Real Estate and Construction
Walking the walk
How to lead by example
By Brian Horn
Smart Business Philadelphia | February 2008
M. Gordon Daniels
CEO, Land Services USA Inc.
M. Gordon Daniels
strives to lead by
example at Land Services USA Inc.
“I think you have to set a
good example,” the founder
and CEO says. “I think it’s
not necessarily what you say,
it’s what you do that people
follow.”
Daniels also works to be
open, honest and direct
with people.
“If people know what their
expectations are, if you are
very clear in setting those
out, I think that is half the
battle,” he says.
Daniels has led the title
agency, which has about 30 employees, to 2006 revenue of
$10 million.
Smart Business spoke
with Daniels about how he
sets the example and how
being honest helps his company succeed.
Q. How do you make sure
you’re setting a good example?
It’s a relatively small business. If they understand and
they watch you and practice
customer service, then hopefully that sinks in. It’s not
just lip service.
You work hard to solve
problems instead of passing
those problems or issues off
onto other people. If they
see you actively involved in
resolving things, I think that
sets a good example. Even
the mundane stuff — hey,
we are busy or crazy, that
means I have to be the guy
at the copy machine doing
things. It’s all the sort of
mundane, trite things, but it
is the truth.
Like, ‘Oh, yes, I am hands-on,’ but then when the time
comes, you are dumping it
on other people. No. When it
has to get done and you have
exhausted your resources,
no, I am going to do whatever it takes. Hopefully, those
things become contagious in
a positive way.
Q. Is being open, honest and
direct as easy as it sounds?
No, it is very difficult. It is
very difficult. Sometimes I have to
reiterate that.
We are all human
beings, and that’s one
of the most difficult
tasks is when you’ve
given somebody an
opportunity and they
aren’t meeting those
expectations that hopefully you’ve laid out.
When you have to have
those conversations,
it’s very awkward.
So, no, it is not an
easy thing to do.
Everybody has feelings. I try not to treat
my employees as digits on an Excel
spreadsheet. There
are probably some
folks, after a month or two,
that [think], ‘Gosh, this is
not going to work. It’s not
what I thought it is.’ That is
part of the maturation
process of being the owner
of the company. You really
try to give people every
opportunity. But, at a certain point, you have to
make those decisions.
So, it sounds a lot easier
than it is. I joke around, you
want to be very careful in
your hiring process because,
at the end of the day, people
have mortgages, people have children, people have health
insurance things, and you try
to make sure you do it right,
but sometimes, unfortunately, you do not.
Q. Do you encourage you
employees to be honest with
you in return?
Absolutely. We have hired
some more senior-level people and some very stressful
weeks have (transpired). But I view them as very positive.
And, when we sit down, we
say, ‘Hey, listen, we aren’t
personalizing things.’
Those open, honest discussions — again, it is very hard
... not to personalize it. The
focus is what is in the best
interest of Land Services. If
we look at that as the common denominator, we are all
sharing the same goal, so
let’s not personalize things.
Let’s look at what’s in the
best interest of Land
Services. I think we are getting there. It is always a constant struggle, but you
always have to focus on that.
Q. How do you deal with
things when they do get
personal?
What happens is when you
are driving home or laying
up in bed at night, you start
to think, ‘Wait a minute, this
is starting to teeter in a
direction.’ My approach is to
sort of grab those parties
back together.
Now, what happens is, the e-mails go bouncing back and
forth. ‘Whoa, whoa, wait guys.
Let’s stop it. Let’s all sit down
in the conference room
together. Let’s all sit down
somewhere.’ Maybe it is running down to a coffee shop.
Let’s get out of the heat of this
thing. Let’s really sit down.
What are we trying to
accomplish? I’ve got to tell
you, sometimes, and I don’t
want to embarrass myself too
much, but, the people hiding
behind the e-mails and the
chain, let’s take 10 minutes
and discuss it face to face. I
think a lot of times, the voice
inflections, the raised eyebrows make such a big difference than the battles
going back and forth in
cyberspace.
HOW TO REACH: Land Services USA Inc., (215) 563-5468 or www.landservicesusa.com
