Leading with V.A.L.U.E.: How Harry Hynekamp Builds World-Class Culture from the Inside Out

What does it take to create a workplace where people feel seen, heard, and truly valued — not just as employees, but as human beings?

In this episode, we sit down with Harry Hynekamp, former Vice President of Guest Experience at AMB Sports & Entertainment, part of the Arthur M. Blank Family of Companies — home to the Atlanta Falcons, Mercedes-Benz Stadium, and the Arthur M. Blank Foundation.

Harry shares powerful behind-the-scenes insights into how one of America’s most respected business leaders, Arthur Blank, has intentionally built values-driven cultures that last — whether on the field, in the office, or in the community.

From shifting the language from “hire” to “select” to placing storytelling and recognition at the heart of their employee experience, you’ll discover how real culture is created and sustained. Plus, you’ll learn about the “Walk In My Shoes” initiative, where leaders experience frontline roles firsthand to better understand and serve their teams.

This episode is a masterclass in activating values, building trust, and leading with empathy.

If you care about leadership, team engagement, and creating environments where people love to work — don’t miss this one.

🔑 Topics we cover:

• Why they say “select” instead of “hire” — and why it matters
• The role of recognition and storytelling in shaping behavior
• How executive leaders stay connected through the “Walk In My Shoes” program
• What it really means to build a V.A.L.U.E. Culture
• Why people may forget the event or building — but never how they were treated

✨ This episode is packed with real-world lessons any leader can use to elevate their culture from good to unforgettable.

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.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 01 (00:00):
if workplace culture is your jam you're in the right
place check out this episode ofculture secrets the podcast
dedicated to creating workplaceswhere both employees and the
companies thrive so

Speaker 02 (00:20):
Welcome to the Culture Secrets Podcast, where
we bring you real conversationswith leaders shaping exceptional
workplace cultures, the kindthat inspire people to show up,
contribute, and thrive.
Today, we're spotlightingsomeone who doesn't just talk
about culture.
He lives it.
Harry Heincamp has spent hiscareer shaping the intersection

(00:41):
of people, purpose, andperformance.
At the time of this interview,Harry was VP of Guest Experience
for AMB Sports andEntertainment.
As part of the Arthur M.
Blank family of companies,culture wasn't an afterthought.
It's the strategy.
Whether it's the AtlantaFalcons, Mercedes-Benz Stadium,

(01:01):
or the Family Foundation, valuesare more than words on a wall.
Their actions lived out loudevery single day.
Let's dive in with host ShelleyPhillips.

Speaker 01 (01:12):
Tell me a little bit about A&B Sports and
Entertainment, the Arthur BlankFoundation, Mercedes-Benz
Stadium.
How does that all worktogether?
Tell me a little bit about thebusiness model itself.

Speaker 00 (01:22):
Yeah, so I think it's interesting when you take
it from that perspective.
If you think about Arthur,right, so he started the Home
Depot and so forth, right?
And when you read his book,Good Company, he really talks
about kind of his approach tolife.
Some of the things he'll speakabout.
speak about, and I can stillremember, you know, one of the

(01:44):
first board meetings with him iswhere he spoke about a book and
basically said, you know, ifyou haven't read it, you know,
it may be time to reread it.
It's Man's Search for Meaning.
I think that's the title byViktor Frankl, right?
And so Arthur has taken thesame core values that he started
from the Home Depot along withBernie and so forth and really

(02:04):
utilize them, you know, forevery business that he's been a
part of, right?
And so when Arthur speaks, hespeaks from the perspective of
what's our whole meaning here onthis planet which is to repair
the world to repair the worldright and he reminds everyone of
that all the time that's whatwe're here for we're here to do

(02:25):
you know it's about passionpurpose and profits you know
it's not just about profits it'sabout those three things and
it's about you know doing theright things for the right
reasons and living with theresults of those those things
and so what I would say is at aheart, the foundation, all his
companies are built on thesecore values.

(02:46):
And I'll tell you those in afew minutes if you want.
But it's this whole servantmindset, right?
And so what I would say ispassion, purpose, profits.
Obviously, there's the ArthurBlank Family Foundation, right?
So that's one of theorganizations within the Blank
family of businesses.
There's the Atlanta Falconsfootball team.
There's the Atlanta UnitedSoccer Club, right?

(03:09):
There's obviously Mercedes-BenzState There is the PGA Tour
Superstores, which is thelargest golf retailer, you know,
in the U.S.
that Arthur owns, as well asthe ranches out in Montana, you
know, A&B West and West Creekand Big Sky and Blue Sky ranches

(03:29):
and so forth.
All those businesses, alongwith the family foundation,
family office.
It's no accident that in all ofArthur's key business meetings,
when Arthur's we are, they sitat a round table and so forth.
All those businesses arerepresented, including the
family foundation, right?

(03:49):
And that's, you know, I thinkthat's unique in the sense of,
right, you've got a foundationthat's sitting alongside
for-profit businesses.
And again, that's Arthur'swhole connection to passion,
purpose, and profits, and alsothe perspective of, you know,
what it is that we're trying todo, which is, you know, make the

(04:11):
world a place, right?
Repair the world, do the rightthings for the right reason.
And so making sure all of thefor-purpose, you know, and
profitable businesses are alsopurposeful, right?
So, and then if you think aboutArthur, he himself has, you
know, made the giving pledge,which the giving pledge is, you
know, you sign that and I thinkyou promise to give at least 50%

(04:33):
of your estate away, you know,when you pass.
And Arthur's is going to beprobably north of 95%, you know,
and growing.
All of our for-profitbusinesses, if you will, it's
pretty easy to wake up and go towork because one, you know,
you're in pretty exciting, youknow, businesses, right?
But the other part is, youknow, that, you know, the value
that we create, the profit thatwe can generate from creating

