Real Estate and Construction
Brick by brick
How Chuck Greco builds a strong culture to get a competitive advantage at the Linbeck Group
By Brian Horn
Smart Business Houston | May 2009
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When Chuck Greco passionately talks about building a foundation, it has nothing to do with concrete or dirt. Sure, as president and CEO of Linbeck Group LLC, he is passionate about the buildings his company erects. But this foundation has to do with the integrity and the values he wants his employees and culture to have.
“We are very upfront with the values that we want to have or the principles that we want to have,” he says. “We have innovation, improvement, trust. We try to work with those three and say that’s really how we assure our business success.”
However, getting that message across to his more than 300 employees can be a challenge for Greco. With employees spread all over the country, he can’t see everyone face to face to really drive home the company’s values.
Because they don’t have everyone in one place, it’s even more important for the company, which posted more than $500 million in 2008 revenue, to have a strong culture.
“We have to have a strong culture because those people are not in the building,” he says.
“They are off in an autonomous entity creating this project, and therefore, you don’t have that micro-control over them.”
Even if Greco did have everyone under one roof, utilizing a strong culture is still a main driver to success with your employees and your customers, as long as it translates into performance.
“You have to do something with it,” says Greco. “You have to apply it. If it applies to performance and if it applies to a competitive advantage for the people that use us, that’s what grows our business.”
