire-Grilled Wings
$14
Pepperoni Pizza Tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese, fresh basil and ricotta cheese $16
Seared Ahi Tuna Salad Ahi tuna, Napa cabbage, arugula, avocado, rainbow quinoa, edamame and red pepper with balsamic dressing $20
Pomelo’s Welcoming ‘Home’ Pomelo is the fine dining element on the property of Luci’s at the Orchard. Nestled into the residential community on 12th Street just north of Glendale Avenue in Phoenix, Luci’s is an unobtrusive destination — which is exactly what owners Jerry Mansoor and Ken and Lucia Schnitzer intended. To catch people’s eyes, “we have a water tower instead of intrusive signage on the street, to keep the residential feel of the neighborhood,” Mansoor explains. They also added 130 trees and bushes — the Chinese elms, rosemary, honeysuckle and other species seeming very natural on the property that was previously a citrus farm. Equal care went into converting the on-site 1920s ranch-style home to a restaurant. In fact, guests at Pomelo might be hard-pressed to differentiate the new construction from the original (hint: age shows in the darker woods). The greatest achievement is having maintained the atmosphere of comfortable welcome that is the hallmark of “home.” In the airy main dining room, skylights add to the wide windows and décor of forest green walls and wood paneling in creating an out-of-doors ambience to make the most of the room’s juxtaposition to the complex’s central grassy courtyard,
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Pomelo at the Orchard
7100 N. 12th Street, Phoenix (602) 633-2600 pomelophx.com
Restaurants Take Girl Scout Cookie Dessert Challenge Too many people equate “Girl Scouts” with “Girl Scout cookies.” The program is far more comprehensive and defies a simple summary, but it’s true that the cookie sales program keeps Girl Scouts in the public eye. Girl Scout cookies have come a long way from when, baked at home by the Girl Scouts themselves for fundraising, they were also evidence of culinary skills. Local restaurateurs and chefs have come on board to evidence their own culinary inventiveness around Girl Scout cookies — as well as support the incredible program that is Girl Scouts — by participating in the local Girl Scouts Arizona
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while upholstered panels on the ceiling absorb sound to help create an oasis of peace — at variance to the common design ethic that leaves sound reverberating against a surround of hard surfaces — that fosters easy conversation. Separated from this dining room by the full-service bar is a more intimate dining room at the front of the house, and Pomelo’s also offers two rooms for private parties: the brightly sunlit “green room” on the main floor with its centerpiece dining table made from a eucalyptus tree that had stood on the property, and a very private room in the basement level that enjoys a warm drapery ceiling and outdoor-scented air through its atrium windows. The menu emphasizes comfort and classic. One of the most popular items is the “Amazing French Dip” that patrons assert lives fully up to its name. Other standbys are a variety of pizzas and a golden beet salad offered with optional protein additions such as a nicely seared slice of salmon. Committed to natural and organic ingredients and supporting local distributors, Pomelo changes its menu for the seasons two or three times through the year. “But we’ll keep dishes longer if people request them,” says Mansoor. “We’re not a one-time place. We want people to enjoy their favorites.”
Cactus-Pine Council’s seventh annual Girl Scout Cookie Dessert Challenge for the central and northern Arizona. Participating restaurants create a dessert with one of this year’s Girl Scout Cookie flavors and feature it on their menu this month, and will donate a portion of the proceeds back to GSACPC. Individuals can register their vote for the winner, and the winner in each region will be “crowned” the 2020 Girl Scout Cookie Dessert Challenge Champion in early March. To see the full list of participating restaurants, and to vote, visit www.girlscoutsaz.org/dessertchallenge.
The Girl Scout Cookie Program of GSUSA is the largest girl-led entrepreneurial program in the world, fostering confidence and teaching business ethics and decision making. Nationally, the program generates more than $700 million in annual sales. All proceeds stay local. The 2020 Cookie Season for Girl Scouts Arizona Cactus-Pine Council runs January 20 through March 1. girlscoutsaz.org
Craft Meatballs
Photos courtesy of Luci's Urban Concepts (top and far left) and Girl Scouts Arizona Cactus-Pine Council (bottom)
Served with Pomelo BBQ Sauce or Louisiana Hot Sauce, vegetable sticks and blue cheese dressing
CELEBRATING 30 YEARS OF SERVING THE WOMEN BUSINESS OWNERS OF PHOENIX
Winter 2020 • nawbophx.org
Is It the System?
by Angela Garmon, NAWBO Phoenix President 2019-2020
ABOUT NAWBO
Most systems are fallible at conception because they are not designed for everyone to excel. Systems are generally created to reinforce beliefs or constructs that already exist. And in some cases, concerns for the minority, meaning those who are not represented in the decision-making, are not part of the equation. This lack of consideration leads to oppression if gone unchecked, which ultimately creates divides and can lead to war. These missteps are riddled throughout American history, forcing people to fight for basic rights since the States were formed. Frustration of being oppressed leads to revolutions. Activists rise up to fight injustices, which leads to movements and then forced changes in legislation. America’s history has been an evolution of movements. Now here we are in 2020, the year America celebrates a century of women’s suffrage. We continue to be reminded that every movement comes with a price and concepts like “gender equality” and “gender parity” are still being fought for today. It is something to note and a reality that cannot be ignored. It cannot be used as an excuse for immobility on our part but recognized as a system that needs to be addressed. There are modern-day activists such as Melinda Gates, who picked up the torch that was blazed by courageous women like Elizabeth C. Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, Sojourner Truth and Ida B. Wells — activists of their times who fought for the women’s rights, which ultimately led to the 19th Amendment. Recently, Gates has written articles and appeared on interviews for Harvard Business Review to address the question “How long will it take the United States to close the gap on gender equality?” In the interview, “When Will We Reach Gender Equality” (www.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&v=HchyqPO8K0I), HBR indicates that reaching gender equality will take 208 years at this current rate of change. Gates identifies that women are not represented equally in key sectors and we must continue to shift status quo because this lack of representation impacts our ability to get a seat at the table where decisions are being made. One key sector that she mentions is entrepreneurship. As president of National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO) – Phoenix (www.nawbo.org/phoenix), it is a concern for me as I talk to women every day as they plan to scale and grow their businesses but run into barriers while doing so. I see the struggles regularly, and as a State and a community we must work together to close the gap and address the needs for WBOs in the State. Looking at the stats for woman-owned businesses in the State of Arizona, you see that while the number of firms is increasing annually, they are not growing equally in revenue and employment vitality. A recent article in the Phoenix Business Journal, “Women-owned businesses in Arizona make gains but employment slows, report shows” (www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/news/2018/08/30/women-owned-businesses-intoarizona-make-gains-but.html), indicates that woman-owned firms have increased by 53.6 percent from 2007 to 2018. However, employment for WBOs grew only by 1.9 percent and revenues by only $3.5 million over the same period of time. Interesting, right? What is causing this lack of growth?
NAWBO® prides itself on being a global beacon for influence, ingenuity and action and is uniquely positioned to provide incisive commentary on issues of importance to women business owners. NAWBO Phoenix propels women entrepreneurs into economic, social and political spheres of power.
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We host networking and education events throughout the valley each month, open to both members and guests. Check out our calendar at nawbophx.org and join us! Take advantage of this great networking opportunity by bringing business cards and making connections.
Angela Garmon
NAWBO Phoenix President Angela Garmon is founder and business strategist at ARG Coaching & Consulting Group (www.argccgroup.com). She uses her 20 years of change management experience to help her clients build their businesses and increase profits by focusing on three key areas: enhancing leadership effectiveness, building team cohesion, and improving processes. Garmon has a master’s degree in human dynamics and holds several certifications, including Six Sigma Green Belt and Executive Coaching. Among the many roles she has in the community, Garmon is proud to support other women business owners as they tackle the business ecosystem. She is president of the National Association of Women Business Owners – Phoenix Chapter. As a visionary, she looks forward to making a positive impact on the chapter that will promote future growth strategies for the association as well as women business owners.
For more infomation, visit www.nawbophx.org.