(04:56):
great experiences for fans,guests, and customers, then all
gets channeled back into thefoundation, right?
And this engine of passion,purpose, and profits continues,
right?
To make the world a betterplace, right?
So I would say those are thebusinesses, you know, that all
operate, in this ecosystem ofgoodness, I call it, right?
Of good company, which is justa great title for his book,

(05:19):
right?
When you think about it, notonly are you in good company
when you're with thesecompanies, they are good
companies, right?
And they try and make the worlda better place and they are
guided by a North Star from thefamily, Arthur's family, into
things they feel very stronglyabout, whether it's the
environment, whether it's youth,whether it's different aspects

(05:42):
of sustainability, democracy,and the list goes on and on in
terms of their strategicinitiatives, all geared towards
making the world a better place.
So that's how the companieskind of fit together and are all
aligned around that philosophyof passion, purpose, and
profits.
And the core underlying it istwo things.
One is all of the core values,again, which I'll share in a

(06:03):
minute.
And then this servantphilosophy from a leadership
perspective, taking thehierarchy of a pyramid of an
organizational structure andbasically flipping it on its
head, right?
So it's an inverted pyramidwhere leaders are really here to
serve associates, team members,fans, guests, customers,

(06:25):
because the circle for life forour business, based upon that
passion, purpose, profits,making the world a better place,
repairing the world, is that ifwe take care of our team
members, if we take care of ourassociates, if we take care of
each other, they are going totake care of our fans, guests,
and customers, right?
It's the experiences theycreate, whether it's in the PGA

(06:47):
Tour Superstore or it's in, youknow, at a sporting event or
it's at a ranch, whatever it is,that's where we create value,
you know, for our customers,fans, guests.
And that's what leads theability to, you know, determine
a price for a ticket, forretaining, you know, season
ticket members, not only havingthem as a fan, but also, you

(07:11):
know, their kids their aunts,their uncles, right?
Expanding that fan base,creating loyalty, creating
advocacy, creating ability tocreate premium experiences,
right?
And drive revenues and profits.
And again, that again, allcircle back into making the same
world a better place.
Arthur will always say, we donothing alone.

(07:32):
We do nothing of great valuealone.
The only way we bring value isby working together, right?
And so that's when we're at ourbest.
So That gives you a littlesense in terms of how those
businesses work together.
And if you want me to expand oncore values, I'm happy to do
that as well.

Speaker 01 (07:51):
Yeah, I've actually been to the website and did some
reading in that.
And so I've got a couple ofquestions about those coming.
I shared with you the formatfor the book is kind of talking
about building a value culture.
And starting with the V, it isabout the leadership and being
able to see a vision, have avision, and then being able to

(08:11):
to how do I get that vision outto where everybody at every
level understands where we'regoing and has a clear picture of
where that is.
Can you tell me a little bitabout the process maybe that
y'all go through to be able tomove the vision from leadership

(08:31):
down into the team that you'retalking about?
Yeah,

Speaker 00 (08:35):
sure.
I mean, I'll give you a coupleexamples.
I mean, so here's Mercedes-BenzStadium, right?
We We are five years in, right?
Five years in.
And when you think about it, Imean, five years is when we
opened up, but from a, in theconcrete perspective, from a
design perspective, the stadiumis probably eight, nine years

(08:56):
old, right?
By the time, by the timearchitects and designers, right?
So it's not just five years,because that's when we opened
the doors, it's more like eightor nine.
And so now we are literally inthe next generation of
Mercedes-Benz stadium.
Many, many stadiums will dorenovations.
renovations 10, 15 years afterthey're open and so forth.
And here we've only been openfive years and we're already

(09:17):
beginning to think aboutMercedes-Benz Stadium 2.0 and
execute on those things, right?
And Mercedes-Benz 2.0 isn'tabout just, you know, making,
you know, a change, you know,for the next five years.
It's about what over the courseof the next, you know, five
years, what investments are wegoing to make to bring, you
know, new technology, newexperiences to Mercedes-Benz

(09:38):
Stadium, right?
So when that whole processstarts, It's similar to, you
know, if you think aboutstrategically, we know we want
to, you know, create newexperiences and so forth.
So that's kind of the vision,right?
So what's the next evolution ofMercedes-Benz Stadium, this
amazing venue that is today, youknow, envy of the world too.

(09:58):
What are we going to do?
And so the vision starts therein terms of, okay, we have, what
are the goals that we want toachieve from that?
Well, we want to create newexperiences.
We want to be able to drive,you know, additional revenues we
want to create new activationsnew premium spaces all with
inside the stadium etc and sothat boils itself down to really

(10:22):
sharing that across theleadership team and then each
part of the leadership teambeing involved in that journey
right and so and again it's notabout like hey in five years all
these things will come onlinewhat are the things we're going
to continue to do each yeargoing forward with that vision
of of always leading from avenue perspective right because
if you think about it so SoFiopened up in LA, what, two years

(10:44):
ago, right?
SoFi Stadium.
Then you had the Raiders, youknow, a year or two ago, right?
With their new stadium and soforth.
One of Arthur's, and if youread Good Company and so forth,
any of his books, you know, oneof his, he even wears the
t-shirt.
There's a running t-shirt wherehe wears it.
The slogan is, there's nofinish line.
Like if you, you know, if youthink you're done, you know, you

(11:05):
don't even understand the job,so to speak, right?
And so it's this, you know,philosophy of no finish line.
And, you know, the vision isset, you know, from the top in
terms of like, you know, this iswhat we aim to do.
Then it's that cascades,obviously, to the different
disciplines and the seniorleadership there.
And then that cascades,obviously, into specific

