An employee at Triad Retail Media had an idea about a new social networking tool for the company to consider. He didn’t need to fight through five layers of management to get the attention of CEO Greg Murtagh. He just e-mailed Murtagh directly. Before the end of that day, Murtagh had already read the proposal, researched the new tool online, agreed that it was a good idea and assigned someone to begin work on the project.
Murtagh founded Triad in 2004 but has continued to grow his company, which sells advertising to online retailers, by 282 percent in the past three years.
Greg Murtagh spoke with Smart Business about how fast-growth companies can keep pace with industry changes by facilitating a culture of innovation and open communication.
Encourage entrepreneurial thinking. People shoot me e-mails from five levels below me, and I think it’s great. That’s change around here. If you unencumber people and you take away the handcuffs and you take away the barriers and the walls … and say, ‘Hey, if you have a good idea let’s hear about it,’ — if you have that kind of open environment, things tend to happen a lot faster. If you are a person who just likes to sit in your office and close the door and say, ‘Hey, I hope it keeps going,’ and be visionary but not be close to what’s going on, you are in trouble. Around here, people like coming to work, because it’s a dynamic place to work. It’s an open place to work. Anybody can knock on anybody’s door at any time.
