Are you an entrepreneur or business owner looking to craft a culture for your employees? In this episode of the Culture Secrets Podcast, I chat with Steven Carse about how to turn your vision into a meaningful culture that doesn't get lost in the hustle. We discuss elements such as creating measurable goals and providing opportunities for meaningful connections. Tune in now and learn more about building a value culture at work!
Steven shares that he and his team didn't intentionally create a culture, but it's something to keep in mind when starting a business. He suggests building in time for people to connect and make meaningful relationships as well as incorporating elements from both the objective and subjective sides. Additionally, it's important to remember why you started your business – have fun and do something that you enjoy!
Check out these highlights:
1. At 25:50, Steven advises entrepreneurs to craft a culture for their employees that incorporates both objective and subjective elements. He suggests a 10 year vision with measurable goals, as well as providing opportunities for meaningful connections in order to keep the vision from getting lost in the hustle of starting a business.
2. At 26:23, Steven emphasizes the importance of building in time for people to connect, noting that even extroverts need this connection and feeling less lonely at work.
3. At 28:31, Steven provides an important piece of advice for entrepreneurs- to focus on creating an environment that everyone can enjoy and benefit from, even if it takes some inefficient time management.
Thanks for listening. Grab the book the podcast is based on at https://mybook.to/culturesecrets . Check out my website www.chelliephillips.com for more great content. Follow me on LinkedIn.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Chellie Phillips (00:06):
If workplace culture is your jam, you're in
the right place. Check out thisepisode of culture secrets. The
podcast dedicated to creatingworkplaces where both employees
and the companies thrive.
Welcome to the culture secretpodcast where we discuss how
creating a value culture in yourbusiness helps both you and your
employees achieve success andhappiness. Here we explore the
(00:28):
importance of fosteringfostering meaningful connections
between employees and providingopportunities for them to have
fun at work. We'll also lookinto how having a clear vision
can help bring your teamtogether and focus on what
really matters in order to reachyour goals. Today, I'm joined by
Stephen Carr's CEO of King ofPop's. If you don't live in the
south, you're missing out in2010. Brothers Nick and Steven
(00:49):
started their craft popsiclebusiness in Atlanta after being
inspired by some roadside frozentreats they ate while in Mexico,
the brothers quit theircorporate jobs and began
producing some of the mostunique and interesting flavored
popsicles ever. Their businesshas grown from a pushcart they
found on ebay to a thrivingfranchise operation today, join
me and uncover secrets about howentrepreneurs can create a
(01:12):
vibrant workplace culture. Tellme what is the story of King of
Pop's? How did you get started?
How did this come to be? Andkind of How have you grown since
the inception.
Steven Carse (01:22):
So we started in 2010, I had been laid off a
couple years before from myinsurance job. And the idea with
my two older brothers to startthis business. After several
trips throughout Latin America,I guess the getting laid off for
me it was very much just likethe the nudge to actually do it
(01:43):
probably wouldn't have done itotherwise. And then open that
year, kind of with very fewexpectations. And then over the
last 13 years at this point,have grown in various ways, both
through the camp ops business,and then starting a few other
like kind of loosely alignedbusinesses with the idea of kind
(02:05):
of staying within the South andstaying independently owned and
all those
Chellie Phillips (02:09):
types of things. See, I've expanded now
into the picking of pups. Andthen you also have the farm,
right, where you're producingyour own produce.
Steven Carse (02:18):
Yeah, a little bit of our own produce. And then we
have a Christmas tree deliverybusiness called tree elves. And
we have a distribution companycalled P 10. Foods, which is
probably the one that is thelargest company that we're that
we own. It's a distributioncompany that distributes camp
hops, but about 160 other foodbrands, kind of food brands as
(02:40):
well. Yeah.
Chellie Phillips (02:41):
So I know your mantra is creating unexpected
moments of happiness. Where didthat come to be? And how did
y'all as the founders of theorganization settle on, that's
going to be our vision and whatwe want for this organization.
Steven Carse (02:55):
I think we were doing it all along. I think the
words came along after liketrying to identify a purpose,
which is then a lot of kind ofbusiness books and a good thing
to think about the why. But forus, it was the exact moment that
I like to share as we had hosteda yoga event started out just as
(03:15):
a employee that wanted to dosomething for the staff. And
then people would walk by andenjoy the see it and they'd ask
if they could sit there and doyoga as well, or stand or
whatever the pose happened to beat that moment. And so it grew
and grew and grew several yearsinto it. Like, it was like it
800 People I think were addedin, I can remember just kind of
(03:36):
laying there and at the end ofthe practice and feeling like
that was the more importantcontribution than selling a
bunch of pops that music Midtownor anything like that. So I
think that's like the backdropfor it. And then I think it
makes sense for a popsiclecompany. And I think we tried to
do it in kind of everydayencounters. And then there are
also some more planned outintentional things that we're
(03:56):
doing as well.
Chellie Phillips (03:58):
How does that carry over into how you deal
with employees or evencontractors that you're,
Steven Carse (04:04):
I think the obvious ones are just kind of
like being nice to folks. Foremployees, I think it carries
over most directly, just with,we oftentimes think about the
person that's receiving help orsomething as like the one that
is getting the benefit. Butthere's a lot of positive
feelings to creating that aswell. So encouraging them to
(04:27):
find things that they'repassionate about, and providing
the opportunity for them to doit. And sometimes they're on the
receiving end. And I think wetry to do it for each other. But
I would say more so than that.
It's just we off, we all kind ofneed a little nudge to do things
that we know we should do orwant to do or would be important
to do. And so we're trying tojust kind of nudge people a
(04:48):
little bit, myself includedgetting nudged.
Chellie Phillips (04:52):
Well, I think that's kind of like the key. One
of the key factors I hear aboutcultures that really work is
that the leader themselves arealso accountable and that they
walk, walk the walk that theytalk about. And so, I mean,
yeah, that it really has to besomething that everybody has
bought into kind of taking thatkind of thought line for a
(05:13):
minute, how do you see yourselfas a leader in the organization,
being able to spread thatmessage out to the people that
are working for you, and thenultimately to the end recipient,
Steven Carse (05:23):
just like you said that through examples, so when
we do something, just makingsure we're communicating it
ourselves if if Nick or myselfis doing it, and then if other
people are doing it, just makesure to celebrate them and
appreciate their guessgenerosity, typically time like
we donate the product, if it's aproduct based one. But if it's a
(05:45):
demo, we'll ask them to donatetheir time to recognizing it and
appreciating folks I think goesa really long way.
Chellie Phillips (05:52):
So y'all are pretty much family run business,
or at least when he was tellingme like, I think you're, you're
both of your parents areinvolved in everything too.
Right.
Steven Carse (06:01):
But yeah, they're a little less involved just from
just they're more retired thanthey were. Yeah.
