opus:interactive | If These Servers Could Talk

Peter Tarlton, Wheelock CEO/founder and GISC Counselor, captures group notes.

Article by Jason Nuss, Chief of Operations, opus:interactive.

Having a dynamic culture in a place of business is as important as making money in business in my opinion. Obviously, if you don’t make money you won’t be in business, but a dynamic culture where real, open communication exists and employees feel empowered to share and act on their ideas, and at the same be accountable to each other and for their actions, will create success. As the saying goes “happy employees equal happy customers.” So we, myself and our COO, Jim Fletcher, and CEO, Mark Brody, ventured to Cape Cod to the Gestalt International Study Center (GISC.org) to get a firsthand look at what it takes to create a high-performance culture.

We will have a company that is culturally relevant, both internally and externally, that lives by its purpose and values.

I will start by saying that we have an amazing culture. opus:interactive, as a part of Opus Creative Group, Inc., has been ranked in the top 100 places to work for 5 of the last 6 years. Those awards are voted on by the employees. Our folks like what they do here, and the culture we have created over the years is awesome. Like anything, though it’s important to refresh on the “why” we need a dynamic culture and the “how” to sustain it. We turned to the Gestalt International Study Center to gain more insight and knowledge. For the past year, we have had an executive coach and mentor roaming the campus of opus. He meets regularly with all directors to coach in effective leadership skills like vision casting, effective coworker communication, effective meeting facilitating, etc. His training came from those at GISC. We found his approach to be so effective that we dove in deeper.

So what did we do and what did we learn?

First, I think it’s important to get away and go study aspects of your business that don’t usually get attention. Going to Cape Cod was an amazing opportunity but that’s not where we started.

A water delivery truck in Boston - seeing things like this and spending time with my teammates really helped me wind-down and prepare to focus on the lessons ahead at the GISC.

We spent a day and a half in Boston prior to our study just to unwind from our hectic schedules and grueling mind work. We do this every time we travel to a trade show, a vendor visit, or training. We find it’s easier for us to unwind and then focus on the task at hand.

Gestalt International Study Center facility in Cape Cod.

We arrived in Cape Cod with an open mind, ready to absorb what we probably couldn’t have a day earlier. And the learning started right away. The whole weekend, which started on a Thursday afternoon and ended Sunday afternoon, was focused around 4 real companies who had implemented “Gestalt” methodologies into their cultures and had huge success because of it. Definitions of success were different with each company and will be talked about later in this article.

Dynamic culture first hand. The case studies.

Wheelock. A focus on company process.

The first real-life case study was Wheelock, a leader in mass notification. The CEO of Wheelock, Peter Tarlton, who recently sold his company, so I guess he is the former CEO, was the first to present his case. Over the course of 30 years he worked hard to develop a culture where his employees liked to work and thrived through open communication and feedback. His employees were instrumental in creating processes that not only produced amazing business success, but also created an environment where employees knew their jobs and exactly what was expected of them.

The key here was an environment where employees were either “in” or “out.” With a process-oriented manufacturing operation, everyone needed to be bought in, to create an environment where everyone is on the same page. I think the key in this case study was Wheelock was able to give the employees the choice to be in or out, thus creating camaraderie between teammates with focused vision because they were all in. I also was struck by the genuine caring attitude of Peter. He cared about the voice of his employees, he cared about their development, and he also cared about the business. I guess I was struck by his ability to balance it all.

Nick’s Pizza and Pub. A focus on the employee.

Second on the floor was Nick’s Pizza and Pub. Nick Sorello, the CEO, along with his Director of Operations, Chris Adams were there presenting how they have put Gestalt principles (although they never refer to them as “Gestalt”) into play in their restaurants.

From the minute these guys started talking about why they do what they do, I was internally moved. They do business with a purpose. They want to make a significant positive change in the lives of their customers, but more importantly, in my opinion, in the lives of their employees. The reason I say “more importantly” is because the natural outcome of happy employees is happy customers. So what did they say that was so moving? Here are just a couple statements that moved me:

• They do “Pizza on purpose.”
• It’s not about the pizza.
• They do business with purpose and values.
• They train their employees so they know what they are getting into. Basically, that Nick’s has purpose, so if you don’t agree with that purpose you won’t service our customers they way we want them serviced.
• Stay focused, always.
• Real-time feedback model. Employees are involved in supporting each other through constant and real-time feedback. They create opportunities to share successes and failures openly in order to learn each day.
• They instituted the Be-Do-Have model and assist their employees to think in this manner.
  • The first step is to BE whatever one desires. Live this mindset from the beginning. This means learning, practicing, absorbing everything one can about the field, discovering the core principles, internalizing them. As one proceeds with this learning and integrating, one will naturally come to DO the things associated with the desires - first in practicing basics, then spontaneously or naturally, since the core ideas and values are now part of the Doer’s personality. Along the way, one will come to HAVE the results that were desired in the beginning. Living the BE-DO-HAVE concept will yield the results you desire.
  • The BE-DO-HAVE concept is an amazing way to think about life. The opposite here is the HAVE-DO-BE mindset. This mindset is more common, but is unfruitful in helping you become what you really want to be. In this mindset, one would assume they have to HAVE something in order to DO something they feel they need to do to become somebody they want to BE. Unfortunately, many people end up chasing the “Haves” and never get them, and then because of their discontent that they do not become who they want to be.

Nick Sorello (right) smiling while interacting with members of the study group.

Nick’s was truly an inspiration because they have taken a learning approach to their business. They don’t claim to know it all but clearly see each experience as an opportunity to teach, learn, and grow from.

Dirigo Telecommunications. A focus on the customer.

Third up was a company that is in the development phase and in the process, over the past couple years, of implementing Gestalt methodologies to create a better culture. This group was led by two gentlemen, Bob Vitalius and John Reuthe. Both are exceptional leaders with creative ideas and a passion for the customer, their teammates, and their company.

What I took away from this group, who were very similar to opus in many aspects, was some customer-oriented concepts that are common sense, yet profound.

• Recognize end-user reality. It’s not always easy for someone who knows and understands the solution to step back and see the reality of the customer.
• Know that what the customer asks for is not always what they want. This is not to say that a customer isn’t intelligent. It’s more of the reality that sometimes the customer can’t articulate in technical terms what they may want, so it may be necessary to have a longer conversation about the needs of the customer instead of assuming you know what they mean. If you don’t have that extended conversation you may end up hearing this “That’s exactly what I asked for but nothing like what I wanted.” Hearing that would mean only one thing…you didn’t take the time to really understand the needs of your customer.
• Bring your employees into the dream and their energy will convince the customer.

Dirigo is a company from Portland, Maine. Opposite side of the country from us, but certainly not opposite in the obstacles they face on a daily basis. As a technology company, they are continually faced with a sense of urgency to produce results and get to market with their product before it’s outdated. It was good to share similar thoughts and ideas in this area. It was comforting to know that other companies face similar trials. In many of our roundtable type workshops, we found ourselves giving advice to each other, sharing ideas, and building relationships.

Jim Fletcher (right), COO of Opus Creative Group, absorbs discussions at the GISC.

Applegate Farms. A company focused on perfection.

Applegate Farms was the final presenting company of this conference. This company, led by CEO, Stephen McDonnell and COO, Rob O’Donnell, is amazing to say the least. They are focused on perfection, plain and simple. They seek perfection in every aspect from process to product to the physical space of their offices. It’s become a part of their culture and because of that they do $100 million in sales per year, and counting. Their products, hot dogs, deli meats, are 100% natural and organic, making no room for error when it comes to farms and vendors who supply to them. They too must be perfect or the Applegate Farms brand will suffer. With the customer in mind — families with children with parents who don’t want growth hormones or antibiotics in their meat — Applegate Farms sets out to be the number-one organic meats producer in the world. And they do it with a culture that strives for perfection. And like the Wheelock CEO required of his employees, Applegate Farms employees are either “in” or “out.”

Edwin Nevis discusses “Confessions of a Serial Entrepreneur” by Stuart Skorman.

So what do we do with all this information?

One thing we try not to do as a leadership team is come back from a conference like this with 50 new things to implement. The fact is that we have been doing so many of these things and doing them fairly well, always leaving room for improvement. I did come home with a few things on my list though, both personally and for the company as a whole. Following the Be-Do-Have model I will list them accordingly:

• Be: I will begin deliberately using my strengths to promote vision, purpose, and culture within the company. We will start being the company we desire to be.
• Do: I will take action by stop spending so much time behind my desk and in my email to work throughout the company, making a point to be a part of the culture we seek to sustain.
• Have: We will have a company that is culturally relevant, both internally and externally, that lives by its purpose and values.

We ended the trip with a day trip to Martha’s Vineyard for some sight-seeing. Beautiful homes and scenery, good food, and some souvenir shopping all added to a relaxing trip and the ability to come back to work refreshed. A company-paid trip that was a major investment into the life and culture of our company. Money well spent.

Martha’s Vineyard.

All photos taken by Jason Nuss.

by Jason Nuss

The opportunity to do a conference in Vegas was great and to go with teammates was even better.