Phoenix Metropolitan Chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners 7729 E Greenway Rd. #300, Scottsdale, AZ 85260 480-289-5768 • info@NAWBOphx.org
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Continued from page 1 That is a great question. The report says it could possibly be attributed to “necessity entrepreneurship.” However, I talk to countless women who have a clear vision and plan but seem to run out of resources before catching a break or cannot connect with their most profitable demographics, and this concerns me and other chapter leaders, which causes pause. Is it the system? When meetings about entrepreneur growth can happen in the city but women do not have a seat at the table, that is a challenge because we are not part of the decision-making process. When set asides do not take into consideration the minority groups, that can be a challenge because we are not part of the procurement solution. Obtaining all the certifications in the world does not mean one will gain access, it simply means that we can play
in the pool. However, if the pool is too large, then one gets lost amongst the incumbents. States such as Texas (gov.texas.gov/organization/women/economicopportunities) have intentionally focused on the growth of WBOs and have seen the impact of this investment. State officials see the value of developing WBOs as an essential part of economic development. Here’s the thing: Empowering one group does not mean a detriment to another. One rise, we all rise; after all we are a “Phoenix.” As women, we continue to navigate around the system. We find ways to push beyond status quo, break barriers and defy odds. In March, NAWBO Phoenix will host a statewide conference to ensure that the voice of women business owners is understood. Let’s begin to strengthen each other and find ways to close the gap.
Telling Your WHY Story to Connect by Michele Trent
Finding the perfect pair of pants that look great from every angle —that’s an age-old quest with a modern solution thanks to Sara Blakely. Her coveted shapewear solution became Spanx, a now billion-dollar company. Blakely experienced a problem and created a solution. That’s what entrepreneurs do! You started your business to somehow address a need or overcome a problem. That journey is your WHY Story and it’s an important part of your company’s DNA. Telling your WHY Story can connect you with your customers in a powerful way. It also tethers you to your purpose as your company grows. So the question is, what have you done to preserve your WHY Story? Sure, you know it well and have probably told it a hundred times, but have you written it out or communicated it in a brand video or audio recording? Doing so preserves this unique story, gives you an appreciation of how far you’ve come, and allows you to share your story with potential customers. People want to do business with those they know, like and trust. We’ve all heard this and yet you may wonder how to go about positioning yourself that way. Here’s one suggestion: Let your potential customers “know” you through your WHY Story. Your WHY might be the connection a customer needs in order to feel like he or she can trust you and your product/solution. Your WHY also differentiates you from the competition. Share it! Your WHY Story is as much for you as your customers. We’ve all had those days or seasons when building the business is a struggle. During those times, go back and read or watch your story. A WHY Story anchors you when times get tough. It reconnects you with why you’re doing what you’re doing and helps to rekindle the passion you once had when you knew that your business would absolutely solve a problem and meet a need in the marketplace. Here’s a handy S.T.O.R.Y. Formula you can use to organize your WHY Story so that you can share it and revisit it.
S – Situation
Every story requires a little set up. Provide a brief description of what is going on and who the main characters are. It could be as simple as, “I was a frustrated mom, with three kids under the age of six. I hadn’t showered in days and the walls of my once charming home now represented a prison of my own making.” Give your customers a sense of who you are and what’s going on and remind yourself of how far you’ve come.
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T – Trouble
Into this serene (or not so serene) setting enters some sort of trouble. That trouble builds and builds until it must be addressed.
O – Overcome
This is the third step in the S.T.O.R.Y. Formula – overcome. This is how you overcame the trouble by finding a solution to the problem.
R – Realization
By overcoming the trouble, you’ve learned a thing or two. You are now wiser. You have a solution to share.
Y – Your Victory
This is the happy ending we all want. This is what you uniquely have to offer (the solution) to a problem others face. Hearing your story — and how you overcame a shared problem — gives your customers hope that they can do the same. A story personalizes you and your business so that you are relatable and likeable. Even Spanx, a billion-dollar company, has a relatable startup story. It’s a woman wanting to look good in a pair of pants, finding a solution for the panty-line problem, and making that solution available for others. We can all rock that perfect pair of pants with Spanx. Likewise, what you do makes the world a better place. Preserve your WHY Story and then use it to connect with customers and to remind yourself why what you do matters. Michele Trent owns Remembered Well (www. rememberedwell.com), a story recording business. She works with families to preserve personal stories before they are lost. She also provides public speaking coaching and specializes in helping business owners identify and communicate their WHY Stories. Michele Trent is also co-chair of Scottsdale Neighborhood NAWBO.
How to Get Out of Your Head and Write from Your Heart by Laura L. Bush, Ph.D.
You’re under a deadline to write a 750-word blog in a couple of hours. What do you do? If you’re anything like me, you start writing a sentence, then correct a word in that sentence, write a second sentence, delete the first sentence, then delete the second sentence — and you’re back at ground zero with just 90 minutes left on the clock to finish. “What in the world am I even talking about?” you think to yourself. “And who’s going to read this anyway?” This is what I call writing from your head, not your heart. And it’s easy for me to get stuck writing from my own head because I think I must get my writing RIGHT. After all, I’ve got a Ph.D. in English and I’m a well-published author, writing coach and editor. I have to prove I can write — right? When I’m in my head like this, I’m thinking, “Pay attention to every word, every mark of punctuation, every typo and misspelling.” After all, my writing must be perfect! But perfecting every jot and tittle will drive me (and you) crazy! It will also keep you (and me) from writing, finishing and feeling confident about almost anything significant. So here are three strategies I use to get out of my head and write from my heart. Free write first. Edit later. Like other human beings, I deal with a critical voice inside my head: “Why can’t I write faster? I’m not good enough. What I’m writing is boring. This is too hard. I don’t have what it takes.” My inner critic will go on and on like this. That’s why the first strategy for great writing begins with what writing experts call “invention” or “automatic” writing. You might call it “brainstorming,” “content dumping” or “free writing.” But regardless of what you call it, this early writing is meant to generate ideas and enable you to discover what you have to say. If you don’t give yourself the time to write freely without starting and stopping to critique what you’re saying, you’ll never get out of your head and into your heart. And you won’t save time by trying to write and edit at the same time. Set an alarm for at least 30 minutes and write with abandon. Sometimes writing by hand in a notebook promotes more freedom to create without censoring yourself. Typing makes it too easy to correct words and sentences too soon in the process. Handwriting can slow down your brain, signal that this is only a draft, and lead to what psychologists call more “emotion-focused” (elemental.medium.com/bring-back-handwritingits-good-for-your-brain-fe22fe6c81d2) writing. So try curling up on a comfy couch and using pen and paper to write from your heart. Write with a specific person in mind. A second strategy for writing from the heart is to think about a specific person you’re writing for. “If Chantel were sitting beside me, struggling to get out of her head, what would I tell her about how to write from her heart?” The minute I tap into
who Chantel is and what I know she needs, I begin looking for answers from my own heart, which is also the type of coaching I’d offer her if we were working together face-to-face. In other words, writing to a specific person encourages me to start caring about Chantel and stop protecting my own ego about my writing. Tell a story that makes you feel something yourself. Knowing I had to meet my deadline for writing this article, I woke up early on the day of the deadline with low-grade anxiety. “You can do it in two hours,” I told myself. “Just stick to your morning routine. Breathe. Stay present. Stop worrying.” After taking my two dogs for a walk, I plucked a small orange off my tree, peeled it, cut the orange in pieces, and mixed them with banana slices — my favorite fruit salad. After eating breakfast, I walked into my office and turned on my computer. “What am I going to write about?” I thought. “I have no idea. Why did I ever say I’d do this?” (Can you hear me getting stuck in my head right away?) Sifting through a list of topics my marketing company had suggested for me a year ago, one topic caught my attention: “How to Get Out of Your Head and Write from Your Heart.” Perfect. “Now,” I asked myself, “How do I write from my heart?” The answer came almost immediately: Whenever I’m writing something that comes from my heart — and not just my head — at some moment during my writing process, I start crying, laughing or getting excited about what I’ve written. I experience an emotion that moves, touches and inspires me to share my ideas. You will know you’ve gotten out of your head and written from your heart when you feel inspired by your own writing and feel confident that what you’ve written will empower others to take new actions. Laura Bush, Ph.D., is the founder and CEO of Peacock Proud Press (www.peacockproud.com). She works with corporate and community leaders, successful entrepreneurs and sought-after speakers who want to write a high-quality book that expands their visibility and differentiates them as an authority in their industry.
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Find Your Brand Voice It’s Right Behind Your Smile by Jeffri-Lynn Campbell
Chances are good you have settled into 2020 and the new decade. Goals are set and you are optimistic about reaching them by planning your work and working your plan. You know what you offer and feel confident around your process for delivery. There’s only one problem: You don’t feel comfortable with how you communicate it. The MOST IMPORTANT part of selling yourself, your organization, and your products and services is telling your story in a meaningful, concise and compelling manner. But how? Many of us feel unsure of how to accomplish this, and some of us are so daunted we leave it to our intern or website developer (probably not the best way to reach your dream customer). What if you could rework what you want to say in a consistent way by following a simple formula? You could simplify and streamline your messaging, getting it out into the world quickly and building results by telling your story your way. Your brand voice is right there, waiting to come out! And the best part is, once you have determined the right language, tone, personality and style for communicating your message, anyone you delegate can use that framework to write in your brand voice on your behalf. When you use the SMILES formula, you identify the parts of you that help make up your brand, whether you are one of a team or you are an entrepreneur who is solely responsible for creating it.
