March 13, 2025 • 31 mins
The salient point of our discussion centers on the profound impact of leadership in educational environments, particularly through the lens of Ann Huntington Sharma, the president of Huntington Learning Center. Ann articulates her journey from a diverse background in the art industry to a pivotal role in a family business that has thrived since 1977. Her insights reveal the significance of aligning mission-driven values with operational goals, ensuring that every student receives the best education possible. Furthermore, she emphasizes the necessity of fostering a culture of collaboration and support among franchisees, corporate employees, and students alike, thereby creating a cohesive community dedicated to educational excellence. This episode serves as a testament to the transformative power of effective leadership in shaping the future of education.
The Unstoppable Leadership Spotlight podcast features an enlightening discussion with Ann Huntington Sharma, the president of Huntington Learning Center, a family business with a rich history dating back to 1977. Ann reflects on her journey into a leadership role, detailing how her unique experiences in the art industry shaped her approach to education and corporate governance. With a focus on educational excellence, she emphasizes the importance of providing tailored support to each student, regardless of their individual needs. Ann's deep commitment to the company's mission—giving every student the best education possible—resonates throughout the episode, illustrating the profound impact that a clear vision can have on an organization. Moreover, Ann shares insights on navigating the complexities of family dynamics within a business context, highlighting the necessity of earning respect and trust in a leadership position, particularly in a family-run enterprise. This episode serves as an invaluable resource for aspiring leaders, shedding light on the significance of adaptability, communication, and maintaining a mission-driven culture in education.
Takeaways:
- The Huntington Learning Center was established in 1977 as a family business aimed at transforming educational outcomes for students.
- Ann Huntington Sharma's journey involved significant experiences in the art industry prior to her leadership role at Huntington.
- A transformative leadership approach emphasizes earning respect and trust rather than simply being granted authority due to family ties.
- The mission of Huntington Learning Center is to provide every student with the best education possible, which guides every decision made within the organization.
- Effective communication of the mission is tailored to various stakeholders, including franchisees, corporate employees, and students alike.
- Navigating the challenges of leadership requires a focus on community impact and the continuous evolution of educational programs.
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(00:56):
And I'm going to see if I can.
Okay.
Awesome.
Hello, everybody.
I am Jacqueline Strominger.
I am the host of theUnstoppable Leadership Spotlight
podcast.
And I'm so excited for ourguest today.
(01:18):
We have Ann Huntington Sharma,and she is the president of the Hunting
Huntington Learning Center.
And the name itself justbrings warms to my heart because
I think of Boston, but that'sa whole other scenario.
But I am so excited to haveyou on the show and to talk to you
about education, leadership,the whole nine yards.
(01:40):
Just to give you guys a littlebit of background.
Ann and I were talking beforehand.
So she is originally from New Jersey.
She is now on the west coastcoast and more towards the west in
South Dakota.
That's more of the middlecompany, more middle of the country.
And she is the president.
And this is a family startedas a family business, and you said
in 1977.
(02:01):
So this is fantastic.
And you have over 200corporate employees, and that's not
even to mention the franchisefolks that you have.
So welcome to the podcast.
I'm so glad to have you here.
Thank you, Jacqueline.
I'm really excited for this conversation.
Yes, I am.
And again, beforehand, we weretalking about, obviously, leadership,
(02:21):
education, and a whole bunchof other things as well.
But talk to me a little bitabout your journey into your leadership
position and how you got towhere you are.
Great question.
Huntington Learning center, asyou shared, is a family family business
started by Eileen and RayHuntington, who are my parents in
(02:41):
1977.
In terms of HuntingtonLearning center, it has always been
part of who I.
I bleed green, though.
That said, if you're a newfranchisee, you too bleed green because
you're part of Huntington fromthe national level.
And each of our locations areindependently owned and operated,
(03:02):
so we can create leaderswithin each center.
So back in 1977, nearly 50years ago, Ray and Eileen started
Huntington Learning Center.
And I like to say I'm centernumber 17, because when they weren't
opening locations, they had children.
I have a brother who's notinvolved with Huntington Learning
Center.
(03:22):
I decided to become part ofthe family business.
But my journey to where I amto running Huntington Learning center
was not a given.
Just because my maiden name isHuntington does not mean that gives
me a right to be the presidentof Huntington Learning Center.
So before joining Huntington,I had a career in a totally different
(03:46):
industry.