Chellie Phillips (06:09):
So how do you think it's easier or harder,
having kind of the family as thecore of an organization then
say, maybe a corporate entity tobe able to direct culture and
spread culture
Steven Carse (06:22):
through I know, because I was 25, when we
started coming up pops. So myexperience is fairly limited
outside, but I guess you askwhat do I think I mean, I think
it's probably personally atleast perceived as easier just
because there's less kind of redtape to do things. I don't think
(06:43):
red tape oftentimes is whypeople don't do it. But I think
it is a it's an easy excuse, intheir administering there's
something to it, I think it's abit more intimidating to ask
just a boss that you maybe haveworked with for some or a long
time, it wouldn't really matterfor something in a publicly
traded company or whatever. Butthat's all just me making
(07:05):
guesses, because I don'tactually really know.
Chellie Phillips (07:08):
That's what I asked for your thoughts on it.
So?
Steven Carse (07:11):
Yeah, I guess I think it'd be, I think it'd be
the same, but I think peoplewould probably perceive it as
being easier. I think when youhave a family owned business, or
just any small business, really,the harder parts are just like
you're trying to stay inbusiness. And so sometimes that
can be a big burden. And youfeel like, should we really be
(07:32):
given away 600 pops to thisbreast cancer walk when we we
didn't have a very good month,the last two months. So I think
that's a challenge on the smallbusiness side. And then on the
larger business, I think it'sprobably just seems more out of
touch more layers and morepeople to kind of like, convince
(07:53):
different but I'd say bothprobably have playing Roblox
Chellie Phillips (07:57):
say you said, like part of the focus is just
staying in business sometimes.
And I know nowhere on a balancesheet. Do you ever see the line
culture? Yeah. So how do you asyou're moving, but
Steven Carse (08:11):
it might just be might be the name of a line?
Like we have a line that I thinkwould does that the word culture
and but
Chellie Phillips (08:19):
you're the first person I have talked to
you that says they actuallyidentify it on their protein.
Steven Carse (08:24):
But it's just like, I mean, it's in the same.
It's in like the employeeengagement bucket, which
probably a lot of people have,or maybe not, but and having a
line. And having that line, andpretty much money associated to
it are two very differentthings. But yeah, go ahead and
ask your question.
Chellie Phillips (08:40):
No, I did that. So I won't, I'm gonna move
a different direction now thatyou actually have a line in
there. Because that's been oneof the things is that when
people are trying to makeculture shifts, and they usually
run into the they have a boardthat thinks, oh, culture is this
fufu thing, that it's not a realthing, that it's sick, it you
know, it doesn't have $1 impacton the organization. So why do
(09:01):
we need to put aside money forsomething that I can't even wrap
my hand around in some tangiblekind of ways. So why do you have
a line on your expense or yourbudget sheet that has culture in
it? Yeah, I
Steven Carse (09:14):
mean, simple answer is we think it's
important. But yeah, I thinkyeah, I think making some amount
of commitment to it is, isimportant. And then if there are
things that you end up doing,and that is why you did them,
but you had not budgeted for it.
It's also valuable to have aplace for that to land, just
from like a but I think youroriginal point and kind of what
(09:37):
you're loosely asking about is Imean, I think it's like a
certainly a longer term thing.
And I mean, I think our call ourcommitment to culture, and I
think many businesses big andsmall are in the same boat like
is wavering. And so there's likeyears and months where you do an
amazing job and there's yearsand months where you do a poor
(09:59):
job And then maybe some or youjust do an average job. And I
think the way I kind of think ofit is like a, like a bank
account or something like, onthe bad years, when you don't
have the money to do it, you'rekind of extracting money from
that culture bank account, andyou can build up a lot of kind
of goodwill, and people areappreciating you and, and doing
(10:21):
things the right way. But atsome point, if you don't invest
back into that, I do think itkind of it runs out. And I think
I think like COVID was a goodfor us a good period where it's
like, we were not investinganything in culture, we had to
make a lot of difficultdecisions. But I think because
we had invested so much for thedecade before that, I think it
(10:41):
was like a we had we got thebenefit of the doubt a lot more
so than people that didn't.
That's like the that's like thebudgeting and tangible and
business case for it. I mean, Ithink the the other side and
other another piece to consideris it's just like enjoyable. And
hopefully we're working for thatwhether you enjoy making a lot
of money and being number one ina category or whether you enjoy
(11:02):
a short work weeks, I thinkthere is probably my my part of
it or my preference. I like allof those things. But my
preference would be to havelike, a nice mix of those and
part of that mix, includingbeing able to do things that
you're proud of in the communityand internally and with the
team. I think those for us gokind of hand in hand.
Chellie Phillips (11:26):
When you hire, do you hire for culture as well?
Steven Carse (11:30):
Yeah, we try to we have a franchise program too. So
that's a big one for that isculture because there's not very
many people we've never onboarded anyone that has worked
it around the popsicle company,just not something that a lot of
people do. So on the franchisingside, it's a longer
relationship, and it'scontractual. On the staffing
(11:51):
side, we do as well, but it hasa I think it has, I think we
feel like it's a two way street.
And I think you can influencepeople. So if somebody is not a
culture fit, I think I disagreethat they might forever be a
cultural fit, not be a culturalfit, just in the sense of like,
we also just hire a lot of youngpeople. So it's, there's a lot
(12:12):
of just learning of what life islike. But yeah, we have six core
values that we interview on. Andwe review, when we have our
quarterly reviews, we rate onthose and say we try to put
things in terms of the corevalues. And the same one we're
saying, like you said beforeworking with a supplier or with
a contractor, or really anybodyit's always it's always a
(12:36):
conversation to a little bit, alittle bit of both sides, I do
think that people get caught upon the fact that I mean, we're
all constantly changing as, aspeople. And core values really
end up being different wordsthat are typically the same,
like three to five kind ofconcepts, like the good, do good
(12:57):
things for other people, or cardsets. Like I think ours are
great. I really like ours, andwe talk about them a lot, but
kind of rambling.
Chellie Phillips (13:09):
So what are your What are your What are your
core values,
Steven Carse (13:12):
get sweaty, get it done, wear the shirt, be
thoughtful, stay hungry, andgood vibes only.
Chellie Phillips (13:22):
Okay, get sweaty. explain that one to you.
Steven Carse (13:25):
That one. So our company started as a popsicle
cart business and like, it'sjust like a very much from the
hiring side. Like, if you hiresomebody that thinks they're
just going to be very differentthan being in an air conditioned
room and a desk like it'srequires a lot of physical
effort, working hard, enjoyingworking hard, is a maybe a bit
(13:47):
more of a rare trait. Butsomething that we really
appreciate.
Chellie Phillips (13:51):
I love it, it does kind of set the expectation
like you can't say you didn'tknow what you're getting into.
Like it kind of thinking aboutthat, you know, as somebody is
coming in to work with you, ormaybe considering a franchise or
something like that. What areyour red flags that this is
probably not somebody that wewant here.