S Is for Superior
Begin by basing your brand on what makes you different and better than your competition. This is your Superiority. Maybe you are the fastest, or the most thorough. Name whatever makes you stand head and shoulders above anyone else in your industry.
M Is for Memorable
Now, ask yourself how people feel when you enter a room. How do they feel when you leave it? This is what leaves a lasting impression. It is what makes you memorable. Write down what people remember.
I Is for Individual
What makes you, YOU? Is it your quick laughter? Your inquisitive mind? Name it. This is THE THING that makes you stand out among your peers, your colleagues, your family and your community. It is why people seek your advice. Your signature quality is the banner flag for your individuality.
L Is for Long-Lasting
What quality of yours is the longest-lasting…that thing that people have said about you since you were a child? Did your parents’ friends comment on your tenacity? Did schoolmates call you out for daydreaming in class? Were you always in motion or thoughtfully aware and quiet? If you still find it true today, that is an inherent brand quality.
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E Is for Expertise
What experience or expertise do you bring to the table? This may be your genius zone, your super-power or your view of the world at large. It may be your creativity or fine-tuned intuition. It could be an innate talent you were born with or knowledge and wisdom gained over a number of years in practice. Again, think one word or short phrase.
S Is for Solutions
What are the problems you solve for people? Focus on the solutions you provide for the specific decision maker who purchases your products or services. Real connections are made with real people! They need to know how they benefit personally. What obstacle will you remove for them? How will you impact their own performance in their position? How will you help them succeed? Lastly, take the words and short phrases behind your smile and use them to create your brand voice. Write them down and re-order them to fit the appropriate categories of language, tone, personality and style. Once the words are in the right place, expand upon them by adding complementary words and phrases that help to round out the emotion you want to evoke in those who do business with you. Remember, a person buys from you, and people make buying decisions emotionally, justifying them intellectually. How do you want your dream customer to feel? Write to that and your message will resonate. messages in simple, easy to understand language for the audience. Ask the reporter when the interview will appear and offer to answer any further questions as he is working on the story. In most cases, it’s not okay to ask to review a copy of the story before it appears. Jeffri-Lynn Campbell is the CEO and Brand Architect for Blaze Experts (blazeexperts.com), a branding agency that caters to businesses and organizations that value impact as much as income. Jeffri-Lynn Campbell is also currently director of communications and marketing for NAWBO Phoenix.
How to Put the Heart back into Leadership How leading with your heart leads to empowered, energized and exceptional employees by Carmen Payne In a 2018 article, “The Real Crisis in Leadership,” Forbes shared the following data: “One in two employees at some point in their career leave their job to get away from their manager — solely in an effort to improve their overall lives. Think about this fact for a moment: 50% of employees leave their jobs at some point because their leaders are so bad that they’re literally ruining their lives.” This may sound like doom and gloom; however, research also shows a direct correlation between heart-based leadership and the bottom line and there is a way to shift from a toxic environment to an environment for transparency, collaboration, empowerment and revenue growth. Here are five fundamentals to get you started toward leading with your heart: Lead with love. Leading with your heart starts first with being able to love yourself. If you cannot love yourself, your ability to lead from your heart will be impaired. Try to avoid comparing yourself to others and avoid negative self-talk. One of the quickest ways to shift negative self-talk is to come from a place of gratitude. Take a moment to write three things you appreciate about yourself. What do you love the most about you? From
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here, answer the question, “What do you appreciate about those you lead?” Influence positively. How you show up and manage your emotions directly impacts those around you and the culture/environment you create. Research conducted by the Heart Math Institute found we emit an electromagnetic field (EMF) that extends about three to six feet from our body. This field emits our emotional frequency that can be detected by others. You’ve heard the phrase, “You could cut the atmosphere with a knife” — this refers to our EMF.
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So, what frequencies do you want to emit? Do you want to evoke fear-based frequencies or love-based frequencies such as compassion, empathy and appreciation? You get to choose. This may require some introspection and direct employee feedback to understand what behaviors you need to change. The more self-aware you are, the more you will grow as a leader. Be curious. This is a leadership superpower! There are two parts: One, ask questions, and two, listen deeply. Ask questions to gain clarity, solve problems, get creative, explore options and possibilities. Encourage participation, collaboration and inclusion. It empowers and builds trust in others. Really listen. Otto Scharmer teaches four levels of listening. Level one is listening to confirm your own thoughts. Level two is the ability to become aware of what is different from your own thinking; being open to and influenced by new ideas and information. Level three is connecting with the person as they speak; listening with your heart. Level four is surround listening — the ability to visualize your employee beyond where they are now and see their future potential growth opportunities. This is what makes leaders great coaches. Use your words wisely. The words we speak to ourselves and to others form the basis of how we communicate our beliefs. Take a moment to think of something you heard, witnessed or read that you had a hard time letting go of. How long and how frequently did you replay this thought? What evidence presented itself in your environment to further reinforce this thought? Now think of something someone said to you that was kind
or encouraging. This second thought may have been more challenging to remember. That is the power of your words. Check in with yourself. As a leader, what positive or negative imprint are your words leaving on those you lead? Empower others thus empowering yourself. Teach others to fish, as the old proverb goes. Be vulnerable and relinquish control. Avoid micromanaging your employees, as this can feel suffocating and diminish their ability to be creative, share ideas and co-create! This can prevent job fulfillment and inhibit their professional growth. Empower them, play to their strengths, their genius. Additionally, give recognition and show appreciation when it is due, not just at the end of a project or task. Carmen Payne is the owner of SOAR! Transformational Life Coaching (www.soartlc.com). She works with business and corporate professionals to develop their leadership skills and increase their self-awareness, in order to help each person create an even better personal and professional life fit. Payne’s services include personalized coaching, workshops, consulting and speaking. Payne retains her Project Management Professional accreditation and obtained her coaching certifications at the Southwest Institute of Healing Arts and with the Quantum Success Coaching Academy. Payne also holds certifications in Neuro Linguistics Programing and Time Line Therapy® and is a certified Add Heart© facilitator. Photo courtesy of Financial Potion
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5 Ways to Manage Risk as a Business Owner by Veronica Archer
I worked with a business owner several years ago who unexpectedly passed away after a heart attack. He was in the prime of his life; having spent nearly 20 years building his business to the point where he had “made it,” he was finally able to enjoy the success he had built for himself and his family. Then, everything changed in an instant. Thankfully, he had life insurance so that his family was taken care of financially, but he had no plan for who would take over his role in the business. His thriving company was thrown into chaos, and his wife, with no business experience, was suddenly thrust into a role she neither wanted nor could handle. Within two years, the business was bankrupt. What took two decades to build was gone in a tenth of that time. Risk to a business owner can come in a number of different forms, from a power outage to a heart attack. Managing risk as a business owner involves a layering of planning, processes, and protection. There are five key ways a business owner can manage risk: Implement financial protection. We all know insurance is key for protection in our personal lives, as well as our business lives; it’s important to not forget to include “key person” insurance for those people crucial to the business. But financial protection goes beyond major events where insurance comes into play; it also includes having cash reserves or a line of credit to protect the business during a difficult time, or to take advantage of growth opportunities. Have a succession plan in place. None of us likes to think about the inevitable, but at some point every single one of us will pass on, and some of us may become physically or mentally incapacitated before that point. It’s absolutely vital to discuss these things on both a personal and business level before they become a reality. By having a succession plan in place, you will relieve your family of the added burden of business ownership issues on top of personal ones; and if you have business partners and employees, this is a crucial step for their well-being as well. Install fraud protections. According to the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners’ 2018 Report to the Nations on Occupational Fraud and Abuse, businesses with fewer than 100 employees actually incur nearly double the average losses of larger companies — $200,000, compared to $104,000 median loss for companies of mor than 100 employees. It is important to work to identify the risk your business faces, and work to
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mitigate those risks. Create a disaster recovery plan. A disaster recovery plan isn’t dependent on knowing every type of risk your business faces. It might start with a short-term disruption — be that bad weather or a power outage — to a major disruption lasting a week or even longer. It isn’t important to outline every situation that might happen, but to outline what the plan looks like: who is notified, how employees are contacted, what triggers the plan and what steps are taken. Most importantly, let your employees know a plan exists and where to locate it. Be proactive. Business owners, by nature, are optimistic. Pessimists who worry about every eventuality seem to come up with any number of reasons why “now isn’t the right time,” whereas successful business owners have to believe in themselves and jump in when others hesitate. This is why it’s important to proactively prepare for an emergency in your business; at some point, something will come up that you won’t be prepared to handle. The silver lining of being a business owner is that unexpected great things can happen too: a sale of the business that can allow you to retire early and travel the world, or converting the business into an employeeowned organization so your trusted long-term employees can carry on your legacy, or landing a big contract that will stress you to the limit but that will double your yearly revenue. There are a number of unexpected things that will happen to your business, good and bad, but having contingencies in place can help you reduce the impact of the bad as well as take advantage of the good. If my client had had a succession plan in place to mitigate risk to his business, employees and family, his business would likely still be around, and his legacy for his family and his name would continue on. Instead, his grieving widow was handed responsibilities she should never have had, and his employees suffered. It’s essential for all business owners to have contingencies in place to mitigate their risk.