(11:25):
initiatives.
And then that cascades,obviously, into the budgeting
and capital expenditure processand so forth.
Right.
So anything from a visionstandpoint, just like, you know,
real estate is location,location, location.
Vision is about communication,communication, communication.
communication, right?
And then aligning resources towhat we decide, what Arthur

(11:47):
decides is our biggestpriorities and so forth, right?
So, yeah, that's basically howthat happens, right?
Again, once the vision is kindof clear in terms of what it is
that we want to go after, that'swhere each leadership and each
discipline, again, workingtogether so the right hand and
left hand knows what each otheris doing, begin to stand up work
tracks that, again, complementeach other, but also make sure

(12:09):
that they're sequenced in a waythat that we're not outrunning
supply lines, so to speak.
So if you think about it, we'vestarted with this frictional
entry outside the stadium,coming in through the gates.
Our next piece is we're testingfacial recognition at the
ticket scanners, which wouldremove those.
Our next piece is food andbeverage, concessions and bars,

(12:31):
where we remove the need for youto pull anything out and so
forth.
And same thing at retail.
So step-by-step, whatevervision element it is, that's how
we approach it.

Speaker 01 (12:41):
That's amazing.
I said, I was sitting herethinking about that would be an
awesome experience just to leaveeverything and not have to
worry about it.
You've cast a big vision andyou have big things coming on
track.
So the next part of that ishaving the people in place to be
able to do that.
And like I said, I know I wentonline and I read some of your
core values.

(13:01):
Tell me about the process ofthose values coming to life.
How did you settle on that setof core values?

Speaker 00 (13:09):
Yeah, so there are authors and Bernie's from back
in the day of Home Depot.
Arthur's brought those and madethem part of who we are in
every business that we are.
We all live and breathe thosecore values.
It starts with selection interms of who we bring into our

(13:31):
business and so forth.
We are definitely selectingwhether it's an event day team
member who's a game day host orsomeone who's going to lead our
ticketing team and so forth.
Do they have the rightattitude, you know, not just the
aptitude and so forth, theattitude in terms of fitting
into our culture and so forth.
You know, you hear a lot ofbusinesses say, you know, and I
hate the word hiring, hiring,hiring.

(13:53):
So we select, you know, weintentionally use the word
select.
And even for event day teammembers, we call it draft day.
We call it draft day, right?
Because we are making picks,you know, in terms of who's
going to join our family and soforth.
And we have, you know,questions and our interview, you
know, processes is all aroundthat as well, right?
to those core values.

(14:13):
But those core values, it's notjust what I would say is
training and so forth.
They're a part of kind of theguidance, the rails, so to
speak, on whatever it is thatwe're working on, right?
So if you think aboutfrictionless markets or
frictionless entry, that's aboutinnovating continuously.
That's about how can we be theleading venue to offer this

(14:37):
latest and greatest technology,right?
Which I just learned so far isjust catch up on today with
Evolve.
We were the first ones outthere with that technology.
It's also by leading byexample.
So not that there's anythingwrong with being a fast
follower.
Personalities all across ourbusiness, like we're very much
the same in terms of, you know,we don't want to take a second

(15:00):
position on anything.
Like we are our own worstcritics and so forth.
And so no matter what it isthat we're doing, we want to be
in a leadership position, right?
And so for example, our foodand beverage program, right?
across the NFL still today,number one, since we opened the
doors.
Number one, quality, you know,cost, speed of service, all the
attributes you can think of froma food and beverage

(15:20):
perspective, number one acrossthe NFL.
Our team members experience,again, voted by fans, guests,
and customers from all differentNFL clubs.
You know, we're number one inthat category as well and a
whole bunch of others.
So it's this old, you know,this mentality of leading by
example, right?
So give back to others.
Remember I mentioned earlierjust this whole point of,

(15:41):
integrating passion, purpose,and profits.
And so, like I said, I'll giveyou an example for each one of
these.
So give back to others.
Last Tuesday in the Home Depotbackyard, we gave away 1,500
turkeys.
Those turkeys were not fundedby Arthur or the foundation.
They were funded by teammembers, just like me, giving
$15 or $30 by our offensivelinemen and so forth.

(16:03):
And we gave it away to familiesin need on the West side, as
well as event day team memberswho may know family, friends, or
someone, a neighbor who may bein need.
And so we stood up, you know,what was once an idea to give
away 30 turkeys from a fewassociates turned into giving
away 1500 turkeys.
Listen and respond.

(16:23):
So we're constantly listeningto the voice of our fans and our
guests and our customers and soforth.
And they are driving not onlythe things that are innovations
and so forth, but also thingswhere we can just, you know, do
better.
So for example, if we have aconcert and let's say you know
where we put a specific you knowconcession stand if our fans

(16:48):
are telling us that hey insteadof having this you know menu on
that stand it really would bethis and you know there's an
overwhelming amount of feedbackthat way we'll take a look at
that and we'll respond andthat's just another example of
that value include everyone sowhen we're thinking about
something that we're doing ifyou know it's only going to

(17:09):
benefit you know a small groupof our associates or a small
group of our fan base, that'sreally not the scale we're
looking for, right?
We're looking for somethingthat's scalable and really does
include everyone from theperspective of giving a benefit
or opportunity and so forth.
And all of that for us reallyblows around putting people

(17:33):
first from the perspective inall that we do.
So what I would say about thecore values is that they
fundamentally are kind of thatguiding post in all the
decisions we make and the greatpart about it is that they're so
well known they're soentrenched no matter what
meeting you're in as soon aswe're not living up to those in
some way you know a team memberwill call each you know each

(17:56):
other out right so wait a minutewait a minute this is all great
but if we're really includingeveryone how will you know this
group you know benefit from itif we're going to approach it
this way oh you're right youknow so that's what the core
values do it just helps us holdourselves together accountable
because we know ultimately we'regoing to be held accountable to
those core values.