Steven Carse (14:11):
Red flags, I think I think I think a lot of it just
gets screened out. I don't feellike I have a lot of examples of
like being in an interview andhaving a red flag pop up. But I
mean, general would be selfish,either have a big ego or lack
humility. I think that'simportant to be humble for our
organization. I mean, I think ared flag for us, which maybe
(14:33):
fits into the core values andmaybe doesn't is like we are not
like going to be able to competewith like the tech companies of
the world in terms of salary andperks. And so I like to just be
clear about like expectations,like we have a lot of things to
offer that they can't thenyou'll get to kind of influence
(14:53):
the future of something andbuild something special and make
people happy and have a lot offlexibility but so Really don't
have like a, like a corporatecafeteria with sushi and stuff
like that. So if people feellike, if I'm talking to people
and I feel like they are onlyfocused on the financial piece
of it, I would I get enough redflag is the right word. But I
(15:17):
would, I would suggest to them,they probably wouldn't be a good
fit. That doesn't really happenthat much. But I think that is
one thing that on thefranchising side, sometimes
we've been dealing with justlike, this is a good opportunity
to make money, but it's notprobably the fastest easiest
one. That's maybe they're insouthern that. They're not used
(15:38):
to hearing in that type ofconversation, but I think is
honest.
Chellie Phillips (15:42):
So I just settle on staying in the south.
Steven Carse (15:45):
We were initially I think, just really inspired by
a company called Zingerman's.
And out of Ann Arbor, I don'tknow if you're familiar with
that company. And they have atraining business that we went
up to fairly early on probablyour third year in business. And
a lot of it is about visioning.
And they have a big one oncustomer service and stuff. But
the visioning one in particular,we wrote a vision when we were
(16:06):
at there, up there something westill kind of refer to today.
Yeah, I think the idea comesback to again, like why are you
in this? And are you in it toexit and get like a nice
multiple and find some otherbusiness? Are you trying to have
it be your life's work, for lackof better words, I think I just
really inspired by them thatthey've been around for 40
(16:27):
years, they're only in AnnArbor. And you can just see the
impact they're able to make bybeing in a smaller area. So we
could have just done Atlanta,which I think would have been
interesting as well. But I thinkwe kind of picked a mix of like,
staying in an area where wecould, we could still be
involved in everything, but notquite as limiting as just a
single metro area,
Chellie Phillips (16:48):
to have what it is community to the culture
that you are creating.
Steven Carse (16:53):
I think it's the thing that stands out the most,
I mean, I think it's if peoplebuy a popsicle, they might like
it, and they might buy anotherone. But I think if people buy a
popsicle at a community eventthat we're hosting for some
cause, or it's just really fun,and they get to meet someone and
connect with them in a uniqueway, or they go to that yoga
(17:13):
event like I talked to, or theygo to the farm, I think instead
of maybe buying another product,because it tastes good. They're
buying into the product, becauseit tastes good. And because they
feel good about the company. AndI think you can't think you
can't do that. If you'rethinking you can't do it
probably. But I think it's muchharder to do if your national or
international company just justhard to have people that are
bought in in the same ways, themore degrees disconnected, you
(17:35):
are kind of from the base.
That's at least the way I feel.
I mean, there's certainly goodexamples of really amazing
companies that are doing farmore amazing things that we are
there, they're huge, but forwhat I felt like our business
was kind of felt like we neededto be relatively close to
Chellie Phillips (17:52):
one of the things and doing the research
for this is you're talking aboutthe vision that you have. And my
book is about creating a valueculture and the V in the value
culture is vision division ofthe leadership vision of the
organization, kind of talk alittle bit more to me about like
how you and your brother or yourfamily sat down and actually
created the vision and then howmuch of it do you share out with
(18:16):
your employees, your franchiseesor whatever, so that they are
bought in with that same vision,
Steven Carse (18:21):
fanatical about a specific way of visioning, which
the difference being you pick apoint in time in the future and
you write like what you are,you're writing it from that
point of view, rather than morelike a strategic plan that I
think whether we like it or not,I think we get caught up in like
how we're going to do stuff. Sothey have a really great process
to get you out of that kind oflimited perspective and, and
(18:45):
think really, really bigpicture. So we went to training
of theirs. They're in a bookthat's called Small Giants. It's
how I found them. The headlinetagline is like businesses that
choose to be great instead ofbig, and I've got a lot of
people there that I reallyadmire. But we wrote it like a
draft there. We came back andtook that draft and built like a
(19:06):
I guess like a committee butpeople that were interested in
it from different parts of thecompany and different levels and
spent a couple of months kind ofbuilding that together just so
people would have buy in. Andthen the goal is that we read it
quarterly in our quarterlymeetings and then at we have an
annual like symposium, and wedefinitely read it annually. I
think sometimes on the quarterlyit gets missed, but like for the
(19:28):
training for that we call ourfranchisees Karcher printers for
that training. We read it everymonth when when we do that. So
it's a good because it's it setspeople on like a common start
and they understand kind ofwhere the heart of the business
is. And then, I mean, it's badthat that style of visioning is
bad is the wrong word. But likethere's certain pieces that we
(19:49):
wrote eight years ago, they'rejust kind of not going to
happen. And people just kind ofknow that now. So that's that's
kind of that's interesting, butI still we still share it. We'll
work on another vision in thenext A couple years probably
take us six months to write orwhatever, to just kind of get
enough people involved. Butyeah, I think the sharing is
certainly important. We, whenpeople get on boarded, it's
(20:09):
shared with them. It's hopefullyread with them, because a lot of
times people don't really readstuff. And so that's,
Chellie Phillips (20:15):
I think one of the important things you said is
that you got people from alldifferent levels of the
organization involved withcreating it, why did you think
that was something important todo,
Steven Carse (20:24):
just to get by, and I think people are more
connected to things that theyhelped to create, they were
there, they bought in if theywere creating part of it. That
obviously, I mean, eight yearsago, now, probably two people
from that committee of eightpeople are still in the company,
myself being one of them. Soit's not like, that's a good
reason for them. But it's notnecessarily like those people
(20:47):
will then stick around forever.
But then having a good a goodgroup of people that are
connected with it and talkingabout it, like the way that I
would talk about a vision isimportant. But it's also
important for people's peers tosee, I work in the kitchen, and
this is the guy that I work nextto every day, and he helped make
it and this is why what he hasto say about it, I'd say just
buy in,
Chellie Phillips (21:07):
and you're talking about rewriting it
again, that's one of the thingsyou know, I think a lot of times
people associate culture with amission statement or something
like that it gets stuck on awall and it never gets relooked
at anything else, because youhave new people in you have new
technology, you have new ideas,all this kind of stuff continues
to change and evolve in anorganization. And do you have an
(21:28):
ongoing process? Like every fiveyears, we're going to look at
this division or every so often,or is it just as you you know,
maybe feel like, okay, it's justtime, you know? Is it just a gut
feeling that it's time to lookat it or?