Veronica Archer is co-chair of East Valley Neighborhood NAWBO.
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Do What you Love … and Lead Your Money! by Karen Russo
Remember 30 years ago when Marsha Sinetar told us to Do What You Love and the Money Will Follow? What an encouraging and inspiring idea! You do your passion. You trust. You will be supported. So has that been your experience? Really? The answer for me and smart, hardworking businesswomen like our NAWBO sisters is YES, when we do what we love, it’s satisfying. But — and it’s a but — the financial reward … Well, sometimes it’s a little complicated. We might have “done what we loved” and still had to keep a day job, or get supported by a partner or family, or settle for too little money. After more than a decade of owning my own holistic coaching business and working with thousands of women like you, here’s my counsel: Yes, do what you love. Tap into your passion. What you care about lights you up and the world needs us lit up, energized and brilliant. And if you want consistent income, funding for future growth, salaries for the team and sustainment for a rich family life … Well, don’t wait for the money to follow. YOU lead the money! The simplest and most powerful tool for leading your money is to create an inspired, authentic Money Purpose Statement. It’s your current answer to a very important question — a question that I’ve been grappling with for almost 15 years. In 2005, I was visioning how my work in the world would expand and got a clear idea to explore very deeply how spirituality and money go together. I chose this because I saw that people were suffering. I saw spiritual people crippled with money concerns, and I saw people in the wealth-building and entrepreneurial space being very disconnected from their spirituality. What if money and spirituality were not mutually exclusive? What happens when they work together? One of the most profound ideas that emerged from those days of visioning, contemplation and prayer around this message came on a sunny afternoon in Manhattan Beach, Calif. I was with my dear friend and prayer partner, Jennifer, and as we talked about what people truly desire in their financial experiences, she blurted out: “It’s not about the money; it’s ‘What’s the money for?’” What’s the Money For? When people long for greater financial flow, they are almost always also longing for an increase in their capacity to serve, to share and to give. Asking “What’s the money for?” activates something magical: Money Purpose — the sense that your higher calling is connected to your money life. When women business owners and professionals, like you, discover your own fresh answer to that question, you’ll immediately access more energy and focus to apply to making, keeping and sharing money. A Money Purpose Statement includes a noun (money), a verb (usually something like “serve,” “fund” or “reveal”), and the essence of the thing you’re passionate about (the “what’s it for”). Then add some specifics about
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your marketing, business and financial goals, and you’ve got a tool for organizing your thoughts, prioritizing your actions and sustaining a sense of purpose with your money. Here is an example: “I, Mary, see myself as a vital leader of Green Designs Today. Money fuels our commitment to creating vibrantly healthy and practical workspaces for our clients. Top-line revenue grows by 25 percent and more each quarter as we increase client cross sell, prospecting activities and number of affiliate partners!” Every month or so the bank generates a statement of our accounts. That statement tells us where our money has been and where it is going. Your Money Purpose Statement is an inspiring statement about your professional and business journey. In both cases, the statement tells us about our financial past, present and future. To lead your money: Yes, do what you love. And yes, tune into your Money Purpose. Then draft your Money Purpose, focus on it each week, and discover your best way to thrive.
Rev. Karen Russo, MBA, is the award-winning author of The Money Keys and Grow Yourself, Grow Your Wealth, and the creator of Lead Your Money coaching experiences (www.themoneykeys.com). She’s passionate about helping women business owners eliminate struggle, upset and overwhelm with money. Rev. Russo brings an unusual blend of experience as an MBA from Columbia University, a top-selling salesperson, a corporate leadership trainer and an ordained interfaith minister. Her message has been endorsed by Dr. Michael Bernard Beckwith, of Oprah’s Super Soul Sunday, and Sharon Lechter, who selected Rev. Russo to contribute to Think and Grow Rich for Women.
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BY MIKE HUNTER
Specialization Is Key to Success for Legal Needs in Business
Being focused on doing better business these days involves so much. In Business Magazine writes many articles each month that are meant to help business owners and those managing business become more informed, educated and aware of resources that can enrich business practices and/or improve the bottom line altogether. Legal representation is an important part of business success. While often costly and occasionally engaged because of issues, legal services are a necessary part of protecting and growing business. In this section, we identify many of the common practice areas that are important to protecting business and even the process of doing better business. From tax law to cybersecurity law, getting strong advice can make or break a company’s good standing. According to the State Bar of Arizona, legal situations for business are unique and require specific legal analysis — stating on its website, “In some cases, the wrong decision may cost you your legal rights.” Seeking legal advice, especially in today’s world, is as much a part of running business as is payroll. The State Bar of Arizona offers information on its website to help businesses better understand specific reasons why engaging an attorney can help — from starting or buying a business to signing contracts of any kind to protecting against new technologies and social media. Our special section will introduce you to those individuals who can help. In this special section, we offer some of these attorneys, through reputable law firms here in the Valley so readers can put a face to a name in the specific practice areas that may be needed. We include just some of the top attorneys as a place to start and encourage business owners to do the due diligence necessary in retaining an attorney for their company needs. State Bar of Arizona azbar.org
In Business Magazine is proud to offer our business community a listing of top attorneys by practice area. This special section is an annual piece that allows businesspeople to meet top attorneys in many of the current practice areas that businesses overall are seeking. It is also a way to get to know the top law firms that are eager to work with business owners and executives to provide specialized services. We hope you find the 2020 special section In the Firm: A Look at Top Attorneys by Practice Area useful.
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Clark Hill is a multidisciplinary, international law firm that provides innovative legal solutions and client-service excellence worldwide.
Title with Firm: Member Years at Firm: 11 Law School: University of Nebraska, Lincoln College of Law Contact Phone: (480) 684-1104 Other Practice-Area Expertise: Labor & Employment
Title with Firm: Member Years at Firm: 8 Law School: University of Connecticut Contact Phone: (480) 684-1118 Other Practice-Area Expertise: Technology Transactions
Darrell E. Davis, Esq.
P. Douglas Folk, Esq.
Litigation
Construction Law
Darrell E. Davis is a founding member of Clark Hill’s Phoenix office and concentrates his practice in protecting the interests of business owners. As outside general counsel to numerous companies since 1987, Davis has successfully directed and advised his clients on all aspects of their operations, including but not limited to business planning; acquisition opportunities; franchise disputes; negotiating with governmental agencies; employment issues; state, federal and administrative compliance; business contract negotiation; and litigation. Davis is a trusted advisor to entrepreneurial clients involved in commerce in several markets and industries, including automotive, real estate and retail.
P. Douglas Folk serves business clients in architecture, engineering, geomatics, landscape architecture, construction and other technology-driven industries as a vigorous advocate and trusted advisor. By drawing on his extensive experience in business transactions and commercial litigation, Folk developed practice specialties in construction law, professional liability defense, contracts and negotiations, risk management, administrative law, and government relations. Folk and his team have tackled difficult negotiations and litigation involving master-planned communities, commercial and mixed-use projects, destination resorts, medical facilities, factories, airports, mines and infrastructure projects. Folk builds lasting relationships with his clients by finding practical solutions for difficult legal problems.
Title with Firm: Member Years at Firm: 7 Law School: University of Iowa, College of Law Contact Phone: (480) 684-1127 Other Practice-Area Expertise: Government & Regulatory Affairs
Daniel A. Schenck, Esq.
Michelle M. Tran, Esq.
Corporate Law
Tax & Estate Planning
Daniel Schenck is a corporate attorney skilled in technology-related transactions and has practical work experience from personally founding startups to Fortune 500 telecom management. He serves as the outside general counsel for many of his clients, advising on key business matters. Schenck has significant transactional experience, both domestic and international, involving product and software development, procurement, licensing, distribution, outsourcing, supply chain, information technology (IT), vendor agreements, software as a service (SaaS), cloud computing, hosting, e-commerce and confidentiality agreements. Schenck’s practice also includes mergers and acquisitions, stock transactions, private securities offerings, supply-chain, manufacturing, equipment purchases/leases, distribution, service agreements and vendor agreements.