Speaker 01 (18:14):
Accountability is the A in the value piece of
building a value culture as faras I'm concerned.
And I don't remember if I readit or if I was watching one of
the videos where I was talkingabout one of the things that
came across when I was sayingit's like demonstrating this in
action, not just in word.
And I think that's a veryimportant side for employees of

(18:35):
all levels to be able to see theleadership also taking part in
it.
It's not just some words on awall, you know, like Everybody's
got that corporate vision andmission, and then it gets faded
over the years after the sun'shit it, and everybody's like,
oh, what was that?
So give me a little example.
I know you talked about itbeing brought up in meetings and
that kind of thing, andeverybody calling each other out
if you're not following thosekind of things.

(18:56):
How do employees, how are theyholding themselves accountable
to forwarding these core valuesin the workplace as well?

Speaker 00 (19:07):
Whether it's a briefing or a huddle, the core
values there's usually a corevalue of the day that we share,
right?
And we focus on, and theyconstantly change all throughout
the year and so forth.
So we're constantly remindingourselves about it, but not only
just, you know, what the corevalue states, but giving
examples of them, right?
So a couple of things I'llshare with you.
One is we have a values inaction program that, you know,

(19:30):
recognizes team members, right?
For living our core values.
And it could prove a lot ofdifferent things.
We also have something calledthe heroes of hospitality wall.
It's inside the stadium.
I don't know if you've seenthat, but it's, But most, you
know, most organizations, theyhave their employee recognition
wall in the back office, right?
Old cardboard, you know,pegboard or something like that.
Well, ours is sitting rightoutside Arthur's suite, the

(19:53):
going suites, the first thing hesees.
And we have a ceremony once aquarter where we induct entire
new team members into that,right?
So again, that's just, we holdthe examples extremely high.
And I use the recognitionexample because that
demonstrates like, that's whatgreat and excellent looks like
to us.
in terms of these examples.
And all these stories, youknow, whether they're a hero of

(20:15):
hospitality story or a value inaction story and so forth, they
don't have to be like inventingthe new mousetrap, you know,
because these are simple thingsthat anyone demonstrates.
These are simple things anyonecan do to drive value, to create
value for themselves in termsof being, feeling like they're
alive in the role that they, youknow, play inside our business

(20:36):
and so forth, or the impact theyhave on the business or a
customer or a fan guests and soforth, right?
The important part of that is,you know, if folks only think,
you know, climbing MountEverest, that's kind of like
achievement.
That's how we get, you know,recognized.
That's how, that's whatexcellence looks like.
Then we're sending the wrongmessage, right?
Because I'm not climbing MountEverest.

(20:59):
I'm going to buy the t-shirt,but I ain't climbing it.
That's only for a select fewfolks who've got the physical
characteristics to be able to goand do that, right?
So, but on the accountabilityside, the other things I would
add to it is, you does an oldphrase of like, you know, six
degrees of Kevin Bacon, right?
So one of the ways anorganization can go sideways
very quickly is when they'reseparated from their customer.

(21:21):
And so we make sure that neverhappens.
And so all of our associatesparticipate in something called
walk in my shoes.
And so they'll walk, they'llwork a concession stand, food
and beverage on event day,they'll work security, they'll
work ticketing.
So you know exactly what it'slike to be on the front line,
serving fans, guests andcustomers, right?
And so you're not allowed tojust sit in the corporate

(21:43):
office, right?
And so I think thataccountability from the
standpoint of we are veryvisible with all of our team
members.
We are accessible to all of ourteam members from a leadership
perspective.
We are side by side, arm in armwith them, you know, when we
are working events and working,you know, our business and so
forth.
And we lead by example.
There's, again, another corevalue coming integrating with

(22:05):
this, right?
Which is, you know, if we seesomething on the floor and pick
it up, you know, then, you know,team members see it as well.
So we lead by example througheverything that we do.
But the accountability is fromthe standpoint of we are really
good at after-actioning everyevent.
So after-action reviews, everyevent we do that so that one,
how can the next event, whichmight be just a week later, be

(22:27):
even better than the last one?
But also to see if we're seeingthemes in terms of the next
innovation we need to make orthe next investment we need to
make to improve the experiencefor our associates or for the
businesses Tell

Speaker 01 (22:41):
me a little bit.
I'm assuming you have a mix oflike seasonal, part-time, and
then full-time employees aswell.
So when you're bringing in yourseasonal or your part-time, how
do you incorporate them intothe overall feeling so that they
feel like they're part of theorganization from the get-go
when they don't maybe have sixmonths with the whole team

(23:02):
before something's gettingstarted?