From the moment the flight was booked and my registration for Interop was complete the only thing I could think of was, “Is this going to be worth the money?” Although we did the free registration for the conference I knew we would be spending a lot of money to get down there, a lot of money on hotel, food, taxis, monorail, and of course entertainment. In the end, on the flight back to Portland, my thoughts were, “That was a great trip.” Here’s why.

I get to travel quite a bit in my position as Director of Operations. I say quite a bit but that’s in comparison to others here who don’t travel at all. I go to 3-4 places a year attending training, conferences, vendors, and retreat. The opportunity to do a conference in Vegas was great, since I hadn’t been there for more than a day in 12 years. The opportunity to go with teammates was even better. Vegas, to me, is a place you don’t really want to go alone. Two reasons that’s true: one, there is too much to get you into trouble, so having buddies keeps you on the up-and-up (not that I would ever get into trouble, it’s just a tempting place); and two, who wants to go to Vegas alone? So just being in Vegas, relaxing away from the office, trying new things, seeing new sites, and, best of all, people-watching, was almost worth the money by itself. But obviously we didn’t go to Vegas for that, we went for Interop.

Interop was bigger than I expected. Although I new there were a lot of exhibitors I didn’t expect to see what I saw. Huge booths and displays, some of them two stories high, were common. In fact, you often had to look up to see the entire booth/displays. The big companies that opus:interactive uses for equipment, like Cisco, HP, and Dell were there, as well as the smaller vendors we use, like Array Networks (load balancers), GTA Firewalls, and IronPort Systems (S&V appliances). Hundreds of thousands of dollars were spent by these companies, for sure. What the ROI was, I don’t know, but it was obvious they felt it was an important place to be.

The big themes, as I saw them, were networking appliances and accessories, security appliances, wireless technologies, and data center cabinets, cooling, and new technologies. Not all these spoke to us as a company, but we did study every booth and visited anything we thought might be interesting.

Free stuff. We were up for free t-shirts, squishy balls and dice, Lego sets, candy, coffee, pop, backpacks, hats, pens, and more. The most notable freebie for me was the branded Lego set by IronPort. Very creative and memorable. I also like cleverly designed t-shirts. The free lemonade stand was creative, and the fact that it was hosted by half-naked women attracted a lot of buzz. BlueCat Networks hosted free Xbox360 gaming at their booth, as well as a few amazing-looking “booth babes”. Again, the girls tended to attract folks to the booth, although I am sure many guys didn’t attend the booths so as to not be viewed as a perverts. I lean towards not going up to talk to the booths with some half-dressed girl there unless it was a must see product, but that’s just me.

So the food in Vegas was amazing. I had a steak at this restaurant called Nine Fine Irishmen. The one thing I remember about this place—okay two things—was the t-shirt for sale in the lobby that said “I’ve done Nine Fine Irishmen,” which I found humorous. The second thing was the incredible ribeye steak. Wow.

We also took in Cirque du Soleil at the MGM. The show was amazing, to say the least. It was well worth the $69/per ticket price. That was the cheapest ticket available, but in a theatre of only 2000 seats there really wasn’t a bad seat.
Technology-wise, my biggest takeaway from Interop is that opus:interactive is ahead of the curve on sustainable practices and its effort to be eco-friendly. We are not perfect, but many of the practices that were presented at Interop are things we have been doing for a couple years. So I tip my hat to the owners and my director of IT for allowing us to push the edge on new technologies that improve our overall environmental impact.

Final thoughts:

• Flights were uneventful
• The weather was in the 90’s.
• Every time we walked out of a casino Jeremy and Eric would sneeze. I guess it was a temperature change? Whatever. It was funny.
• There were huge 50-foot billboards with g-stringed women advertising Vegas shows. Unimaginable in any other city.
• Rockstars were $5 each in the MGM.
• I went to a casino where all the dealers were impersonators. They would rotate singing on a stage in the middle of all the blackjack tables: Cher, Elvis, Louis Armstrong, Madonna, Maria Carey…
• The cab rides were freaky scary, but the stories the cabbies told were funny. One thing they all had in common: cabbies are bitter individuals who hate people.

The funniest moment (I must have laughed for 5 minutes and then throughout the trip just thinking about it):

Eric and I were playing Craps. Sometimes a die would bounce off the table and onto the floor, but it’s not common because the sides of the tables are so high. Eric finally got his chance to throw the dice. Instead of one of the dice bouncing off the table, Eric threw both dice off the table. In fact, they never even hit the table—they hit some guy in the gut. Eric was embarrassed, and I was rolling on the floor laughing. I couldn’t stop. I hadn’t laughed like that in months. Thanks Eric.

Good trip, worth the money.