Michelle Margolies Tran, a Member in Clark Hill’s Estate Planning and Probate practice group, focuses her practice in the areas of sophisticated estate planning for individuals, families and businesses, using trusts and business entities to help her clients achieve their business succession, estate tax reduction and asset preservation goals. She also assists clients with complex trust and estate administration issues, including probate. Tran is the co-chair of Clark Hill BOLD - Phoenix, the firm's strategy to promote women within the firm, the legal profession and the business community.
Title with Firm: Member Years at Firm: 5 Law School: Arizona State University, Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law Contact Phone: (480) 822-6745 Other Certifications Supporting this Area: LL.M. in Taxation, University of Florida Levin College of Law Other Practice-Area Expertise: Trust Administration and Estate Settlement
Company Name: Clark Hill PLC
Website: www.clarkhill.com
Year Established Locally: 2009
Main Local Office Address: 14850 N. Scottsdale Rd., Suite 500, Scottsdale, AZ 85254
Number of Offices in Metro Phoenix: 1
Phone: (480) 684-1100
Managing Partner: Darrell E. Davis, Esq.
Top Practice Areas: Banking & Financial Services; Construction Law; Environment, Energy & Natural Resources; Insurance & Reinsurance; Labor & Employment; Litigation
City Nationally Headquartered: Detroit, MI
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We are recognized for our expertise and commitment to resolving commercial disputes and helping clients prevent legal problems through proper planning.
Title with Firm: Shareholder Years at Firm: 18 Law School, Year completed: University of Notre Dame, 1989 Contact Phone: (602) 222-4987 Other Practice-Area Expertise: Mediation
Title with Firm: Shareholder Years at Firm: 1 Contact Phone: (602) 222-4990 Other Certifications Supporting this Area: National Association of Bond Lawyers, member since 1994 Recognized in The Best Lawyers in America© in the field of Public Finance Law, Phoenix, Ariz., since 2007 Named “Lawyer of the Year” by The Best Lawyers in America© for Public Finance Law, Phoenix, Ariz., 2015 Other Practice-Area Expertise: Federal Tax Law
Kevin Judiscak
Tamalyn (Tami) Lewis
Commercial Litigation
Agriculture
Kevin Judiscak combines a focused and strategic approach to the litigation process, with a practical business perspective to assist business clients in beneficially resolving pending or threatened disputes. Judiscak’s experience includes enforcement and defense of commercial loan agreements, guaranties and collateral agreements; rights in personal property and real estate collateral through judicial and non-judicial enforcement, including receiverships and provisional remedies; real estate contracts, sales agreements and commercial leases, including forcible entry and detainer proceedings; rights between shareholders, members, or partners in closely held businesses; and non-compete and other restrictive covenants arising from employment contracts, shareholder agreements or business sales.
Title with Firm: Shareholder Years at Firm: 5 Law School, Year completed: Arizona State University, 1983
Tamalyn (Tami) Lewis brings her clients more than 35 years of legal experience and a deep appreciation of our Arizona business culture. A true Arizona native through-and-through, Lewis was born in Globe, raised in Safford and attended Arizona State University. Lewis has extensive experience representing financial institutions, farmers, landlords, creditors and individuals in commercial bankruptcies, foreclosures, loan workouts, agricultural matters, real estate and settlement negotiations.
Contact Phone: (602) 222-4958 Other Practice-Area Expertise: Insolvency, Creditors’ Rights
Brigitte Finley Green
Patrick Clisham
Public Finance
Business Transactions, Reorganizations & Workouts
Brigitte Finley Green practices public finance law. She spent more than 20 years at large regional and national law firms serving as bond and underwriter’s counsel on hundreds of transactions for governmental issuers, including state agencies, universities, counties, cities/ towns, school districts and special districts. Finley Green also has experience in qualified private activity bond financing of multifamily housing facilities, manufacturing facilities, single-family mortgages, student loans and facilities for 501(c)(3) organizations, including hospitals, private universities and charter schools. She also spent two years as an attorney adviser with the IRS’s Office of Chief Counsel in Washington, D.C., where she drafted treasury regulations and IRS rulings in the tax-exempt bond area.
Title with Firm: Managing Shareholder Years at Firm: 10 Law School, Year completed: DePaul University, 2002 Contact Phone: (602) 222-4968 Other Certifications Supporting this Area: Selected to Southwest Super Lawyers for Bankruptcy, Business/Corporate, Business Litigation, 2019
Patrick Clisham has extensive experience representing clients in complex corporate transactions, including loan documentation and restructurings, asset acquisitions and sales, lease negotiations and enforcement, and business transactions. Clisham’s experience primarily derives from representing secured and unsecured creditors, corporate debtors, trustees and examiners in corporate bankruptcy proceedings and out-of-court workouts. Clisham also has considerable business and financial experience. He is a former commodities futures trader and was previously a member of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. Patrick has been recently recognized in The Best Lawyers in America© in the field of Bankruptcy and Creditor Debtor Rights/ Insolvency and Reorganization Law in Phoenix.
Company Name: Engelman Berger, PC
Website: eblawyers.com
Year Established Locally: 1999
Main Local Office Address: 2800 N. Central Ave., Suite 1200, Phoenix, AZ 85004
Number of Offices in Metro Phoenix: 1
Phone: (602) 271-9090
Managing Partner: Patrick Clisham
Top Practice Areas: Bankruptcy and Reorganization, Commercial Litigation, Business Disputes and Transactions, Real Estate, Public Finance, Employment
City Nationally Headquartered: Phoenix
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Ryley Carlock & Applewhite is a full-service law firm with offices in Arizona, Colorado and Michigan.
Title with Firm: Shareholder Years at Firm: 14 Law School: University of Chicago Law School Contact Phone: (602) 440-4866
Title with Firm: Shareholder Years at Firm: 36 Law School: University of Kansas Contact Phone: (602) 440-4824
Jessica Benford Powell
Amber D. Hughes
Corporate and Securities
Estate Planning and Trust Administration
Benford Powell helps local entrepreneurs, startups, business owners, established companies and financial institutions navigate significant issues related to formation, governance, intellectual property, financing and securities compliance. Her extensive experience representing clients in business transactions includes mergers and acquisitions, private placements, stock purchases and much more, where she manages the entire process — from term sheets and letters of intent through closing. Benford Powell is committed to understanding her clients' business goals and challenges in order to deliver responsive solutions. She regularly writes and presents on these important business topics. Benford Powell serves as Practice Group Leader for the firm’s Corporate, Banking & Transactional Practice.
Title with Firm: Shareholder Years at Firm: 7 Law School: California Western School of Law Contact Phone: (602) 440-4847
Hughes’ practice focuses solely on the areas of Estate Planning, Probate and Trust Administration. She regularly represents high-net-worth individuals, young professionals, families, professional athletes, business owners and retirees. Hughes takes a client-centered approach to ensure that all aspects of the estate plan are covered, including tax planning, business succession planning, second marriage considerations, designation of guardians of minor children and much more. In addition, she routinely oversees complicated probate matters and trust administrations and has extensive courtroom experience regarding the administration of trusts and estates. Hughes serves as Practice Group Leader of the firm’s Estate Planning & Tax Practice.
Sheryl A. Sweeney
Lorena Van Assche
Water and Environmental Law
Litigation
Sweeney practices in the areas of energy law, water law, environmental law, electric-utility law, public power and special taxing districts. She has extensive experience representing both public and private energy interests. Sweeney acts as counsel to several entities that contract for hydroelectric power from the Western Area Power Administration and the Arizona Power Authority. She is involved in all aspects of the industry, including power supply contracting, rate setting, transmission access, interconnection agreements, renewable generation, conventional generation, distributed generation, siting and retail electric competition. Sweeney serves as Practice Group Leader for the firm’s Water, Energy, Resources and Environmental Law Practice.
As a litigator, Van Assche works with her clients to aggressively protect and advance their interests. She helps business leaders confront and resolve a wide variety of disputes in state, federal and bankruptcy courts. Her clients include financial institutions, lenders, commercial landlords, commercial tenants, developers, professionals and entrepreneurs. Van Assche devotes a significant portion of her practice to representing financial institutions and lenders in commercial lending disputes, including breach of contract, lender liability and foreclosures. Her practice also includes probate and trust litigation, bankruptcy litigation and commercial landlord/tenant disputes. Van Assche serves as Practice Group Leader for the firm’s Litigation Practice Group.