Speaker 00 (23:04):
Sure, sure.
So, well, one, they're involvedin all, so there's onboarding
process, right, for, you know,for sure, for new or higher
orientation.
There's shadowing and all thatkind of stuff.
There's training.
There are events that they'reinvited to, right?
So for example, Falcon's Feast,you know, event day team
members could have been outthere with us, you know, handing

(23:25):
out turkeys and so forth.
Recognition events that we dothat they're involved with.
We actually have our executiveteam go into huddles and
briefings at 6 a.m., you know,with different teams, whether
it's food and beverage and soforth.
forth.
We make sure we provideeverything that's going out to
associates in terms ofcommunications and so forth,

(23:46):
sharing that with them.
So I'll just give you oneexample.
So on the guest service teamside, and for the Falcons, let's
say, we can have 4,000 to 5,000event day team members on a
Falcons game, right?
And so we have a newsletterthat goes out monthly, and we
also have a weekly what we callguest service insider.
And in there's a little bit ofeverything, obviously

(24:09):
information- for the upcomingevent.
But like in the newsletter, wehave wellness programs, right?
Social, mental, physical, youknow, lifestyle, eating, you
know, et cetera, messages fromfrontline executives and so
forth, the latest traininginitiatives we have.
So what we try and do is,again, make sure we're

(24:31):
communicating, we'recollaborating, that we're
providing opportunities fortraining, you know, with them,
you know, alongside all of us.
So, and, you know, Then on anevent schedule, I guess the one
great thing about Mercedes-BenzStadium is we are so busy.
With private events, weprobably have 200-plus private
events.
On major events, which is like50,000 people or more, we could

(24:52):
have 50 to 60 in a given year.
So it's not long that we'reseparated from all of our team
members, but we do a great jobcommunicating, collaborating,
including them in differentopportunities.
When we do give-backopportunities, they're invited
to join us as well, right?
So that's how we make surewe're connected.

Speaker 01 (25:10):
When you were talking about the recognition
wall and everything about thestories that come from the team
members and that kind of stuff,I was talking with Gary Ridge,
the CEO of WD-40, and he wastalking about the power of
stories.
And then Rich Sheridan wastalking about how they use it at
Menlo on how everybody can seethemselves as part of the

(25:31):
journey and part of thesuccesses.
And I thought it wasinteresting that you mentioned
story also.
How important do you thinkstories are And maybe from the
grassroots being that the storygets told by the employee and
not just the leadership.

Speaker 00 (25:48):
So on the Heroes of Hospitality, most of those
stories will come in from like afan guest or customer, which is
pretty amazing.
Right.
So, I mean, it takes somethingfor someone to set about set
aside some time and send in anote.
That means we definitelyimpacted them.
Right.
I know some people may rolltheir eyes when they hear a
story and they might think ofstorytelling and so forth.
But stories are just facts withemotions.

(26:09):
Right.
That's that's what it is.
Just because I'm telling you astory doesn't mean I'm making it
up.
It means this is just factswith emotions.
But at the end of the day, weare all just human beings.
We are just a collection ofmemories.
Those memories are usuallyformed by really strong
emotions, really good ones orbad ones.
They reside with us, right?
So the stories are importantfrom the standpoint of, one, we

(26:34):
share our stories each and everyevent.
So in the meetings, the huddlesthat I'm in with with all these
folks at the beginning of thehuddle and leadership briefing.
At the end of the leadershipbriefing, there is a value in
action story.
It's about how someone impacteda fan guest or customer.
And if you see the quote over,over that heroes of hospitality
wall, it's Arthur's quote thatsays, I'm going to probably

(26:56):
butcher it here, but it'ssomething along the lines of the
people will come here andthey'll see the amazing, you
know, architecture design.
They'll see the halo board, theamazing technology, right?
But they're going to forget allabout that.
The lasting thing that they aregoing to remember is how they
were treated You know, howsomeone made them feel, right?
It's that Maya Angelou quoteback out there.
So the stories are reallyimportant to, one, define what,

(27:18):
you know, excellence looks like,demystify what excellence looks
like.
Like, it doesn't have to beclimbing Mount Everest or
creating the greatest newmousetrap.
Make it really understandablethat that's something I can do,
or that's what Harry did, orthat's what Sheila did.
I can do that.
I can do that, right?
And translate it in a way that,you know, we are recognizing

(27:40):
folks for going above andbeyond.
Because in the world today,right, we all need an attaboy
and attagirl.
We all do.
I don't care if you're the CEOof the biggest company in the
world, you still report to aboard.
And you as a human still wantto be valued and appreciated,

(28:01):
you know, and recognized, right?
So whether it's, you know,Steve Cannon, who's our CEO, or
Arthur Blank, everyone likes tobe, needs to be appreciated and
recognized.
And I think we all know what itmeans when you recognize and
appreciate someone, right?
You know how it impacts them.
For some, it's literally likerocket fuel.
Rocket fuel.

(28:21):
You breathe air.
You breathe life into people byappreciating and recognizing
them, right?
You can change the course of anentire day, right?
And so again, for us, it's notjust about the feel good.
It's about demonstrating ourcore values.
Because at the end of the day,once you recognize someone,
you're putting people firstbecause you're you're
recognizing someone.
You clearly are listening,responding because you either

(28:43):
saw something, heard something,or someone sharing information
about that one.
You are including everyonebecause you're sharing that
single story with everyone foreveryone's benefit.
You're trying to demonstratethat you are leading by example
because here you're holding itup high in terms of what that
story's impact is.
And you're trying todemonstrate this is how you can

(29:06):
innovate even on yourself,right?
In terms of, I didn't knowthat's what takes to just, you
know, kind of to create thatgreat experience.
It took just, you know, thatlittle effort and so forth.
And so, you know, the power ofstorytelling is huge, huge for
us in terms of many differentaspects, coaching, developing,
recognizing, appreciating, andalso learning from one another,

(29:29):
right?
Which also can lead into, youknow, after action and review
points, right?

