The motivator

Judi Sheppard Missett grew up as a dancer, earned a theater degree from Northwestern University and
went on to work in theater. By contrast, her mother was an accountant and used to tell her that she’d
never be a businessperson because she didn’t have a head for figures, but her mom was wrong. Sheppard
Missett eventually founded Jazzercise Inc. and still serves as CEO of the dance fitness company.

“I ended up having a head for the body kind and the numbers kind,” she says.

Part of what has made her successful is her energy, passion and enthusiasm for all aspects of her
business, including the people, the product and the customers.

“I think enthusiasm is like a magnet, and if you’re enthusiastic about what you do, people see it, and
they’re drawn to it, and then you get the right people,” she says.

Like many things in business, enthusiasm and passion starts at the top with the leader setting the
example.

“I don’t ask anybody to do anything that I wouldn’t do myself and that I don’t believe in,” Sheppard
Missett says. “If you have leadership that does not have integrity, if you do not ask excellence of yourself as a leader and always thinking about quality, then you’re not going to be successful because
nobody else is going to ask that of themselves either.

“It’s got to start at the top and go all the way down to wherever the bottom is. It’s about integrity. It’s about
excellence. It’s about accountability and quality and asking that of myself every day so that when I ask it of
others, they understand it’s important and it makes the company strong.”

She regularly demonstrates her commitment to the company to her employees.

“I’m here as much of the day as I can be here working right with them,” she says. “I make sure that
they know that I’m in tune with whatever projects are going on, and I do the work. If the warehouse has to
be cleaned out, I’m not afraid of going down there and getting dirty and doing it. If we have to ship things, if
I’m not working out in the field or traveling, I’m down there collating stuff and making sure it all gets put in
the right box with everybody else. I’m just part of the team, and that’s what I want them to know.”

Doing this shows your people that you’re not above them and will help build their enthusiasm.

“A leader has to also exhibit a sense of responsibility to the people you serve and care about them,
and they have to understand that you do have that sense of responsibility,” Sheppard Missett says.

“That’s really important because then it trickles down not only to corporate employees, but it trickles
also to district managers and franchisees, and then right down to the customer, who is, of course, our
whole basis for being.”

Another way to maintain passion and enthusiasm is to change. If Jazzercise still used the same music
that it did when it started 39 years ago, both employees and customers would probably go elsewhere.

“It keeps them excited,” she says. “It’s terrible to do the same old thing over and over every day and
never make any changes. It’s terrible, and I feel sorry for people who aren’t able to make change and
put change into their lives because how boring is that?”

The key to change is helping people adapt. Jazzercise started by using 45 records and then moved to cassette tapes and eventually CDs. Now, it’s into the new century by using iPods.

“[For] a lot of people, that would be scary because there’s a lot of technology involved in that, but we give
our people enough time to assimilate what they have to do and understand it, and then begin slowly making
those changes,” she says.

Change is essential to succeeding in business, so she welcomes it with open arms.

“One of the biggest things that promotes growth is change, so we change a lot,” she says. “That’s why
we’re still here. … We work hard at it, and we believe in it.”

HOW TO REACH: Jazzercise Inc., www.jazzercise.com