Title with Firm: Shareholder Years at Firm: 4 Law School: Arizona State University Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law Contact Phone: (602) 440-4820
Company Name: Ryley Carlock & Applewhite
Website: rcalaw.com
Year Established Locally: 1948
Main Local Office Address: One N. Central Ave., Suite 1200, Phoenix, AZ 85004
Number of Offices in Metro Phoenix: 3
Phone: (602) 440-4800
Managing Partner: James E. Brophy
Top Practice Areas: Corporate and Securities, Document Control Group, Estate Planning and Trust Administration, Labor and Employment, Litigation, Water and Environmental Law
City Nationally Headquartered: Phoenix
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One of Arizona’s oldest law firms, Sacks Tierney serves Arizona businesses, entrepreneurs, municipalities, Indian tribes and government agencies in multi-practice areas.
1960 - 2020
Roxann Gallagher Public and Commercial Finance
Title with Firm: Shareholder Years at Firm: 10 Law School, Year completed: 2002 Other Certifications Supporting this Area: The Best Lawyers in America® (Public Finance Law), 2020 Other Practice-Area Expertise: Indian Law and Tribal Relations; Business and Corporate Law
Roxann Gallagher is a shareholder in Sacks Tierney’s Public and Commercial Finance and Indian Law practice groups. Gallagher’s practice primarily focuses on commercial and public finance and federal Indian law with an emphasis on economic development. She represents a broad range of clients, including many institutional lenders, in transactions involving taxable commercial loans, tax-exempt bonds, certificates of participation, tax credits, leases and other financing mechanisms. Sacks Tierney is listed in The Bond Buyer’s Municipal Marketplace® (the “Red Book”). Gallagher is also routinely engaged to navigate the complex legal regimes present when business or development projects occur within the jurisdictional boundaries of tribal communities or are conducted directly by tribal entities. She understands the intricacies of real estate title and security issues, regulatory authority, development and construction concerns, and unique timing considerations that impact each venture’s ultimate success. Gallagher earned her Juris Doctorate from Arizona State University, Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law, where she also served as an articles editor for the Arizona State Law Journal. Gallagher also received a Certificate in Indian Law from the school’s preeminent Indian Legal Program. Gallagher currently serves on the board of directors of Meritas, a global alliance of independent law firms; is the chair of the board of directors of Native American Connections, Inc., which owns and operates 18 sites offering a continuum of affordable housing, behavioral health and community development services; is the chair of the board of directors of Christ Church School; and is a trustee at Prescott College. Gallagher is a member of the Arizona Bar and the Navajo Nation Bar. A full list of her presentations and publications can be found on the firm's website at https://www.sackstierney.com/ attorneys/gallagher.htm.
Shar Bahmani Employment Law
Title with Firm: Shareholder Years at Firm: 3 Law School, Year completed: 2007 Other Certifications Supporting this Area: Southwest Super Lawyers Rising Stars, Employment & Labor, 2018-2020 Other Practice-Area Expertise: Civil Litigation, Real Estate Law
Employment and civil litigation attorney Shar Bahmani is a shareholder with Sacks Tierney and is licensed to practice in Arizona and California. He assists employers in day-to-day workforce management, employment law compliance, and drafting and revising company policies. Bahmani relishes the opportunity to regularly work hand-in-hand with employers to manage, protect and guide their workforce. Bahmani also represents employers in all phases of litigation and administrative proceedings. He has defended employers in disputes involving allegations of discrimination, wrongful termination, harassment, retaliation, contract disputes, wage and hour violations, disputes over leave entitlements, and other employment-related disputes brought under Title VII, ADA, ADEA, FLSA, FMLA and California’s FEHA and CFRA. He works with clients in mediation proceedings, as well as other alternative dispute resolution proceedings, to find efficient and reasonable solutions to complex disputes. Bahmani works proactively with employers to develop employment agreements, restrictive covenant agreements such as non-compete agreements and non-solicitation agreements; agreements protecting confidential information and business trade secrets; policies unique to Arizona, such as minimum wage, mandatory paid sick leave and medical marijuana in the workplace; as well as various human resource management-related forms and documents. Bahmani has worked with health plans, insurance carriers, medical providers and employers regarding issues arising in connection with ERISA-governed health and employee benefit plans. He has defended ERISA litigation related to insurance disputes, healthcare benefits disputes and other employee benefits disputes. Bahmani is a proud Arizonan. He received his Juris Doctorate from the James E. Rogers College of Law, University of Arizona, and is member of the Arizona, California, and U.S. Court of Federal Claims bars. He is also highly active in the Arizona legal community, serving as a liaison to the Arizona Collaborative Bar since 2018.
Company Name: Sacks Tierney P.A.
Website: www.sackstierney.com
Year Established Locally: 1960
Main Local Office Address: 4250 N. Drinkwater Blvd., Fourth Floor, Scottsdale, AZ 85251
Number of Offices in Metro Phoenix: 1
Top Practice Areas: Commercial Litigation, Estate Planning, Indian Law and Tribal Relations, Construction Law, Bankruptcy and Restructuring, Real Estate Law
Managing Partner: Judith Dworkin
Phone: (480) 425-2600 ADVERTISING PROFILE
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Sanders & Parks delivers broad insight and great results by leveraging decades of experience through creative and forward-thinking attorneys.
Title with Firm: Shareholder Years at Firm: 25 Law School: Georgetown University Contact Phone: (602) 532-5783
Robin Burgess
J. Arthur Eaves
Medical Malpractice Defense
Medical Malpractice Defense
Robin Burgess is an experienced litigator who emphasizes complex injury cases, such as healthcare, medical malpractice, product liability, professional liability, employment law, personal injury and municipal liability. She has tried cases in state and federal courts, on issues ranging from complex medical negligence claims to police use-of-force and constitutional claims, and has argued appeals in all of Arizona’s courts and before the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. She is a problemsolver who has been recognized as a top healthcare attorney nationally and has been a legal analyst for CBS news.
J. Arthur Eaves is an experienced trial attorney. He represents doctors, psychologists, dentists and other healthcare providers when they are facing litigation or board complaints. He has taken some of the biggest malpractice cases in the State of Arizona to trial. Eaves has been selected repeatedly as a Superlawyer. He was also selected as one of the Best Lawyers in Arizona as well as one of the Top Lawyers in America. Eaves believes that being an effective advocate means understanding a client’s needs and being there for them as they deal with the ups and downs that can be a result of litigation.
Title with Firm: Shareholder Years at Firm: 16 Law School: Arkansas
Other Practice-Area Expertise: Municipal Defense, Civil Litigation
Title with Firm: Shareholder Years at Firm: 31 Law School: University of Arizona Contact Phone: (602)-532-5720 Other Practice-Area Expertise: Personal Injury, Business Liability, Product Liability
Garrick L. Gallagher
Mark G. Worischeck
Insurance Litigation
Aviation
Garrick Gallagher maintains a complex litigation practice that emphasizes insurance litigation, personal injury and business liability. He has been interviewed by Dateline NBC, local news networks, the Los Angeles Times, London Times and Gentlemen’s Quarterly and handled cases that were featured in The Wall Street Journal and The American Lawyer. He advises and represents parties in complex insurance, personal injury and business liability matters. Gallagher is frequently retained in high-exposure cases. He was recognized by Best Lawyers in America as 2019 Lawyer of the Year – Litigation-Insurance, and selected as one of Super Lawyers Arizona’s Top 50 Lawyers from 2012-2020.
Title with Firm: Managing Shareholder Years at Firm: 31 Law School: Washington University School of Law in St. Louis
Mark Worischeck’s practice emphasizes complex litigation, primarily in the areas of insurance, aviation and construction. Worischeck is often consulted by insurers, contractors and aviation-related companies to handle high-stakes litigation. Worischeck is AV-rated and twice selected by Best Lawyers in America as “Lawyer of the Year.” He is also one of just a small group of lawyers in Arizona elected to membership in ABOTA – the prestigious trial organization.
Contact Phone: (602) 532-5795 Other Practice-Area Expertise: Construction Litigation, Insurance Litigation
Company Name: Sanders & Parks, P.C.
Website: www.sandersparks.com
Year Established Locally: 1973
Main Local Office Address: 3030 N. Third St., Suite 1300, Phoenix, AZ 85012
Number of Offices in Metro Phoenix: 1
Top Practice Areas: Insurance Defense, Insurance Bad Faith, Construction Litigation, Medical Malpractice Defense, Civil Litigation, Municipal Defense, Personal Injury, Aviation
Managing Partner: Mark Worischeck
Phone: (602) 532-5600 ADVERTISING PROFILE
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Snell & Wilmer is a full-service business law firm with more than 450 attorneys practicing in 14 locations.