Steven Carse (21:40):
Yeah, so I think yes, it's a gut feeling. I think
for the Zingerman's style ofvisioning in particular, you're
setting a date and time. So atsome point, you get to that date
and time. So if you set it, it'sfive years in advance, like,
they recommend you start writingyour next division before that
one gets there. So I think thatthat very much informs that if
(22:02):
you're going to follow kind ofthat methodology, which we are,
but ours is 15 years. So it's ait's 20. It's a 2030 vision,
even though we wrote it, we'rehalfway to where we are right
now, wouldn't a train on thatjust a side caveat would be
like, closer is good, forobvious reasons, like because
you'll update it whatever, moremore sent more quickly. But a
(22:24):
longer hot timeline is cool,because like we're halfway
through and like I said before,like a lot of the things are
pretty clearly not going tohappen. But you can also say,
well, we've got seven years thatmaybe will happen, who knows.
And then some of the thingswe've already eclipsed and done
better than we had imagined thatwe would I think that's why I
wanted to rewrite it justbecause there were things that I
didn't quite understand and thatwe couldn't contemplate in the
(22:46):
business fully. And then I don'tthink that there is or should be
a single vision. So I do thinkthere's also like departmental
visions, there can be aquarterly vision. I mean, we
don't do a great job of that.
But I don't think like the ideaof visioning should be confined
to the company as a whole fromlike the top like, I think it's
valuable to think like, Alright,on that I'm in charge of the
(23:09):
cart at this park, what would begreat this year for us to do
with this single cart, whatwould be meaningful? How would
our core values be displayed?
How would it impact mepersonally, like, most people's
goal isn't to be a carpentertheir whole life. So maybe they
meet me, some people want to beon cars to meet significant
(23:29):
others, other people kind oflike do the Uber driver route
where everyone that walks upthere, like you're in banking,
tell me more about that. I thinkI think it's I think it's
important to realize too, likethe goal isn't for everyone to
work here forever. And whenyou're visioning a powerful part
of the way that I thinkvisioning works is when it
includes some bits and pieces ofyour personal life. And so
(23:50):
that's, I think, realistic andimportant as well,
Chellie Phillips (23:54):
you were talking about that your vision
has to have some personal buyinto it, your some personal
aspects in it, too. And I thinkthat's, that's probably a piece
that a lot of people leave outthat, you know, it's strictly
business. And it's really notbecause, you know, I think the
number is like, we spend about90,000 hours at work. And if
you're a business owner, it'sprobably even more than that,
(24:15):
because you probably don't getyour 40 hour weekend done.
Sometimes,
Steven Carse (24:19):
when you do like a hot pan exercises Zingerman's,
where you just kind of likewrite and you're not allowed to
stop writing. So it's prettymuch like stream of conscious
and I've been up to it. I'vetaken two people up there
several times and every yearwithout fail like it. I mean,
it's like just it is justemotional, but someone will
write a 10 year vision andthey'll be like, my daughter's
(24:41):
at the volleyball match. Andthis is their last volleyball
match before she goes to collegeand they'll just be bawling. And
that's like part of the visionabout like their company, but if
we don't keep like theperspective of the other things
that matter to us involved inand I mean, I think it's missing
a lot and then I think that isdiff Read from like, it wouldn't
necessarily be appropriate ifthis if this guy's company is
(25:03):
like a large company, but justthe idea of visioning beyond
maybe that I mean, in mind, Ithink it does, like the one that
we wrote for the company thereis bits that are a little bit
personal, not even to thatlevel. But yeah, it's it's, I
think it's really important, butit is, I guess it's interesting
it like what visioning is justlike such a broad word that
(25:26):
could we also do Eos, which islike kind of the other side of
the spectrum. And it's veryobjective and a vision for that
there's like a one page doc thatyou write like your 10 year,
big, hairy, audacious goal, andyou write like three year
picture, which would be like 10to 20 bullet points. And so
that's very, very much more liketechnical, while the other ones
(25:46):
may be more touchy feely, Ithink that's there's a, there's
value in both of them. For sure.
Chellie Phillips (25:50):
I was looking through my list. And I think
I've asked all the questionsthat I had, maybe before I let
you go, exactly. So if you weretalking to another entrepreneur
that was crafting theirbusiness, or had just started
one, what would be your piece ofadvice for them as far as
turning their vision into aculture for their employees? And
(26:10):
I think how does it not get lostin the hole? I'm starting a
company I'm you know, I'mfocused on raising capital and
focusing on getting people andall that kind of stuff. So
maybe, how do you keep thatfront and foremost, or a center
of what you're doing?
Steven Carse (26:23):
I don't think we did it intentionally. But if we
were if I was to give that pieceof advice, I think it would just
be about building and and thisis what this is why people have
ping pong tables and do allthese things. But I don't really
think those are the those arethe way that people connect. But
the important part is that theyconnect something I think that
computer example is is a greatone. But I think just building
(26:46):
in for some time forconnections, because even like
the biggest extroverts, maybeit's easy for but for the
majority of people, like I thinkwe oftentimes just forget inside
behind each person's face orwhatever, there's just like a
human there. And I think wethink that we're the only ones
with like these, these feelingsthat we have. So I think you
just have to create theopportunity for people to kind
(27:07):
of like not be lonely at work.
Lonely is maybe an extreme word,but like have a have like a
sense of like, Joy is the wrongword for people to come in, they
don't need to have like joy isin the book masked by Joy popped
into my mind. But I think that'sa high high expectation. But I
think just like building in thetime, which is inefficient for
people to connect is really whatculture is about. And it can
(27:27):
take forms of like for usillumos, which is like going to
the neighboring elementaryschool and handing out pops. And
then like, the two people orthree people that you do that
with, like you do kind of have aconnection with and then at some
point it whittles away and fadesand you need to kind of re re up
but that's super vague. So if Ihad to come up with something
more specific, I mean, for me,the whole point of doing this
(27:49):
business, and I think starting abusiness was for it to be fun.
And fun can take a lot ofdifferent terms like hard work
can be meaningful. And that canbe fun. But I think the actual
focus on that being there maynot work for all companies. But
I think should is really what itcomes back to, to me like you
didn't you're not working, likeyou said how many 90,000 hours
(28:12):
or all of this time for anythingother than to support yourself
and the people that you careabout and, and hopefully to do
something that you enjoy. Sojust making sure there's bits of
you that you enjoy and that thatother people will enjoy kind of
building that into the company.
Still very vague but important.
Chellie Phillips (28:31):
That's perfect. Well, I appreciate your
time today.
Steven Carse (28:35):
You too. I appreciate it.
Chellie Phillips (28:36):
Thank you.
