Banking & Finance
Delivering trust
How R. Philip Sarnecki gives his top people flexibility at RPS Financial Group Inc.
By Brian Horn
Smart Business Cincinnati | October 2007
Philip Sarnecki says his No. 1
job as a leader is to control his
own energy.
To do that, Sarnecki practices the healthy
habits he learned as a child, such as getting
enough rest, eating well and exercising.
“Most business owners, leaders and
CEOs, it takes energy to do their job,”
says the chairman and CEO of RPS
Financial Group Inc. “Our job is to make
sure, as things are falling from order to
disorder, we are putting them back
into order. It helps your focus and
your mental toughness, being in
shape and healthy.”
Sarnecki channels that energy
into leading RPS, which employs
about 50 people, to 2006 revenue
of about $20 million.
Smart Business spoke with
Sarnecki about how to retain
employees and how to make sure
potential employees fit your
company’s culture.
Q: How do you communicate your
vision?
I need systems for everything,
so I am always creating systems
and structures. Once created, I
am paying attention and making sure they stay in order.
All great things are created
twice — first in the mind and
then reality. As a leader or
CEO, our job is to communicate and overcommunicate the
things we are thinking about.
Your key vision and values, I
don’t think those can be communicated enough.
Repetition is the mother of learning.
People might roll their eyes and say,
‘Here is Philip talking about personal
responsibility again.’ But maybe that is
like a parent communicating to their
child. Do they maybe get a little sick of
it? Probably at times, but is it imparting
something deep in them at times? Yes.
Q: How do you make sure potential
employees are genuine in an interview?
I assume I am being put on during an
interview.
We have an in-depth selection process,
which is six to seven steps. We do several
in-depth interviews with different people.
Even our receptionist, he or she is taking assessments because it’s also a good
management tool. It helps us know their
strengths, weaknesses and what makes
them tick. Is this somebody that likes
public adoration, or should I just walk
by their office and say, ‘You did a nice
job yesterday,’ in person?
We had a potential financial adviser,
sharp young guy. He had really put on his
best face, and we were really impressed
by this guy. Then my receptionist told
me he had been very rude to her on a
couple of occasions.
We decided we don’t share values, and
if this is him, what else is going on there?
We offered him a contract to join us, and
before he got into training, we revoked
that. I believe all companies have a culture, and what happens is a culture
attracts people like it and repels people
not like it.
Q: How do you retain employees?
My leadership style is a high-trust style.
My top people don’t have vacation days,
and they don’t have sick time. I hire good
people, and then we expect them to get
the job done.
That may mean they have to come in
on a Saturday or work a few evenings,
but what they get on the other hand is
freedom. They need to coordinate it
with whomever it would affect, but they
don’t have to ask for a Friday
afternoon off.
We hire good people and treat
them as adults. On the flip side
of that, when I came here two
and a half years ago, I told them
they can abuse that and lose that
privilege.
I assume high trust, but if you
violate it, then we will have problems. They know one person violating it can ruin it for everybody,
so it’s a self-policing thing.
Something else I did for my top
people on my leadership team is
they are not to come in on their
birthday. Most people are distracted
anyway, and there is stuff going on.
Q: How do you handle mistakes?
When mistakes occur, you need to
look and see if this is an event or a
process. Our No. 1 value is personal
responsibility. My assistant, she’s
great, and in two and half years,
probably only dropped the ball on
two or three things. But every single
time, she walked in my office,
looked at me and said, ‘I am sorry; I
screwed up.’
I can’t stand people who try to blame
other people for their mistakes. We will
all screw up and make mistakes, but the
reality is how you handle those mistakes
both emotionally and mentally. If you
learn from them, take responsibility and
try to do everything you can to ensure
they won’t happen again, then, even
though the mistake wasn’t positive, the
outcome could be positive.
HOW TO REACH: RPS Financial Group Inc., (513) 366-3600 or
www.rpsfinancialgroup.com