Speaker 01 (29:33):
I come from the world of communications too.
And so I know I'm partial tostorytelling, but it really
does, you some of the bestprofessors that I sat through.
They actually literally stoodin front of the room and told
the story.
I mean, I remember, I canremember a Western Civ professor
right now.
He never cracked a book theentire run there.
He'd come in, sit, and he wouldjust tell stories about what

(29:54):
was happening in the world.
And I remember those to thisday.
And, you know, I sit here andthink and go, I probably would
have never remembered that, youknow, like 30, well, we might
not go say exactly how manyyears, but 30 plus years later
now that this was happening.
And so, yeah, I do think theyhave a huge impact on people
being able to see and learn andput themselves in those shoes

(30:15):
and really get an idea of what'sgoing on.
In your put people first value,one of the things that you have
in there is build rapport andtrust.
Trust between employees andtheir employer, trust between
teammates, trust betweeneveryone is vital today.
And it's one of the things Ithink the world's kind of
lacking right now.

(30:35):
And so I think that's whycompanies that focus on on that
are so much stronger.
Give me maybe two cents worthon how do you help instill trust
and how do you help grow trustinside the organization so that
employees do feel like they cantake the reins and run with it?

Speaker 00 (30:55):
Yeah, I mean, you can come at this from so many
different angles, right?
So I'll just start at the top,right?
So obviously from a culture,overall culture perspective,
right?
Culture eats strategy forbreakfast, lunch, dinner, you
know, Peter Drucker, although,you know, that's 100% true.
You know, Great culture isfounded on trust, right?
That's what it's founded on.
It's founded on trust.
And great cultures just don'tspontaneously combust overnight.

(31:18):
Culture is something that youreally, really have to work out
over and over and over again,right?
So from a trust perspective, Iwould say, you know, we, lots of
organizations do the, you know,an employee survey, right?
And we do our listen andrespond survey and we survey
everyone and we've got highparticipation.
We're a great place to work.
You know, there's no doubtsabout that.

(31:39):
But even in an amazing culture,and again, I worked at
Mercedes-Benz for 18 years, andwe had an amazing culture.
What I would tell you about theBlank Family of Business, it's
at another level, even abovethat.
It's the best that I've been apart of in my career.
From a trust perspective, thinkabout the Listen and Response
Survey, the cultural survey.
If leaders in the organizationjust did the survey for a check

(32:01):
the box and cursory review andtalk about a little bit here and
there and probably be morecynical and dismissive and try
and come up with you know that'swhy they said it or who said it
and all that kind of stuffobviously that would build a lot
of mistrust right sodemonstrated since the five
years I've been here isextremely candid with the
results extremely candid withthe feedback in terms of yes

(32:25):
these are things that we need todo better at these are things
that you know we disagree youknow like in other words you
know this in terms of you knownot necessarily an issue for us
to you know focus in on but topthree focused areas would be
these three things and thendemonstrated management and
leadership action around thosethings along with teams, right?
And so what I'm really proud ofis, and again, if you think

(32:47):
about on event day, we have fiveor 6,000 team members on top
of, you know, all the full-time,part-time folks with our most
recent one.
You know, we had not only thelisten and respond survey, but
then we had individual teams,you know, breaking up and
defining what their action planswere for their teams from an
overarching organizationalperspective, the executive

(33:07):
committee defining these are thethree things we're going to
focus in on?
And then everyone comingtogether to kind of review that,
right?
And say, okay, is this allaligned?
Including the CEO sitting downfor hours with all these teams
and then following up monthslater and saying, okay, how have
we done?
How have we done, right?
And this relentless pursuitaround culture.
So to me, that's the first legof trust, which is you asked,

(33:29):
team members responded, okay, sonow what are we going to do
about it?
And so that's very transparentand it's very alive, you know,
and it's on ongoing, right?
And so it's that relentlesspursuit of culture, right?
And trust building.
The second part I would say isoutside of the cultural survey
is in our business, especiallyin live entertainment or sports

(33:52):
in general, whether it's PGAtour, superstore, or even the
West Creek ranches and so forth,you're operating in the now as
much as you are always planningstrategically for the next and
so forth.
But day to day, there's a lotgoing on now.
And so if, and just think of agame day for all those pieces to
be working without worryingwhat the other one's doing,
right?

(34:12):
Boy, there better be a lot ofgreat communication, a lot of
great collaboration, a lot ofgreat information sharing, a lot
of good premortem andpostmortem discussions,
premortem about, hey, if itrains, what are we going to do,
right?
What if, you know, what if thepower goes out?
What are we going to do, right?
During the event, you know,okay, this is not going right.

(34:32):
I need three people to jump inand help me over here, right?
So who do I go to?
And then post-event, to behonest enough to sit there and
say, these are the great thingswe did, but here are the things
where we absolutely need to getbetter at.
And so because of the nature ofthe business that we're in, we
couldn't operate if there wasn'thigh levels of trust.
I compare it to corporateAmerica and so forth, where

(34:54):
silos can be built very, veryquickly and the walls can be
very thick.
There just is so much speed andmovement here.
If there was someone who wasnot a great collaborator,
someone who wasn't trustworthyor a department or area and so
forth, that would raise its headso quickly, you know, amongst
everyone as, you know, it'salmost like an engine with eight

(35:17):
cylinders now fighting, youknow, firing with only seven.
Everyone would notice thatthere's something wrong with
that cylinder, right?
That to me is, we prove itevery day, every event.
We have to because the speed ofour business is we're live.
We are live, you know.
It's not recorded.
It's not pre-taped.
It's, you know, we're in themoment, in the now.

Speaker 01 (35:36):
Going back to something you said in the
beginning about having a purposebusiness.
Like it's all about the purposeand all of it kind of plays in.
We're seeing more and moreresearch, especially with this
new generation coming into theworkforce, where values and
purpose really, they want thoseto align with the companies that
they choose to work for.
How are y'all using that as faras recruiting and trying to

(35:59):
bring people to you?
How are you putting that outthere so that people can
recognize if these things areimportant to you, this is the
place that you want to work?

