Richard Steel is the author of the best-selling book “Elevated Economics: How Conscious Consumers Will Fuel the Future of Business.” He is also an entrepreneur, investor, and business consultant. As an entrepreneur, he is the CEO of Parsec Ventures, and he sits on the board of multiple companies. He also chairs a philanthropic fund. His success as a CEO has led to him being named by Inc. Magazine as one of its fastest-growing company CEOs, having run both public and private companies. He has also advised the White House Business Council.
With his book, Richard Steel shows how “conscious consumers” will determine the future of business in the next ten years and beyond. By focusing attention and devoting resources to the “irreversible trend of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) as key success factors,” and the “emergence of socially responsible investing (SRI),” he gives business owners a stable “framework for how to take [your] business forward.” In the next decade, business leaders will have to embrace conscious consumers to stay alive in the market and thrive in a “rapidly changing economy.”
Several business leaders have praised Richard Steel and his book. The former vice president of Wells Fargo, Aaron Kraljev says that Richard “has written a playbook for navigating the new business paradigm that we all find ourselves immersed in.” Meanwhile, Rob Howard, vice president of Target, says that “Elevated Economics is a must-read for every business leader.” Glassdoor CEO Christian Sutherland-Wong says, “Elevated Economics persuasively makes the case…that companies with a strong sense of mission and purpose outperform their peers.”
Check out more interviews with visionary executives here. You can also check out Richard Steel’s book on Amazon here.
Jerome Knyszewski: What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?
Richard Steel: I answered this question in a pitch meeting one time (we won the pitch). What I said to the client was this:
Nothing. Nothing makes us stand out. There isn’t one singular thing that makes us stand out. Our tech is as good as our competitors’ tech. Our people, while superb, loyal, and hard-working, are as good as our competitors’ people. Our client list, while very impressive, was just as impressive as our competitors’.
They were shocked, but here’s the thing — it was true, and everyone knew it. This client was being constantly pitched by companies with only slightly different technology — maybe a firm had patented a process or trademarked a name, but essentially, we were all selling the same commodity, and the client knew it. Being radically honest with them made the difference that day.
Jerome Knyszewski: Which tips would you recommend to your colleagues in your industry to help them to thrive and not “burn out”?
Richard Steel: Find purpose. If your work has purpose and meaning, you won’t feel like you are slogging through your day. If you are working long hours, at least it will feel meaningful if there is a purpose to your work. We all want to work for companies that have a clear, authentic purpose that inspires us every day. Currently, it is a competitive advantage to become a purpose-driven corporation because both employee retention and morale increase at purpose-driven companies.
Jerome Knyszewski: None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story?
Richard Steel: So many. One of the ones who stands out is David Yoffie, a professor at Harvard Business School. He was generous and gracious enough to sit with me in his office and help me think through strategy for my business. It was there, in his office, that I made the decision to sell my company. He took the time and care to understand the nuances of the situation and was generous with his time, questions, and intellect. I am forever grateful for his grace.
Jerome Knyszewski: Ok thank you for all that. Now let’s shift to the main focus of this interview. The title of this series is “How to take your company from good to great”. Let’s start with defining our terms. How would you define a “good” company, what does that look like? How would you define a “great” company, what does that look like?
Richard Steel: Good is an interesting concept — good for whom? The definition of “good” can be divided into five components:
- Being a good employer
- Operating in a way that protects and benefits society and the environment
- Creating products and services that ensure individual well-being
- Investing in causes in local communities and around the globe
- Standing up for important social justice issues
All of those components are good for someone (employees, management, and society) or for something (the environment, social issues). The difference between good and great is achieved by including not only the who and the what, but also the why. The “why” is what gives a business its power, its raison d’etre. This goes back to the concept of purpose. If leaders can connect their vision about why the firm does what it does, why they are in business, that is where the magic is. A vision that is communicated well, imbued with purpose can be the difference between having employees that trudge through their day, versus ones that will run through walls for the company.
Jerome Knyszewski: What would you advise to a business leader who initially went through years of successive growth, but has now reached a standstill. From your experience do you have any general advice about how to boost growth and “restart their engines”?
Richard Steel: This is where diversity comes into play. When most people hear the word “diversity” they think of people who look different than themselves. What can really help a business leader who has reached a standstill is diversity of thought. You need people around you who come from different backgrounds, who think differently about problems, challenges, markets, opportunities, threats, headwinds, established practices, and the company’s historic strengths. Cultivating a culture where employees and management can question the status quo is a strategic advantage.
One of our portfolio companies was led by a military veteran, and we had a team of veterans in the company focused on our client’s goals, but we never communicated that we were a veteran-led, 100% veteran-powered company. Making a small change in the messaging of who we were as a company, made all the difference — the work stayed the same, the employees stayed the same. But when we changed all of our messaging to reflect who we were as a company, and the support we were giving to our returning veterans, client retention increased, willingness to pay increased, and we received more attention from the market as well — more earned media. All we had to do was to embrace a different way of thinking about the company’s identity, and that made all the difference.
Jerome Knyszewski: Generating new business, increasing your profits, or at least maintaining your financial stability can be challenging during good times, even more so during turbulent times. Can you share some of the strategies you use to keep forging ahead and not lose growth traction during a difficult economy?