Okay. As entrepreneurs andbusiness owners, we invest
countless hours into our hardwork. But it's important to not
forget the other things thatmatter to us as well. That's why
it's essential to keep theperspective of these things
involved in your vision for yourcompany crafting a culture for
your employees that incorporatesboth the objective elements like
a 10 year vision with measurablegoals. And the more subjective
elements like providingopportunities for meaningful
(28:59):
connections is key to keepingyour vision from getting lost in
the hustle of starting abusiness. It may require some
inefficient time management, butit's worth it to create an
environment that everyone canenjoy and benefit from. Thanks
for listening to this episode ofthe culture secrets podcast. If
you want to learn more aboutbuilding a value culture in the
workplace, check out my bookculture secrets. It's available
(29:19):
on Amazon or wherever you buybooks. You can also visit my
website at WWW dot Chelliephillips.com. That's c h e l l i
e pH I ll ips.com. If youenjoyed what you heard today,
please drop me a rating andshare with your friends. Until
next time, this is ChelliePhillips for the culture secrets
(29:41):
podcast.
If workplace culture is your jam, you're in
the right place. Check out thisepisode of culture secrets. The
podcast dedicated to creatingworkplaces where both employees
and the companies thrive.
Welcome to the culture secretpodcast where we discuss how
creating a value culture in yourbusiness helps both you and your
employees achieve success andhappiness. Here we explore the
(00:28):
importance of fosteringfostering meaningful connections
between employees and providingopportunities for them to have
fun at work. We'll also lookinto how having a clear vision
can help bring your teamtogether and focus on what
really matters in order to reachyour goals. Today, I'm joined by
Stephen Carr's CEO of King ofPop's. If you don't live in the
south, you're missing out in2010. Brothers Nick and Steven
(00:49):
started their craft popsiclebusiness in Atlanta after being
inspired by some roadside frozentreats they ate while in Mexico,
the brothers quit theircorporate jobs and began
producing some of the mostunique and interesting flavored
popsicles ever. Their businesshas grown from a pushcart they
found on ebay to a thrivingfranchise operation today, join
me and uncover secrets about howentrepreneurs can create a
(01:12):
vibrant workplace culture. Tellme what is the story of King of
Pop's? How did you get started?
How did this come to be? Andkind of How have you grown since
the inception.
Steven Carse (01:22):
So we started in 2010, I had been laid off a
couple years before from myinsurance job. And the idea with
my two older brothers to startthis business. After several
trips throughout Latin America,I guess the getting laid off for
me it was very much just likethe the nudge to actually do it
(01:43):
probably wouldn't have done itotherwise. And then open that
year, kind of with very fewexpectations. And then over the
last 13 years at this point,have grown in various ways, both
through the camp ops business,and then starting a few other
like kind of loosely alignedbusinesses with the idea of kind
(02:05):
of staying within the South andstaying independently owned and
all those
Chellie Phillips (02:09):
types of things. See, I've expanded now
into the picking of pups. Andthen you also have the farm,
right, where you're producingyour own produce.
Steven Carse (02:18):
Yeah, a little bit of our own produce. And then we
have a Christmas tree deliverybusiness called tree elves. And
we have a distribution companycalled P 10. Foods, which is
probably the one that is thelargest company that we're that
we own. It's a distributioncompany that distributes camp
hops, but about 160 other foodbrands, kind of food brands as
(02:40):
well. Yeah.
Chellie Phillips (02:41):
So I know your mantra is creating unexpected
moments of happiness. Where didthat come to be? And how did
y'all as the founders of theorganization settle on, that's
going to be our vision and whatwe want for this organization.
Steven Carse (02:55):
I think we were doing it all along. I think the
words came along after liketrying to identify a purpose,
which is then a lot of kind ofbusiness books and a good thing
to think about the why. But forus, it was the exact moment that
I like to share as we had hosteda yoga event started out just as
(03:15):
a employee that wanted to dosomething for the staff. And
then people would walk by andenjoy the see it and they'd ask
if they could sit there and doyoga as well, or stand or
whatever the pose happened to beat that moment. And so it grew
and grew and grew several yearsinto it. Like, it was like it
800 People I think were addedin, I can remember just kind of
(03:36):
laying there and at the end ofthe practice and feeling like
that was the more importantcontribution than selling a
bunch of pops that music Midtownor anything like that. So I
think that's like the backdropfor it. And then I think it
makes sense for a popsiclecompany. And I think we tried to
do it in kind of everydayencounters. And then there are
also some more planned outintentional things that we're
(03:56):
doing as well.
Chellie Phillips (03:58):
How does that carry over into how you deal
with employees or evencontractors that you're,
Steven Carse (04:04):
I think the obvious ones are just kind of
like being nice to folks. Foremployees, I think it carries
over most directly, just with,we oftentimes think about the
person that's receiving help orsomething as like the one that
is getting the benefit. Butthere's a lot of positive
feelings to creating that aswell. So encouraging them to
(04:27):
find things that they'repassionate about, and providing
the opportunity for them to doit. And sometimes they're on the
receiving end. And I think wetry to do it for each other. But
I would say more so than that.
It's just we off, we all kind ofneed a little nudge to do things
that we know we should do orwant to do or would be important
to do. And so we're trying tojust kind of nudge people a
(04:48):
little bit, myself includedgetting nudged.
Chellie Phillips (04:52):
Well, I think that's kind of like the key. One
of the key factors I hear aboutcultures that really work is
that the leader themselves arealso accountable and that they
walk, walk the walk that theytalk about. And so, I mean,
yeah, that it really has to besomething that everybody has
bought into kind of taking thatkind of thought line for a
(05:13):
minute, how do you see yourselfas a leader in the organization,
being able to spread thatmessage out to the people that
are working for you, and thenultimately to the end recipient,
Steven Carse (05:23):
just like you said that through examples, so when
we do something, just makingsure we're communicating it
ourselves if if Nick or myselfis doing it, and then if other
people are doing it, just makesure to celebrate them and
appreciate their guessgenerosity, typically time like
we donate the product, if it's aproduct based one. But if it's a
(05:45):
demo, we'll ask them to donatetheir time to recognizing it and
appreciating folks I think goesa really long way.
Chellie Phillips (05:52):
So y'all are pretty much family run business,
or at least when he was tellingme like, I think you're, you're
both of your parents areinvolved in everything too.
Right.
Steven Carse (06:01):
But yeah, they're a little less involved just from
just they're more retired thanthey were. Yeah.
Chellie Phillips (06:09):
So how do you think it's easier or harder,
having kind of the family as thecore of an organization then
say, maybe a corporate entity tobe able to direct culture and
spread culture
Steven Carse (06:22):
through I know, because I was 25, when we
started coming up pops. So myexperience is fairly limited
outside, but I guess you askwhat do I think I mean, I think
it's probably personally atleast perceived as easier just
because there's less kind of redtape to do things. I don't think
(06:43):
red tape oftentimes is whypeople don't do it. But I think
it is a it's an easy excuse, intheir administering there's
something to it, I think it's abit more intimidating to ask
just a boss that you maybe haveworked with for some or a long
time, it wouldn't really matterfor something in a publicly
traded company or whatever. Butthat's all just me making
(07:05):
guesses, because I don'tactually really know.