Speaker 00 (36:07):
A couple things.
So one is is explaining tofolks what is the Blank family
of businesses, right?
So you are part of, you know,Arthur Blank's, you know, vision
and so forth, right?
The second is we obviouslyshare the information about
Arthur's giving pledge, Arthur'svideos and how he speaks to it,
especially how he speaks soeloquently to this whole thing
about repairing the world,right?

(36:28):
And making the world a betterplace.
And then the foundation's work,and Arthur's pledge to that
foundation, right?
And part of the giving pledge.
And then knowing thefoundation, it's really focused
on, you know, the environment,you know, focused on youth,
which is the future and so forthfocused on education.
Right.
So the strategic pillars ofthe, of the family, of the

(36:50):
family, the kids and Arthur, hiswhole family, what that focuses
is nothing but doing, you know,good, good and wellness in the
world.
Right.
So, you know, sharing the fact,okay, you're going to be
working at the PGA toursuperstore, but just know, yes,
we're a for-profit business, butall of that goes to the
foundation, which helps thenArthur make the world a And so

(37:10):
that's the overview connection.
And then inside the connectionis whether you're at the PDJ
tour superstore or you'reworking for the Falcons or
you're working for the stadiumand so forth, we have an
opportunity to share all thedifferent ways that we give back
together, right?
So whether it's working in thecommunity or it's working, you
know, some of the things thatwe're doing inside of our

(37:30):
businesses, for example,Mercedes-Benz Stadium, you know,
true zero waste, you know,pre-certified, a lead platinum,
you know, so again, theenvironment is very important.
to many folks, our Home Depotbackyard being an open park,
right?
And I think just two weeks ago,we actually had all your
soldiers bring their dogs in andso forth, right?
And so it's trying to make thatconnection with, you know, a

(37:51):
younger team member base,because as Arthur would put it,
they are asking a lot morequestions.
They're asking a lot betterquestions.
They're asking a lot of smarterquestions and, you know, are
not putting up with genericresponses that they can see
through that, you If anorganization says, yeah, we're
into sustainability, right?
But quickly you can see it'sgreenwashing, so to speak,

(38:14):
right?
That's going to turn apotential candidate off.
Whereas we can back it up withfacts.
We can back it up with factsthrough everything that we do.
It makes it easy for someone tobe part of and want to be part
of this organization.

Speaker 01 (38:30):
So how much input do employees have?
How do they bring some ideas tothe table to say, hey, this is
an area I think we can make aneven bigger impact

Speaker 00 (38:39):
in?
Yeah.
So I'll give you the green teamas an example, right?
So that is a collection of, youknow, associates, right?
That are just interested insustainability and so forth.
It's a passion of theirs.
Any associates able to jointhat, right?
Any associates able to jointhose meetings and so forth,
share and contribute.
And it's a reason why today Ithink that we have, you know,
three beehives, you know, at thestadium today, right?

(39:00):
It's a reason why we have acharm recycling center, right?
For all those difficult torecycle at home, you know, items
that folks have troubledisposing of and so forth.
So again, whether it's givingback.
So right now we have twoclothing drives that are going
on, all generated by associateswho basically wanted to start

(39:21):
something where we could comeinto the administrative office
and drop off toiletries or oldgently used coats or whatever it
is.
Associates can get involved inso many different ways by
connecting with our communityrelations partners, connecting
with the family foundation.
We have a number of associatesled giving funds you know

(39:42):
whether it's on veterans whetherit's soccer in the streets and
youth and so forth so all thoseexist people just have to raise
their hand and we're never shortof feedback because whether
it's you know feedback throughour surveys and so forth or
their skip level meetings youknow the CEOs does and all the
executives do as well we rightnow are doing something this is

(40:04):
pretty cool culturally we'redoing what's called a lunch
lottery so So you as anassociate would get a scratch
off.
It would have my name on it andactually did.
It had two scratch off spots.
So I had to scratch it off.
Now I see our two other newteam members from entirely
different parts of our business.
And now it's my responsibilityto contact them and have lunch.

(40:25):
And we go to the press box.
I show the press box card.
Our lunch is paid for by theorganization.
And it's us just to get to knoweach other better to, again,
open up those channels ofcommunication and so forth.
Right.
So and then we do.
Hours of power, which are justmeeting hookups, you know, with,
you know, for an hour and ahalf, two hours on a Thursday or
Friday where all team membersare invited just to hang out.

(40:48):
Um, and basically usually aftera specific theme, right.
It might be at, uh, about, youknow, what the security team is
doing or the HR team is doing 20minutes there, but then the
rest is pretty much, you know,food, food and beverage.
You know, uh, we do associatehuddles last week.
Um, our GM for the Falcons camein and, you know, kicked off a
huddle, you know, um, talkingabout the team.

(41:10):
We talked about core values.
We talked about Falcons Feastand giving back during this
time, right?
So there's so manyopportunities to create
connectivity with folks.
If you're interested insomething, it's pretty easy to
raise your hand and getinvolved.

Speaker 01 (41:24):
I love that.
So my last question is kind ofplaying off.
You were talking about thequote, there's no finish line.

Speaker 00 (41:30):
Yes.

Speaker 01 (41:31):
So there's no finish line for the stadium that's
always improving and growing.
But what about the culture ofthe organization?
how important it is for anorganization not to settle and
say, we've got the best that wecan have.
How important it is for them tocontinue pushing forward and
say, we can always improve ourculture a little bit.