For a decade, I had a careerin the art industry, where I worked
at an auction house.
I started my own artcuratorial company.
And of course, within familybusinesses, there are Always conversations
about what's going on.
So even as a child, I knew whoall of the folks were.
(04:06):
I was actually a student at Huntington.
And then when I had my careerwithin art, I was very much involved
behind the scenes in terms ofwhat is happening at Huntington.
And my parents and I had avery frank conversation in terms
of what.
What is the future.
Are you interested in Huntington?
(04:26):
It is a family business.
Are you interested in getting involved?
At that point, my brother wasinvolved with the family business.
So I.
I jumped on board as aconsultant when we were going through
a rebranding initiative.
But anything I do, I dive deep.
So from there, I went throughour training program.
I started as a director.
I started getting out into thefield, visiting a franchi, figuring
(04:50):
out what the pulse of thesystem was, learning, seeing new
opportunities, building outnew departments, and taking a lot
of the skills that I hadlearned over that decade plus.
And of course, through myschooling, I applied that to Huntington.
And I've been with Huntingtonnow officially for over 10 years.
(05:10):
And I became HuntingtonLearning Center's president in 2019.
And even before I waspresident, my mantra to the system
was and still is, to protectand grow the company.
I'm the one of the custodiansof it, and that's my job.
Of course, when I becamepresident, we were getting ready
(05:32):
for 2020.
And at our convention, I didsay that mantra.
I said, it's protection and growth.
And 2020 is clear.
We all put on 3D glasses.
We all know it happened in 2020.
And that's when I reallyrevved up the whole protection aspect
of the brand.
And now that we're through theCOVID times, now we're in that growth
(05:54):
mode.
So my journey was not set in stone.
It was through different conversations.
And even when I became part ofHuntington, it was figuring out what's
right for the company, what'sright for our students, to ensure
that our mission continues togive every student the best education
possible and what'sappropriate for our franchise community.
(06:16):
Because.
And we are.
We right now are national.
Hopefully we becomeinternational at some point, but
we have to ensure that thefuture for Huntington is secure.
So my path brought me to whereI am today because of my.
My leadership strengths, mybackground, and my drive to really
(06:36):
make change, positive change.
That's purposeful, that's great.
It's such a great story.
There's a couple of thingsthat just were coming to my brain
as you were talking.
And it's almost like when you were.
When you first got there, youwere Actually, like the Undercover
Boss, you were, like, tryingto figure that out and.
And seeing what was good, the.
The good, the bad, and the ugly.
(06:57):
And so as you move up, one ofthe biggest things you often hear,
particularly in familybusinesses, is, and you said you
were not given this, you hadto earn the respect and the trust
of the people that were there.
So tell me, tell us a littlebit about how you did that besides
(07:19):
just going under and seeing me undercover.
Undercover, like being the undercover.
There you go.
There you go.
Though I look very similar toEileen and all of our.
Before we went through therebranding, our centers had an image
of me as a child, and I dolook very similar.
So I have to really change my appearance.
Nevertheless, when I started,I was a big bull in a china shop
(07:42):
because I wanted to makechange right away.
I was coming from the artindustry, which culturally was very
different than how Huntingtonwas set up.
So it was a learning curve for me.
I made a lot of peopleuncomfortable at first because we
had tenured folks who werehappy and full of pep and liked their
routine.
(08:03):
They liked knowing what theywere going to do it and how they
were going to do it and whenthey were going to do it.
They understood my parents.
They understood what made them tick.
They understood what theexpectations were.
And then here I came in and Iwas like, nope, this isn't going
to work.
It took me a few years toreally understand politics, if you
(08:25):
will.
I had to get something done.
And through.
Through time, I was able toreally prove out a lot of my hypothesis
in terms of people and processes.
But the key really was and isthat my parents and I, and when my
brother was part of it, hetoo, he decided to exit.
The company was to be alignedin terms of what are our goals as
(08:49):
owners and how are we going toachieve them.
And I, of course, had to learnreally quick that I can't really
make friends per se at workbecause it's.
Everyone is trying to figureout an angle.
And thankfully, that bull in achina shop, I learned as long as
(09:10):
we get to the outcome, itdoesn't matter how we get there.
It doesn't have to be my idea.
I need to surround myself withsmarter people who will achieve the
goals that need to be achieved.
It was a learning curve, andwe have some really great folks.
So I don't want it to soundlike I was trying to remove everyone.