Chellie Phillips (07:08):
That's what I asked for your thoughts on it.
So?
Steven Carse (07:11):
Yeah, I guess I think it'd be, I think it'd be
the same, but I think peoplewould probably perceive it as
being easier. I think when youhave a family owned business, or
just any small business, really,the harder parts are just like
you're trying to stay inbusiness. And so sometimes that
can be a big burden. And youfeel like, should we really be
(07:32):
given away 600 pops to thisbreast cancer walk when we we
didn't have a very good month,the last two months. So I think
that's a challenge on the smallbusiness side. And then on the
larger business, I think it'sprobably just seems more out of
touch more layers and morepeople to kind of like, convince
(07:53):
different but I'd say bothprobably have playing Roblox
Chellie Phillips (07:57):
say you said, like part of the focus is just
staying in business sometimes.
And I know nowhere on a balancesheet. Do you ever see the line
culture? Yeah. So how do you asyou're moving, but
Steven Carse (08:11):
it might just be might be the name of a line?
Like we have a line that I thinkwould does that the word culture
and but
Chellie Phillips (08:19):
you're the first person I have talked to
you that says they actuallyidentify it on their protein.
Steven Carse (08:24):
But it's just like, I mean, it's in the same.
It's in like the employeeengagement bucket, which
probably a lot of people have,or maybe not, but and having a
line. And having that line, andpretty much money associated to
it are two very differentthings. But yeah, go ahead and
ask your question.
Chellie Phillips (08:40):
No, I did that. So I won't, I'm gonna move
a different direction now thatyou actually have a line in
there. Because that's been oneof the things is that when
people are trying to makeculture shifts, and they usually
run into the they have a boardthat thinks, oh, culture is this
fufu thing, that it's not a realthing, that it's sick, it you
know, it doesn't have $1 impacton the organization. So why do
(09:01):
we need to put aside money forsomething that I can't even wrap
my hand around in some tangiblekind of ways. So why do you have
a line on your expense or yourbudget sheet that has culture in
it? Yeah, I
Steven Carse (09:14):
mean, simple answer is we think it's
important. But yeah, I thinkyeah, I think making some amount
of commitment to it is, isimportant. And then if there are
things that you end up doing,and that is why you did them,
but you had not budgeted for it.
It's also valuable to have aplace for that to land, just
from like a but I think youroriginal point and kind of what
(09:37):
you're loosely asking about is Imean, I think it's like a
certainly a longer term thing.
And I mean, I think our call ourcommitment to culture, and I
think many businesses big andsmall are in the same boat like
is wavering. And so there's likeyears and months where you do an
amazing job and there's yearsand months where you do a poor
(09:59):
job And then maybe some or youjust do an average job. And I
think the way I kind of think ofit is like a, like a bank
account or something like, onthe bad years, when you don't
have the money to do it, you'rekind of extracting money from
that culture bank account, andyou can build up a lot of kind
of goodwill, and people areappreciating you and, and doing
(10:21):
things the right way. But atsome point, if you don't invest
back into that, I do think itkind of it runs out. And I think
I think like COVID was a goodfor us a good period where it's
like, we were not investinganything in culture, we had to
make a lot of difficultdecisions. But I think because
we had invested so much for thedecade before that, I think it
(10:41):
was like a we had we got thebenefit of the doubt a lot more
so than people that didn't.
That's like the that's like thebudgeting and tangible and
business case for it. I mean, Ithink the the other side and
other another piece to consideris it's just like enjoyable. And
hopefully we're working for thatwhether you enjoy making a lot
of money and being number one ina category or whether you enjoy
(11:02):
a short work weeks, I thinkthere is probably my my part of
it or my preference. I like allof those things. But my
preference would be to havelike, a nice mix of those and
part of that mix, includingbeing able to do things that
you're proud of in the communityand internally and with the
team. I think those for us gokind of hand in hand.
Chellie Phillips (11:26):
When you hire, do you hire for culture as well?
Steven Carse (11:30):
Yeah, we try to we have a franchise program too. So
that's a big one for that isculture because there's not very
many people we've never onboarded anyone that has worked
it around the popsicle company,just not something that a lot of
people do. So on the franchisingside, it's a longer
relationship, and it'scontractual. On the staffing
(11:51):
side, we do as well, but it hasa I think it has, I think we
feel like it's a two way street.
And I think you can influencepeople. So if somebody is not a
culture fit, I think I disagreethat they might forever be a
cultural fit, not be a culturalfit, just in the sense of like,
we also just hire a lot of youngpeople. So it's, there's a lot
(12:12):
of just learning of what life islike. But yeah, we have six core
values that we interview on. Andwe review, when we have our
quarterly reviews, we rate onthose and say we try to put
things in terms of the corevalues. And the same one we're
saying, like you said beforeworking with a supplier or with
a contractor, or really anybodyit's always it's always a
(12:36):
conversation to a little bit, alittle bit of both sides, I do
think that people get caught upon the fact that I mean, we're
all constantly changing as, aspeople. And core values really
end up being different wordsthat are typically the same,
like three to five kind ofconcepts, like the good, do good
(12:57):
things for other people, or cardsets. Like I think ours are
great. I really like ours, andwe talk about them a lot, but
kind of rambling.
Chellie Phillips (13:09):
So what are your What are your What are your
core values,
Steven Carse (13:12):
get sweaty, get it done, wear the shirt, be
thoughtful, stay hungry, andgood vibes only.
Chellie Phillips (13:22):
Okay, get sweaty. explain that one to you.
Steven Carse (13:25):
That one. So our company started as a popsicle
cart business and like, it'sjust like a very much from the
hiring side. Like, if you hiresomebody that thinks they're
just going to be very differentthan being in an air conditioned
room and a desk like it'srequires a lot of physical
effort, working hard, enjoyingworking hard, is a maybe a bit
(13:47):
more of a rare trait. Butsomething that we really
appreciate.
Chellie Phillips (13:51):
I love it, it does kind of set the expectation
like you can't say you didn'tknow what you're getting into.
Like it kind of thinking aboutthat, you know, as somebody is
coming in to work with you, ormaybe considering a franchise or
something like that. What areyour red flags that this is
probably not somebody that wewant here.
Steven Carse (14:11):
Red flags, I think I think I think a lot of it just
gets screened out. I don't feellike I have a lot of examples of
like being in an interview andhaving a red flag pop up. But I
mean, general would be selfish,either have a big ego or lack
humility. I think that'simportant to be humble for our
organization. I mean, I think ared flag for us, which maybe
(14:33):
fits into the core values andmaybe doesn't is like we are not
like going to be able to competewith like the tech companies of
the world in terms of salary andperks. And so I like to just be
clear about like expectations,like we have a lot of things to
offer that they can't thenyou'll get to kind of influence
(14:53):
the future of something andbuild something special and make
people happy and have a lot offlexibility but so Really don't
have like a, like a corporatecafeteria with sushi and stuff
like that. So if people feellike, if I'm talking to people
and I feel like they are onlyfocused on the financial piece
of it, I would I get enough redflag is the right word. But I
(15:17):
would, I would suggest to them,they probably wouldn't be a good
fit. That doesn't really happenthat much. But I think that is
one thing that on thefranchising side, sometimes
we've been dealing with justlike, this is a good opportunity
to make money, but it's notprobably the fastest easiest
one. That's maybe they're insouthern that. They're not used
(15:38):
to hearing in that type ofconversation, but I think is
honest.