Richard Steel: Some business clichés exist for a reason. Working with “A players” is perhaps one of the most well-known, but often underappreciated. The effects of working with smart, talented, charismatic, motivated people have exponential benefits across the organization; employee morale, productivity, talent retention, and the list goes on. Conversely, a recent survey showed three quarters of respondents said the reason for leaving their job voluntarily was because of their direct supervisor and not the job itself.
Also, sell through a slump. If you’ve played baseball or softball, you know what it’s like to go through a slump when you just can’t seem to hit anything the pitcher throws at you. There is only one way to power through a slump — keep getting up to bat. Get yourself in the mental position that you will eventually get a hit, and all will be well.
Jerome Knyszewski: In your experience, which aspect of running a company tends to be most underestimated? Can you explain or give an example?
Richard Steel: Felda Hardymon was a professor of mine at HBS — he always said that “governance creates value” and more specifically, that good governance creates value. Diversity of thought at the board level is definitely underestimated. A cognitively diverse board allows a firm to avoid groupthink, and can get the CEO out of the echo-chamber of like-minded yes-men.
Jerome Knyszewski: Great customer service and great customer experience are essential to build a beloved brand and essential to be successful in general. In your experience what are a few of the most important things a business leader should know in order to create a Wow! Customer Experience?
Richard Steel: A Wow! customer experience starts well before a customer actually interacts with your product or service in-person. It all starts with bringing the market to your brand. A “go-to-market” strategy is the plan for how a firm brings a product to market. In the Elevated Economy, this is still the name of the game, but the focus has shifted to include the company itself.
An example of this comes from my friend Christina Stembel, CEO of Farmgirl Flowers. This rapidly growing online florist delivers flowers all over the United States every day. The company describes itself online by saying: Our goal is to provide the best flowers and customer experience every single time. We promise to do what’s right, and to do our very best, in everything we do. We’re proud to design each bouquet by hand and with heart, source our flowers from farms that live up to our high ethical standards, and to create good jobs. We’re committed to living our values, and to do our very best for our customers, team, vendors, and environment.9
Ninety percent of that paragraph has nothing to do with flowers. The new brands of today are being built on values, not value.
Jerome Knyszewski: What are your thoughts about how a company should be engaged on Social Media? For example, the advisory firm EisnerAmper conducted 6 yearly surveys of United States corporate boards, and directors reported that one of their most pressing concerns was reputational risk as a result of social media. Do you share this concern? We’d love to hear your thoughts about this.
Richard Steel: Confucius once said, “Life is very simple, but we insist on making it complicated.” The same is true for online reputation, it’s not complicated; do the right thing. Companies — big companies, world-changing companies — are incorporating the good of the planet, humanity, and posterity into their businesses from the very beginning. This is the essence of marketing and advertising in the Elevated Economy.
In the past, telling the story of your business meant doing a ton of research to try and figure out what customers want and then telling them all the ways your product or service will solve that problem. But in the Elevated Economy, things have changed. Now the attention has shifted from the product or service and onto the corporation itself. Today, companies have to prove themselves. You can’t just think about how the world will be with your business in it anymore. You have to think instead of how the world will be without you in it at all.
Elevated business leaders are not attempting to build monuments to their own success, they are trying to provide value to the human race long after they are gone.
In the Elevated Economy, consumers don’t just want to know what you sell, they want to know who you are. This is a massive shift in the core philosophies that have governed the creation and distribution of assets for generations. The goal of marketing for businesses is no longer to answer what you sell, how much it costs, or where to find it. In fact, the primary concern of every marketing department in the Elevated Economy should be just a single question: Why?
Jerome Knyszewski: What are the most common mistakes you have seen CEOs & founders make when they start a business? What can be done to avoid those errors?
Richard Steel: Not having a clearly stated vision is a problem early stage founders have. They are, understandably, so focused on the product, service, technology, team, or a myriad other issues, that they don’t take the time to set a clear vision for the company, and list the three priorities that the company must focus on to achieve their vision. If this is done early, many other decisions can be made by referring back to the vision and priorities.
It is important to drive home the optimistic side of the beginning of what I call the Elevated Economy that we find ourselves in now. Profit margins and revenue predictions aside, we are approaching a truly thrilling age for businesses and those who lead them. We no longer have to lead our companies at society’s expense. Whether it’s providing safer, healthier working conditions, or making decisions that are in the best interest of the environment, the choice between doing well or doing good no longer has to be made.
The Elevated Economy is here.
Jerome Knyszewski: Thank you for all of that. We are nearly done. You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
Richard Steel: Vote with your dollars!
Pundits and analysts are always saying how “this is going to change everything” — and I suppose that now I must include myself in that list. But I truly believe it. I believe that consumers are the kings of capitalism. As they go, so, too, do business leaders — and consumers are on the move in much larger numbers, and at a much more aggressive pace, than we have seen in a long time. They are voting with their dollars, and with their investments. At the end of their journey is an economic landscape where the businesses that perform best can also be the businesses that do the best. And for me, nothing could be more inspiring or exciting. What about you?
Jerome Knyszewski: How can our readers further follow you online?
Richard Steel: You can connect with me via Twitter or LinkedIn. You can also visit my website elevatedeconomics.org.
Jerome Knyszewski: This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for the time you spent with this!