If you work at SpeedFC Inc., Jeff Zisk has already blazed a path for you. The values and behavior he wants you to demonstrate each day are the values and behavior he demonstrates himself.
It’s a basic cultural building block for Zisk, the founder, chairman, president and CEO of the 350-employee e-commerce solutions provider.
“In a short sentence, I lead by example,” Zisk says “It’s what I expect, from both the company and individuals within the company. It’s how I expect them to work with our clients and other people in the company. The way I would expect them to work is the way I work. I try and use how I work as an example as to how I would expect them to work.”
To lead your company from the top, you need to set the vision and core values from the top and constantly be the example of what you want to see from your employees.
Smart Business spoke with Zisk about how you can become your company’s culture and values pacesetter.
Work off of a clear objective. Whatever you’re going to expect out of the people that work for you and with you, you need to act the exact same way. If your expectation is that everybody in the company needs to be available 24-7 for a client, it’s important that you’re available 24-7. I wouldn’t ask anybody in any position in the company to do anything I wouldn’t do and wouldn’t do happily. It’s not an obligation to put yourself in the same position. It is a good thing if everybody knows they can contact the leader anytime, that a client knows that they can talk to you anytime. That’s a good thing, not a negative thing, that you feel you have to do.
We really build it off of the concept that everything is about the client. The client is No. 1, and every client we have is the only client we have. Then, whatever it takes to do the right thing for the client is what is expected out of me as leadership and out of everybody else who is either in a leadership position or another position.
One of the first things for us goes back to the idea that we need to be immediately available to all clients 24-7. If a client has an issue, if a client wants to be able to reach us, they need to be able to reach us. So we’ve given all our clients the contact information for the people they typically deal with. Then they have contact information for that group’s leadership, and everybody has my e-mail and cell phone number. They can contact me anytime for any reason.