Title with Firm: Partner Years at Firm: 30 Law School: University of Iowa College of Law Contact Phone: (602) 382-6235 Other Practice-Area Expertise: Internal Investigations, International, Government Regulations
Title with Firm: Partner Years at Firm: 10 Law School: University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law Contact Phone: (602) 382-6513
Barbara J. Dawson
Brett W. Johnson
Commercial Litigation
Government Relations
Barb Dawson is a senior investigations and litigation partner. She serves on the firm’s elected Executive Committee and Compensation Committee. Dawson’s practice concentrates on assisting Fortune 500 businesses and boards of directors with internal investigations, complex litigation and regulatory compliance. On a national basis, Dawson currently serves as chairperson of the American Bar Association’s Section of Litigation. On an international basis, Dawson has served as chair of the board of directors for Lex Mundi, an international affiliation of 160 independent law firms worldwide. Her experience has included legal engagements, law-related presentations, projects and board of directors' duties on six continents.
Brett Johnson represents businesses and individuals in government relations matters. He regularly represents parties and witnesses involved with governmental investigations, including election law, governmental ethics, export control, False Claims Act, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and government procurement compliance laws and regulations. He has experience handling internal investigations and compliance audits for clients on a wide range of matters. He has litigated complex cases at both the trial and appellate stages. Prior to joining the firm, Johnson was a judge advocate with the United States Navy, regularly appearing in state and federal courts throughout the nation on behalf of the Department of the Navy.
Title with Firm: Partner Years at Firm: 14 Law School: Santa Clara University School of Law Contact Phone: (602) 382-6312 Other Practice-Area Expertise: International Trade Compliance, Government Procurement Law
Anthony T. King
Patricia Lee Refo
Commercial Litigation
Professional Liability Litigation
Tony King represents clients in a variety of complex business disputes and commercial litigation. He regularly handles litigation in federal and state courts involving business contract disputes, real estate disputes, partnership and shareholder disputes, employer-employee disputes and a plethora of business torts and other claims. He has represented clients in a variety of industries, including wholesale distribution, financial institutions, franchises and real estate. King is a member of Snell & Wilmer's Attorney Development Committee and the Committee on Diversity & Inclusion.
Title with Firm: Partner Years at Firm: 24 Law School: University of Michigan School of Law Contact Phone: (602) 382-6290 Other Practice-Area Expertise: Commercial Litigation, Class Action Defense
Other Practice-Area Expertise: Real Estate Litigation, Corporate Governance Litigation, Alternative Dispute Resolution
Trish Refo is the president-elect of the American Bar Association. Her practice is concentrated in complex commercial litigation and internal investigations, with extensive experience in professional malpractice defense, commercial and business torts, financial institutions litigation, class actions and trade secret litigation. She chairs the firm's Professional Liability Litigation group. Refo is a thought leader on litigation and trial issues and has been named one of the most influential women lawyers in the country. She served on the Arizona Supreme Court's Advisory Committee on the Rules of Evidence and is a former member of the Advisory Committee on the Federal Rules of Evidence of the United States Judicial Conference.
Company Name: Snell & Wilmer
Website: swlaw.com
Year Established Locally: 1938
Main Local Office Address: 400 E. Van Buren St., Suite 1900, Phoenix, AZ 85004
Number of Offices in Metro Phoenix: 1
Phone: (602) 382-6000
Managing Partner: Matthew P. Feeney, Chair
Top Practice Areas: Commercial Litigation, Labor and Employment, Real Estate, Intellectual Property, Corporate and Securities, Special Litigation and Compliance
City Nationally Headquartered: Phoenix
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Snell & Wilmer is a full-service business law firm with more than 450 attorneys practicing in 14 locations.
Title with Firm: Partner Years at Firm: 11 Law School: Vanderbilt University Law School Contact Phone: (602) 382-6531 Other Practice-Area Expertise: Opportunity Zones and Opportunity Funds, Commercial Finance, Zoning and Land Use
Title with Firm: Partner Years at Firm: 12 Law School: Universidad Autonoma de Guadalajara School of Law Contact Phone: (602) 382-6335
Byron Sarhangian
Howard I. Sobelman
Real Estate
Intellectual Property
Byron Sarhangian serves as co-chair of the firm's Real Estate Practice Group and Opportunity Zone Industry Group. His practice is concentrated in real estate and business transactions, which include purchase and sale transactions, leasing, financing and brokerage matters. Sarhangian advises large and small corporate clients in corporate real estate matters throughout the United States. His practice also involves drafting and negotiating construction agreements for owners, lenders, general contractors and subcontractors. Sarhangian represents investors, fund sponsors and developers with respect to the Opportunity Zone Program. His work includes ground leases and finance agreements on Native American lands.
Howard Sobelman's practice is concentrated in intellectual property law, including patents, copyrights, trademarks, trade secrets, licensing and due diligence. His practice includes blockchain technologies, big data, software, hardware, internet, business methods, aerospace, solar tracking, financial services, financial planning, insurance products, medical products, mechanical, biotechnology, fiber optics, holography and various other technologies. In addition, Sobelman has worked with a number of clients to develop creative global protection strategies.
Title with Firm: Partner Years at Firm: 25 Law School: Arizona State University College of Law Contact Phone: (602) 382-6228 Other Practice-Area Expertise: Licensing, Patents, Trademarks
Carlos A. Sugich
Marian Zapata-Rossa
Real Estate
Labor and Employment
Carlos Sugich's practice is concentrated in real estate development, hospitality, financing, leasing and cross-border business transactions in the U.S., Mexico and Latin America. Sugich led the firm in opening its first international office in Los Cabos, Mexico, and currently represents some of the most exclusive master-planned and resort communities in the area. In addition, Sugich regularly advises domestic and foreign companies in the establishment and operation of foreign subsidiaries and has written extensively in the areas of foreign investment and crossborder transactions. Sugich manages the Los Cabos Office and is a member of the firm’s Expanded Executive Committee.
Other Practice-Area Expertise: Master Planned Communities and Subdivisions, International Law
Title with Firm: Partner Years at Firm: 2 Law School: Howard University School of Law Contact Phone: (602) 382-6355 Other Practice-Area Expertise: Native American Affairs, Whistleblower Liability
Marian Zapata-Rossa defends employers against discrimination, harassment, retaliation, and wage and hour claims, and represents employers in disputes involving employment and arbitration agreements and restrictive covenants not to compete. Zapata-Rossa litigates both single-plaintiff and class-action employment lawsuits, conducts workplace investigations and helps employers resolve administrative matters before numerous state and federal government agencies. She advises employers on all aspects of the employeremployee relationship with a focus on providing clients with business-oriented solutions to identify and mitigate risk. To this end, Zapata-Rossa has trained thousands of managers and employees on preventing harassment and best practices in the workplace.
Company Name: Snell & Wilmer
Website: swlaw.com
Year Established Locally: 1938
Main Local Office Address: 400 E. Van Buren St., Suite 1900, Phoenix, AZ 85004
Number of Offices in Metro Phoenix: 1
Phone: (602) 382-6000
Managing Partner: Matthew P. Feeney, Chair
Top Practice Areas: Commercial Litigation, Labor and Employment, Real Estate, Intellectual Property, Corporate and Securities, Special Litigation and Compliance
City Nationally Headquartered: Phoenix
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Gallagher & Kennedy The prime location for attorneys who know real estate law and how to get deals done.
DEALS WE DO Complex to routine transactions, including land use & zoning, litigation, construction, secured lending, leasing, acquisitions, sales, eminent domain/condemnation, valuation, distressed assets, refinancing, sale-leasebacks, permanent loans, tax planning, liquor licensing and land banking
FOR YOU Developers, home builders, contractors, lenders, landlords, tenants, investors, syndicators, owners, buyers, sellers and individuals
Lawyers. When Results Matter.
AND YOUR PROJECTS Mixed use developments, master planned developments, commercial, office projects, sports facilities, shopping centers, retail, industrial, multi-family, mini-storage and master sign plans
2575 East Camelback Road | Phoenix, Arizona 85016-9225 | P: 602-530-8000 | www.gknet.com
Huge teams. Hidden costs. Everything on the meter. Sorry, that’s just not us. Our clients hire us to understand who they are and what they want, whether that’s leaner teams, transparent budgets or alternative fee arrangements. We continually monitor and evaluate their needs, anticipating the value they demand – delivered the way they want it. Find out more at swlaw.com.
Albuquerque | Boise | Denver | Las Vegas | Los Angeles | Los Cabos | Orange County Phoenix | Portland | Reno | Salt Lake City | Seattle | Tucson | Washington, D.C.
