Consumer Services
The one-two punch
How Simon Hay uses a foundation of strong values and a clear vision to drive dunnhumbyUSA to new levels of success
By Meredyth McKenzie
Smart Business Cincinnati | June 2008
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Simon Hay thinks about culture every day.
Instead of sitting in an office, Hay spends the majority of his
time working with clients and talking about clients to show his
employees how important they are to dunnhumby’s culture.
“Culture is the thing that can have the biggest impact on how
we benefit from talent,” says Hay, CEO of dunnhumbyUSA, a relevance marketing company that analyzes customer purchase
decisions for consumer packaged goods and retail companies.
“Then it’s a question of what actions you can take to reinforce
those values and build the culture.”
Since the U.S. headquarters of British-based dunnhumby
opened in 2003, Hay has worked to build a culture with clear values and vision. With the company growing rapidly — from 14 to
300 employees in nearly five years and fiscal 2006 revenue of
$100 million to fiscal 2007 revenue of $150 million, his No. 1
objective is to create and maintain the culture while dealing with
growth.
“Obviously, every day, we want every employee, myself included, to
live those values to the best of their ability,” he says. “The other
opportunity that I have as the leader of the company is to reinforce
the communication of those values and that culture but also to help
put in place processes or actions that can actually reinforce those values in the culture, either the way that we design our offices or the
way we do our work.”