Chellie Phillips (15:42):
So I just settle on staying in the south.
Steven Carse (15:45):
We were initially I think, just really inspired by
a company called Zingerman's.
And out of Ann Arbor, I don'tknow if you're familiar with
that company. And they have atraining business that we went
up to fairly early on probablyour third year in business. And
a lot of it is about visioning.
And they have a big one oncustomer service and stuff. But
the visioning one in particular,we wrote a vision when we were
(16:06):
at there, up there something westill kind of refer to today.
Yeah, I think the idea comesback to again, like why are you
in this? And are you in it toexit and get like a nice
multiple and find some otherbusiness? Are you trying to have
it be your life's work, for lackof better words, I think I just
really inspired by them thatthey've been around for 40
(16:27):
years, they're only in AnnArbor. And you can just see the
impact they're able to make bybeing in a smaller area. So we
could have just done Atlanta,which I think would have been
interesting as well. But I thinkwe kind of picked a mix of like,
staying in an area where wecould, we could still be
involved in everything, but notquite as limiting as just a
single metro area,
Chellie Phillips (16:48):
to have what it is community to the culture
that you are creating.
Steven Carse (16:53):
I think it's the thing that stands out the most,
I mean, I think it's if peoplebuy a popsicle, they might like
it, and they might buy anotherone. But I think if people buy a
popsicle at a community eventthat we're hosting for some
cause, or it's just really fun,and they get to meet someone and
connect with them in a uniqueway, or they go to that yoga
(17:13):
event like I talked to, or theygo to the farm, I think instead
of maybe buying another product,because it tastes good. They're
buying into the product, becauseit tastes good. And because they
feel good about the company. AndI think you can't think you
can't do that. If you'rethinking you can't do it
probably. But I think it's muchharder to do if your national or
international company just justhard to have people that are
bought in in the same ways, themore degrees disconnected, you
(17:35):
are kind of from the base.
That's at least the way I feel.
I mean, there's certainly goodexamples of really amazing
companies that are doing farmore amazing things that we are
there, they're huge, but forwhat I felt like our business
was kind of felt like we neededto be relatively close to
Chellie Phillips (17:52):
one of the things and doing the research
for this is you're talking aboutthe vision that you have. And my
book is about creating a valueculture and the V in the value
culture is vision division ofthe leadership vision of the
organization, kind of talk alittle bit more to me about like
how you and your brother or yourfamily sat down and actually
created the vision and then howmuch of it do you share out with
(18:16):
your employees, your franchiseesor whatever, so that they are
bought in with that same vision,
Steven Carse (18:21):
fanatical about a specific way of visioning, which
the difference being you pick apoint in time in the future and
you write like what you are,you're writing it from that
point of view, rather than morelike a strategic plan that I
think whether we like it or not,I think we get caught up in like
how we're going to do stuff. Sothey have a really great process
to get you out of that kind oflimited perspective and, and
(18:45):
think really, really bigpicture. So we went to training
of theirs. They're in a bookthat's called Small Giants. It's
how I found them. The headlinetagline is like businesses that
choose to be great instead ofbig, and I've got a lot of
people there that I reallyadmire. But we wrote it like a
draft there. We came back andtook that draft and built like a
(19:06):
I guess like a committee butpeople that were interested in
it from different parts of thecompany and different levels and
spent a couple of months kind ofbuilding that together just so
people would have buy in. Andthen the goal is that we read it
quarterly in our quarterlymeetings and then at we have an
annual like symposium, and wedefinitely read it annually. I
think sometimes on the quarterlyit gets missed, but like for the
(19:28):
training for that we call ourfranchisees Karcher printers for
that training. We read it everymonth when when we do that. So
it's a good because it's it setspeople on like a common start
and they understand kind ofwhere the heart of the business
is. And then, I mean, it's badthat that style of visioning is
bad is the wrong word. But likethere's certain pieces that we
(19:49):
wrote eight years ago, they'rejust kind of not going to
happen. And people just kind ofknow that now. So that's that's
kind of that's interesting, butI still we still share it. We'll
work on another vision in thenext A couple years probably
take us six months to write orwhatever, to just kind of get
enough people involved. Butyeah, I think the sharing is
certainly important. We, whenpeople get on boarded, it's
(20:09):
shared with them. It's hopefullyread with them, because a lot of
times people don't really readstuff. And so that's,
Chellie Phillips (20:15):
I think one of the important things you said is
that you got people from alldifferent levels of the
organization involved withcreating it, why did you think
that was something important todo,
Steven Carse (20:24):
just to get by, and I think people are more
connected to things that theyhelped to create, they were
there, they bought in if theywere creating part of it. That
obviously, I mean, eight yearsago, now, probably two people
from that committee of eightpeople are still in the company,
myself being one of them. Soit's not like, that's a good
reason for them. But it's notnecessarily like those people
(20:47):
will then stick around forever.
But then having a good a goodgroup of people that are
connected with it and talkingabout it, like the way that I
would talk about a vision isimportant. But it's also
important for people's peers tosee, I work in the kitchen, and
this is the guy that I work nextto every day, and he helped make
it and this is why what he hasto say about it, I'd say just
buy in,
Chellie Phillips (21:07):
and you're talking about rewriting it
again, that's one of the thingsyou know, I think a lot of times
people associate culture with amission statement or something
like that it gets stuck on awall and it never gets relooked
at anything else, because youhave new people in you have new
technology, you have new ideas,all this kind of stuff continues
to change and evolve in anorganization. And do you have an
(21:28):
ongoing process? Like every fiveyears, we're going to look at
this division or every so often,or is it just as you you know,
maybe feel like, okay, it's justtime, you know? Is it just a gut
feeling that it's time to lookat it or?
Steven Carse (21:40):
Yeah, so I think yes, it's a gut feeling. I think
for the Zingerman's style ofvisioning in particular, you're
setting a date and time. So atsome point, you get to that date
and time. So if you set it, it'sfive years in advance, like,
they recommend you start writingyour next division before that
one gets there. So I think thatthat very much informs that if
(22:02):
you're going to follow kind ofthat methodology, which we are,
but ours is 15 years. So it's ait's 20. It's a 2030 vision,
even though we wrote it, we'rehalfway to where we are right
now, wouldn't a train on thatjust a side caveat would be
like, closer is good, forobvious reasons, like because
you'll update it whatever, moremore sent more quickly. But a
(22:24):
longer hot timeline is cool,because like we're halfway
through and like I said before,like a lot of the things are
pretty clearly not going tohappen. But you can also say,
well, we've got seven years thatmaybe will happen, who knows.
