"Understand the WHY for everything so you can live out your life daily to the personal goals in your life."
Donald Bloom is the President & CEO of Prime Retail Services, Inc., an international company with operations in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. Prime provides construction services, equipment installation, facility services, and network integration services to nationwide, multi-site property owners and managers. Since 2003, the team of professionals at Prime has offered superior service to its clients by keeping operation-focused project teams. Donald holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting from the University of Georgia and has held a CPA license. Donald is the primary qualifier for the state, provincial and local contractor licenses that Prime maintains.
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Table of Contents
Let’s start with a brief introduction first. Introduce yourself to our readers.
Donald Bloom: The mission of Prime is to be great at managing projects and to make a lifetime impact on each person it encounters. This has been Donald’s greatest passion and is lived out both personally and professionally. His wife, Joy, and twelve children also share in the pursuit of this daily purpose. This positive impact is created by living out the core values of Prime which are: honesty, integrity, hard work, putting others above themselves, and thanking God for His provision. Donald’s family mission is to love his wife as Christ loved the Church. He measures this by asking his wife and children for frequent feedback and in doing so, has generated strong support for this mission by everyone in the family. Donald and Joy both strive to encourage other husbands and wives to pursue a flourishing marriage.
Our audience is interested to know about how you got started in the first place. Did you always want to become a CEO or was it something you were led to? Our readers would love to know your story!
Donald Bloom: I always had an interest in building organizations. I enjoy the strategy and development of ideas that lead to a business model. As a CPA, my role was to provide financial and tax advice to those individuals developing these models. I quickly learned that my true interest was to be involved in every aspect of the business so I left the CPA world to start a business. I was not interested in being a CEO but enjoyed working with others in developing these businesses. However, I learned that for companies to be successful, they needed quality leadership. This understanding led me to focus on being a CEO and to invest time and energy into developing these skills.
“Selfmade” is a myth. We all received help, no doubt you love to show appreciation to those who supported you when the going got tough, who has been your most important professional inspiration?
Donald Bloom: My wife was the most important person in developing my career. With her support through prayers and family support, I was able to organize our family to allow for developing business skills and maintain an active marriage and family. She is my sounding board on all business decisions and has someone that can listen and provide encouragement.
How did your journey lead you to become a CEO? What difficulties did you face along the way and what did you learn from them?
Donald Bloom: I always say that “being broken is good”. It is often when you fail that you can flourish. The most important aspect of a leader is the ability to cast a vision. This vision must be clear and consistent with core values. A leader cannot make up core values but must be settled on them personally and professionally. Being broken allowed me to shore up my faith and beliefs so I could develop core values that now are part of any organization I work with. The brokenness causes one to evaluate every aspect of their life and determine their priorities. Once these were established I could live and work out those priorities. This led to a clear vision of leadership.
Tell us about your company. What does your business do and what are your responsibilities as a CEO?
Donald Bloom: Prime Retail Services, Inc. is a national general contractor that provides turn-key services for its clients. Prime started in 2003 as a store fixture installation company that provided services to national retailers. Since 2003 Prime added full-scale construction services, store fixture installation, technology deployment, and electrical services. I lead a team of over 500 people to assist our clients with the execution of projects in North America.
What does CEO stand for? Beyond the dictionary definition, how would you define it?
Donald Bloom: CEO stands for Stewardship Officer. The person that is responsible for an organization’s resources and the use of these resources.
When you first became a CEO, how was it different from what you expected? What surprised you?
Donald Bloom: The primary purpose is the full responsibility of all employees. The added pressure of building an environment for everyone to not only survive but thrive in difficult and confusing. It takes time to build a company culture and is a long-term impact.
There are many schools of thought as to what a CEO’s core roles and responsibilities are. Based on your experience, what are the main things a CEO should focus on? Explain and please share examples or stories to illustrate your vision.
Donald Bloom: My primary role is to create a team of leaders that are fully aligned on mission and core values. The ability to communicate the mission and develop a strategy around this mission is critical to the success of the company. The decision to remove a key officer of the company was based on developing the core values of the company. The actions of someone that is not acting by core values must be dealt with. This communicated the importance of our mission and core values to the employees and demonstrated our commitment.
I found out that the actions of one of our officers were inconsistent with our core values. I traveled to clients that were aware of these actions and apologize in person letting them know that these were not part of our mission. The clients were surprised by my visit and that it was not to seek business but to admit our failure.
Share with us one of the most difficult decisions you had to make for your company that benefited your employees or customers. What made this decision so difficult and what were the positive impacts?
Donald Bloom: Firing a client is always difficult but looking at the welfare of your team and how they are treated by clients is one of my responsibilities. Our team learned that their welfare was more important than the profits of a customer.
How would you define success? Does it mean generating a certain amount of wealth, gaining a certain level of popularity, or helping a certain number of people?
Donald Bloom: My definition of success is leading a life that reflects my faith, beliefs, and personal mission. Ultimately, working hard to live out these parts of my life determine my success.
Some leadership skills are innate while others can be learned. What leadership skills do you possess innately and what skills have you cultivated over the years as a CEO?
Donald Bloom: My father taught me to work hard and to be honest with others. These values were developed early in life and continue to remain part of my makeup. I had to learn how to understand a vision and how to communicate it to others. The ability to determine a vision and communicate it to others is critical to quality leadership. I am still developing discernment and wisdom each day.
How did your role as a CEO help your business overcome challenges caused by the pandemic? Explain with practical examples.
Donald Bloom: This is a work in progress. I am not sure we overcame as much as we managed the challenges. Some of this was done well and some were not. We continue to evaluate and make changes to those areas that need growth.
Do you have any advice for aspiring CEOs and future leaders? What advice would you give a CEO that is just starting on their journey?
Donald Bloom: Make sure you are settled in your convictions. Understand the WHY for everything so you can live out your life daily to the personal goals in your life. The role of a CEO should be a companion to your mission. Start here so you can effectively lead others.
Thank you for sharing some of your knowledge with our readers! They would also like to know, what is one skill that you’ve always wanted to acquire but never really could?
Donald Bloom: I would like to communicate in other languages so I can mentor others better. I am working on this but would like to spend more time.
Before we finish things off, we have one final question for you. If you wrote a book about your life today, what would the title be?
Donald Bloom: “Know your WHY!”
Jed Morley, VIP Contributor to ValiantCEO and the host of this interview would like to thank Donald Bloom for taking the time to do this interview and share his knowledge and experience with our readers.
If you would like to get in touch with Donald Bloom or his company, you can do it through his – Linkedin Page
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