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Anderson, David, 30
Colling, Brian, 30
Hinkson, Dan, 16
Refo, Patricia Lee, 61
Sunny, Jay, 31
Archer, Veronica, 51
Davis, Darrell E., 56
Holt, Peter, 42
Riesterer, Tim, 31
Sweeney, Sheryl A. , 58
Arkfeld, Adam, 30
Dawson, Barbara J., 61
Hughes, Amber D. , 58
Roelofs, Scott, 11
Tassin, Lane, M.D., 18
Bahmani, Shar, 59
DiGianfilippo, Melissa, 30
James, Veronique, 30
Rogers, Eileen, 40
Taylor, Rich, 31
Baker, Shaun, 24
Durmer, Jeffrey, 18
Johnson, Brett W. , 61
Roth, Mark, 16
Thomas, Matt, 20
Baxter, Jamie, 25
Dworkin, Judith, 59
Judiscat, Kevin, 57
Russo, Karen, Rev., 52
Timpani, Ryan, 15
Benford Powell, Jessica, 58
Eaves, J. Arthur, 60
Kennada, Anthony, 20
Saranga, Vinay, M.D., 12
Toft, Mark, 31
Brophy, James E., 58
Feeney, Matthew P., 61, 62
Keyser, Jonathan, 27
Sarhangian, Byron, 62
Tran, Michelle Margolies, 56
Brunner, Tim, 32
Finley Green, Brigitte, 57
King, Anthony T. , 61
Schenck, Daniel, 56
Trent, Michele, 46
Burgess, Robin, 60
Folk, P. Douglas, 56
Kingl, Adam, 31
Schnitzer, Ken, 44
Van Assche, Lorena, 58
Bush, Laura, Ph.D., 47
Gallagher, Garrick L., 60
Lewis, Tamalyn, 57
Schnitzer, Lucia, 44
Waksvik, Vemun, 11
Butler, Tyler, 36
Gallagher, Roxann, 59
Mansoor, Jerry, 44
Schweitzer, Sharon, 43
Weber, Bruce, 38
Calvi, Nick, 13
Garmon, Angela, 45
Mashburn, Lee, 16
Shepherd, Jason, 15
Wojciechowski, Margie, 42
Camacho, Chris, 26
Goetz, Calvin, 10
Merrifield, Kristen, 28
SkindelytÄ—, Kristina, 11
Worischeck, Mark, 60
Campbell, Jeffri-Lynn, 48
Goyette, Kerry, 66
Newsom, Darlene, 10
Smith, Ben, 13
Zapata-Rossa, Marian, 62
Cardinal, Chris, 30
Grossman, Justin, 30
Olexa, Garrett, 34
Smith, Charlie, 38
Cassidy, Brian, 9
Harris, Dallin, 30
Payne, Carmen, 49
Sobelman, Howard I. , 62
Clisham, Patrick, 57
Hertle, Debbie, 10
Peterson, Erik, 31
Sugich, Carlos A. , 62
11Eleven Consulting, 36
Equality Health, 39
One Creative View, 40
Strategy Financial Group, 10
Access to Culture, 43
FastMed Urgent Care, 18
OTOjOY, 12
Subway, 12
Alerus, 32, 68
First Bank, 6
Paracore, 30
Synapse Studios, 30
Alliance of Arizona Nonprofits, 28
Front, 20
Peacock Proud Press, 47
Synergy SKY, 11
Alliance Residential, 16
Gallagher & Kennedy, 63
PEG Development, 16
The James Agency, 30
Aperio Consulting Group, 66
Girl Scouts Arizona Cactus-Pine Council, 44
Phoenix Warehouse District Council, 9
Tweener Homes, 13
APS, 41
GoTranscript, 11
Pivot Development, 16
UMOM New Day Center, 10
Arizona Commerce Authority, 7
Grand Canyon University, 50
Pomelo, 44
UnitedHealthcare, 5
Arizona Gives Day, 19
Greater Phoenix Economic Council, 26
Quarles & Brady, 54
Weber Group, 38
AT&T, 11
Hyundai, 43
Qwick, 25
Atlas Real Estate, 15
Jennings, Strouss & Salmon, PLC., 34
RCG Valuation, 11
Westin Kierland Resort & Spa, The, 67
Avnet, 36
Jive, 6
REACTIV, 15
Blaze Experts, 48
JLL, 17
Redirect Health, 21
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona, 18
Joint Chiropractice, The, 8, 42
Remembered Well, 46
BMO Harris Bank, 33
Kaleidoscope Juice, 12
Ryley Carlock & Applewhite, 58
BOK Financial, 35
Kempler Industries, 14
Sacks Tierney, 59
Cambria Hotel Phoenix Downtown, 24
Keyser, 27
Sanders & Parks, 60
CCBG Architects, Inc., 9
Landsea Homes, 15
Saranga Comprehensive Psychiatry, 12
Clark Hill, 56
Luna Azul, 16
Serendipit Consulting, 30
Colliers International, 15
Meltmedia, 30
Sharecare, 18
Colling Media, 30
MST Solutions, 10
Sigma Contracting, Inc., 16
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Desert Financial Credit Union, 37
National Association of Women Business Owners – Phoenix, 45
Skyhook Interactive, 30
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Engelman Berger, 57 Enterprise Bank & Trust, 8
Nox Health, 18 Off Madison Avenue, 30
In each issue of In Business Magazine, we list both companies and indivuduals for quick reference. See the stories for links to more.
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FEB 65 2020 INBUSINESSPHX.COM
A CANDID FORUM
BY
Courage Drives Emotional Intelligence in Leadership And it takes strength to start with an open mind by Kerry Goyette
Kerry Goyette is founder and president of Aperio Consulting Group (www. thinkaperio.com), a corporate consulting firm that utilizes workplace analytics and researchbased strategies to build high performance teams. Goyette’s work has been featured in Fast Company, Entrepreneur, CEO World Magazine, Glassdoor, and Quartz at Work (for links to Goyette’s articles in these magazines, visit this article on www.inbusinessphx. com). Goyette shares this excerpt from her latest book, The Non-Obvious Guide to Emotional Intelligence, listed by Forbes magazine as one of the Best Business Books for Summer 2019.
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In The Wizard of Oz, when Dorothy and her friends set off on that yellow brick road, they needed three things to succeed: a heart, a brain and courage. Most of the time, when people think of emotional intelligence, they think only of heart. They think heart = empathy, compassion and kindness. But emotionally intelligent leaders who are full of heart possess more than just feelings of empathy. They act as leaders by considering the needs of others and working to shape their environment to help others to thrive. True emotional intelligence takes heart (empathy and compassion), an understanding of the brain (its fears and tendencies), and courage to change the environment to bring these components together. How to Create a Better Environment How do we bring all these pieces together? How do we create this environment? When I begin work with a client, my first step is to try to understand the relevant environment as best I can. This helps pave the way for conversations about tough topics and requires a particular mindset. First, I don’t assume anything. I enter the situation with an open mind. Questions are at the center of my approach. Second, I enter without judgment. When I say “judgment,” I don’t mean just deciding if something is good or bad; I mean I try to hold off on making conclusions. The brain always wants to find patterns and make connections, so it takes a lot of mental energy to put aside assumptions and try to see what really is. It takes courage to challenge and put aside my assumptions because it means I have to admit that I don’t know the answer. I don’t know what I’ll find when I enter without judgment, and I have to be willing to find anything. For leaders, this means there’s a possibility of seeing your own mistakes reflected back at you. Third, my aim is to build trust and listen. My goal in the listening phase is to turn that sense-making instinct down for a little while and try to collect as much information and input as I can.
Listen First, Analyze Later In turn, people find themselves able to confide in me. This process allows me to not only see the environment for what it is, but to start to uncover the many factors that go into making things the way they are. If you want to work on getting to the root, here are some examples of courageous questions you can begin asking: • What is the problem? Why do we want to solve it? • What is causing your problems or what is not happening or not functioning? • What is the opportunity in this issue? • If our problems could be resolved, what would change? • What’s the gap between where we want to be and our current state? • What are the key drivers that would close that gap? • If there is a conflict with someone else, what do you agree on? • What are the points of disagreement? • What has to be done to get over the points of disagreement? • What impact is the problem having on your ability to be successful? Why? • Try to consolidate the problem down to a decision. • Is there more detail you can gather about the problem? Explain. • Is the problem something you can resolve on your own? • Do multiple people need to be involved? • Where are you most likely to fail at something that is also critical to solving the problem? • Would it help to find a way to collaborate differently? These questions might seem relatively simple, but when you have the courage to ask them and keep an open mind, they often yield significant answers. Emotional intelligence requires courage. It takes guts to move beyond yourself and try to shape your office’s current environment. Leaders fail to adapt when they fail to bring together all the pieces: heart, brain and courage.
True emotional intelligence takes heart (empathy and compassion), an understanding of the brain (its fears and tendencies), and courage to change the environment to bring these components together.
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