And then some of the thingswe've already eclipsed and done
better than we had imagined thatwe would I think that's why I
wanted to rewrite it justbecause there were things that I
didn't quite understand and thatwe couldn't contemplate in the
(22:46):
business fully. And then I don'tthink that there is or should be
a single vision. So I do thinkthere's also like departmental
visions, there can be aquarterly vision. I mean, we
don't do a great job of that.
But I don't think like the ideaof visioning should be confined
to the company as a whole fromlike the top like, I think it's
valuable to think like, Alright,on that I'm in charge of the
(23:09):
cart at this park, what would begreat this year for us to do
with this single cart, whatwould be meaningful? How would
our core values be displayed?
How would it impact mepersonally, like, most people's
goal isn't to be a carpentertheir whole life. So maybe they
meet me, some people want to beon cars to meet significant
(23:29):
others, other people kind oflike do the Uber driver route
where everyone that walks upthere, like you're in banking,
tell me more about that. I thinkI think it's I think it's
important to realize too, likethe goal isn't for everyone to
work here forever. And whenyou're visioning a powerful part
of the way that I thinkvisioning works is when it
includes some bits and pieces ofyour personal life. And so
(23:50):
that's, I think, realistic andimportant as well,
Chellie Phillips (23:54):
you were talking about that your vision
has to have some personal buyinto it, your some personal
aspects in it, too. And I thinkthat's, that's probably a piece
that a lot of people leave outthat, you know, it's strictly
business. And it's really notbecause, you know, I think the
number is like, we spend about90,000 hours at work. And if
you're a business owner, it'sprobably even more than that,
(24:15):
because you probably don't getyour 40 hour weekend done.
Sometimes,
Steven Carse (24:19):
when you do like a hot pan exercises Zingerman's,
where you just kind of likewrite and you're not allowed to
stop writing. So it's prettymuch like stream of conscious
and I've been up to it. I'vetaken two people up there
several times and every yearwithout fail like it. I mean,
it's like just it is justemotional, but someone will
write a 10 year vision andthey'll be like, my daughter's
(24:41):
at the volleyball match. Andthis is their last volleyball
match before she goes to collegeand they'll just be bawling. And
that's like part of the visionabout like their company, but if
we don't keep like theperspective of the other things
that matter to us involved inand I mean, I think it's missing
a lot and then I think that isdiff Read from like, it wouldn't
necessarily be appropriate ifthis if this guy's company is
(25:03):
like a large company, but justthe idea of visioning beyond
maybe that I mean, in mind, Ithink it does, like the one that
we wrote for the company thereis bits that are a little bit
personal, not even to thatlevel. But yeah, it's it's, I
think it's really important, butit is, I guess it's interesting
it like what visioning is justlike such a broad word that
(25:26):
could we also do Eos, which islike kind of the other side of
the spectrum. And it's veryobjective and a vision for that
there's like a one page doc thatyou write like your 10 year,
big, hairy, audacious goal, andyou write like three year
picture, which would be like 10to 20 bullet points. And so
that's very, very much more liketechnical, while the other ones
(25:46):
may be more touchy feely, Ithink that's there's a, there's
value in both of them. For sure.
Chellie Phillips (25:50):
I was looking through my list. And I think
I've asked all the questionsthat I had, maybe before I let
you go, exactly. So if you weretalking to another entrepreneur
that was crafting theirbusiness, or had just started
one, what would be your piece ofadvice for them as far as
turning their vision into aculture for their employees? And
(26:10):
I think how does it not get lostin the hole? I'm starting a
company I'm you know, I'mfocused on raising capital and
focusing on getting people andall that kind of stuff. So
maybe, how do you keep thatfront and foremost, or a center
of what you're doing?
Steven Carse (26:23):
I don't think we did it intentionally. But if we
were if I was to give that pieceof advice, I think it would just
be about building and and thisis what this is why people have
ping pong tables and do allthese things. But I don't really
think those are the those arethe way that people connect. But
the important part is that theyconnect something I think that
computer example is is a greatone. But I think just building
(26:46):
in for some time forconnections, because even like
the biggest extroverts, maybeit's easy for but for the
majority of people, like I thinkwe oftentimes just forget inside
behind each person's face orwhatever, there's just like a
human there. And I think wethink that we're the only ones
with like these, these feelingsthat we have. So I think you
just have to create theopportunity for people to kind
(27:07):
of like not be lonely at work.
Lonely is maybe an extreme word,but like have a have like a
sense of like, Joy is the wrongword for people to come in, they
don't need to have like joy isin the book masked by Joy popped
into my mind. But I think that'sa high high expectation. But I
think just like building in thetime, which is inefficient for
people to connect is really whatculture is about. And it can
(27:27):
take forms of like for usillumos, which is like going to
the neighboring elementaryschool and handing out pops. And
then like, the two people orthree people that you do that
with, like you do kind of have aconnection with and then at some
point it whittles away and fadesand you need to kind of re re up
but that's super vague. So if Ihad to come up with something
more specific, I mean, for me,the whole point of doing this
(27:49):
business, and I think starting abusiness was for it to be fun.
And fun can take a lot ofdifferent terms like hard work
can be meaningful. And that canbe fun. But I think the actual
focus on that being there maynot work for all companies. But
I think should is really what itcomes back to, to me like you
didn't you're not working, likeyou said how many 90,000 hours
(28:12):
or all of this time for anythingother than to support yourself
and the people that you careabout and, and hopefully to do
something that you enjoy. Sojust making sure there's bits of
you that you enjoy and that thatother people will enjoy kind of
building that into the company.
Still very vague but important.
Chellie Phillips (28:31):
That's perfect. Well, I appreciate your
time today.
Steven Carse (28:35):
You too. I appreciate it.
Chellie Phillips (28:36):
Thank you.
Okay. As entrepreneurs andbusiness owners, we invest
countless hours into our hardwork. But it's important to not
forget the other things thatmatter to us as well. That's why
it's essential to keep theperspective of these things
involved in your vision for yourcompany crafting a culture for
your employees that incorporatesboth the objective elements like
a 10 year vision with measurablegoals. And the more subjective
elements like providingopportunities for meaningful
(28:59):
connections is key to keepingyour vision from getting lost in
the hustle of starting abusiness. It may require some
inefficient time management, butit's worth it to create an
environment that everyone canenjoy and benefit from. Thanks
for listening to this episode ofthe culture secrets podcast. If
you want to learn more aboutbuilding a value culture in the
workplace, check out my bookculture secrets. It's available
(29:19):
on Amazon or wherever you buybooks. You can also visit my
website at WWW dot Chelliephillips.com. That's c h e l l i
e pH I ll ips.com. If youenjoyed what you heard today,
please drop me a rating andshare with your friends. Until
next time, this is ChelliePhillips for the culture secrets
(29:41):
podcast.
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