Speaker 00 (41:51):
As I think I mentioned before, right?
Culture doesn't spontaneouslycombust and you've got to work
at it all the time.
You got to work at it all thetime, right?
So you have to create new anddifferent ways.
ways, you know, to connectamongst your team members,
right?
Not only listening andresponding to them, but also
listening to what would make ita better, a greater place to

(42:12):
work, right?
So we actually have a funcommittee and that's the title
of it.
It's called the fun committee.
It's got probably 20 or 30associates from all across the
business involved.
And what they do is they decidefor the whole year, what are
the things that we can dodifferent this year besides all
the great stuff we have already,right?
What are new things that we cando this year, connect one

(42:34):
another to a common, you know,purpose, understanding, as well
as create the space, right, forpeople to share their
perspectives, their opinions andso forth, right?
The lunch lottery example isjust one example that I gave you
of like how we did somethingdifferent, right?
Bringing, letting theassociates bring their pets in,

(42:56):
that came from the fundcommittee, right?
We had our give back day and wepartnered with Hands on Atlanta
where all of the associatescelebrate Arthur's 80th
birthday, we all, you know,volunteer across Atlanta to do
something on that day, right?
And there's a whole list ofother thoughts and ideas that
are out there.

(43:16):
And what we've already done, Iguess, in the last 10 months, I
would say, each month there'ssomething different or new that
we haven't ever done before tokind of, you know, kickstart,
you know, our culture in adifferent way.
Walk in my shoes, will alwaysbe a staple of our culture,
right?
Skip level meetings will alwaysbe a staple of our culture.

(43:37):
Huddles with the executiveswill always be a staple of our
culture, right?
Our recognition appreciationceremonies, always a staple of
our culture, right?
Discussions and sharing openlyabout our listen, respond, our
cultural survey and hearing livefeedback, as well as sharing
the feedback that associatesprovided to us, always a part of
our culture.
What I would say is there'sfoundational elements, you know,

(43:58):
that will never go away.
But what we've been really goodat is involving associates to
come up with new things likelunch lottery to do something
different.
And those goals were around,hey, how can we connect, you
know, more of the new folks ondifferent teams with, you know,
some of the folks who have beenaround here for a while.
Lunch lottery, you know, we'llhave a lunch lottery and we'll

(44:19):
line up, you know, folks whoare, who've been here a while
with folks who haven't been herea while and we'll create new
neural connections, right, so tospeak.
Look, you have to actively workat culture and Culture is
embedded in everything you do.
Culture is defined by thepolicies and processes that you
put in place.
It's in the written words anddocuments all over the place.

(44:42):
Culture is slightly differentfrom team to team.
That doesn't make it bad,right?
Finance folks probably have aslightly different cultural feel
if you're sitting in that room,right, than a marketing culture
and so forth.
That doesn't mean they'remisaligned.
It just means they're a littlebit different, right?
Everything in the business is areflection of your culture and

(45:03):
what your associatecommunications email looks like,
how your town hall meetings arestructured.
I've been around the blockenough to see bad cultures.
So the point is, I think it'sreally well understood, right?
If we take care of one anotherand our associates, we're going
to be able to take care of ourbusiness, right?

(45:24):
Because they're going to takecare of our fans, guests, and
customers, right?
That's kind of the platinumrule.

Speaker 01 (45:31):
It does really come down to relationship, doesn't
it?

Speaker 00 (45:33):
It does.
It does.

Speaker 01 (45:35):
Anything I should have asked you that I didn't
that you want to make sure youget out there for people to know
about it?

Speaker 00 (45:41):
No, I think what I wanted, what I would want to...
First, I hope this has beenhelpful.

Speaker 01 (45:46):
Very much so.
Thank

Speaker 00 (45:47):
you.
Yeah, I think...
I think for me, again, and somy background is accounting
finance.
Just to give you a perspective,I think this will make a little
bit more of my point.
So my background is accountingfinance, CPA, MBA.
So I started off primarily anumbers guy in my career with
Mercedes-Benz North Americabefore it was, it only sold

(46:09):
about 40,000 vehicles at thetime.
Then I went into the musicbusiness for about 10 years and
in New York City, working withmajor labels and artists and
stuff like that.
And then I took a sabbaticalbecause I was working probably
110 hours a week for 10 yearsstraight.
And I went back to school,started taking some pre-med

(46:30):
courses, actually went to StatePolice Academy and wound up
running with paramedics and EMTsfor a while.
So I found my calling, whichwas not numbers, which was
actually people.
Then someone remembered me fromMercedes-Benz from probably 15
years earlier.
And I went back there,ultimately went back and became
the chief learning officer.
Then I became the chiefcustomer experience officer.
So again, all focused aroundpeople, right?

(46:51):
And now I've been here for fiveyears with the Arthur Blank
family of business.
And what strikes me most isArthur from the perspective, and
I started with you today aboutthat.
Man's Search for Meaning wasthe first book he raised.
And he said, if you haven'tread it, if you have read it,

(47:12):
you better reread it.
He really epitomizes passion,purpose, and profits all coming
together.
That's how his businessoperates.
The definition of his book, youknow, his book, Good Company,
so, so appropriate and so manylessons in there.
And just this man who has beendriven to heal the world.

(47:33):
And he really, he really isserious when he means he's there
to heal the world, make theworld a better place, always do
the right things for the rightreasons and live with the
outcome.
So very unique when The actionsfollow the words across an
entire organization led by a manwho's created core values and

(47:57):
core principles that, you know,if there's a young entrepreneur
there, they better look at themand read that book real well and
look at all those core valuesbecause it is the secret to
success.

Speaker 01 (48:07):
Well, thanks so much, Harry.
I really appreciate your time.
You

Speaker 02 (48:11):
can learn more from Harry and other amazing leaders
in the Culture Secrets book.
It's available on Amazon orthrough your favorite
bookseller.
Find out more atshellyphillips.com.