(09:31):
We have some folks who havebeen with us for over 30 years.
We have some folks who justcelebrated a 25th anniversary.
Our 10 years old awesome.
In terms of the people who areon the team and the impact that they
have been able to achieve overthe years is really tremendous.
But it's a lot I had to figureout and navigate.
(09:53):
How do I make sure that wefocus on our mission?
Because every decision isbased off that mission.
To give every student the besteducation possible.
And how do I make sure thatwe're all marching in that direction
and make sure that folks knowI'm not my mom, I'm not my dad, I
am who I am.
(10:14):
And we have to work togetherin the way that we have to work together.
And that's not just mycorporate colleagues, it's the franchisees
have to understand that, okay,they bought into a system, they believe
that system and theyunderstand where their leadership
is going for the future.
Great.
So you said a lot of amazing things.
(10:35):
So I have so many questions orthat are just awesome.
I'm a firm believer and I feellike I talk about this all the time,
that leadership starts andit's something that you said, it
starts with mission.
Then you have to align withthe goals.
And so I feel like you'repreaching to the choir here.
(10:55):
But what I'm curious about isyou have to sets of, well, actually
three technically sets ofclients, right?
You've got your franchisepeople, right?
There's team members there,then you've got the corporate team
members and then you have yourstudents, right?
And so those are all threeseparate areas, but all team members
(11:15):
in different ways you want toput them.
So how do you communicate themission to all three of those segments,
into the segments and how dothey differ?
So the mission, regardless ofwho I'm speaking with, is the same.
It's to give every student thebest education possible.
And now it's trendy to have amission, right?
(11:37):
A mission driven company.
We are, we've been doing itsince 1977.
So hats off to my parents.
And I think it's a testamentto why we are still number one.
We are the leading tutoringand test prep company in the nation.
When speaking with thedifferent population sets.
So you said franchisees, yousaid the corporate colleagues, employees,
(12:02):
and you said students.
It's really understanding whatis the driver for those three buckets.
I'll call them.
So the franchisees, they comeinto a system because they want to
be able to provide ameaningful impact in their community.
(12:22):
They want to give back andthey also want to do well financially.
So we have a vision statementof world class student results and
franchisee profitability.
So when speaking with thatBucket, if you will.
Those franchisees, it's reallyensuring that they understand that
they are part of a largersystem, that there's a methodology,
a proven methodology that works.
(12:46):
And when that individualfollows that, they will do well financially.
So that mission is grounded inhelp the student who's in front of
you, make sure it's theHuntington program and you will do
well financially.
So that's to give everystudent the best education possible.
So you're not just, oh, here'sanother, I know this.
(13:08):
No, this is a very importantmoment for you.
You're speaking with a familywho's at a critical time.
And we need to ensure that wehave the highest ethical standards
to ensure that student doesachieve the best education possible.
So that's the first bucket.
From a colleague perspective,any meeting we have, it's always
(13:31):
about the mission to giveevery student the best education
possible.
So any decision that we aremaking has to be aligned with the
mission.
And that's how we really focuson that mission.
And it could be someone who'sbeen with the, the company for 33
years or who has been with thecompany for 30, 33 days or 20 days.
(13:53):
I, I just, I'm saying 33because I have a colleague who just
had her that anniversary andher birthday was yesterday too.
So that's why that number isin my head.
But everyone knows that wehave a really robust training program.
And be it a franchisee, acolleague, a, a part time, a teacher,
(14:13):
everyone understands that mission.
And the most important set isthe student.
The student needs to come andknow that they have come to the right
place.
They may have gone to our competitor.
They may never have been ableto really have the confidence to
believe in themselves.
(14:34):
And with that mission to givethe best education, they now know
that, okay, I'm at the rightplace, it's going to be okay.
And the cool part about whatwe do is we can help this student
who wants to get into the IvyLeague university.
We can also help the studentwho's trying to get out of special
education and into general edbecause it's all customized and individualized
(14:58):
to the student.
So regardless of where thatstudent is on their academic journey,
they are at the right place.
And that's the mission forthem, to give every student the best
education possible.
So that's how the mission istrue, regardless of what segment,
but it would be tailoreddepending on what the goals are for
(15:19):
that segment.
That's fantastic.
And you said a couple ofthings and I just absolutely love
that because front and center,putting that Mission forward.
And I truly believe that a lotof times companies write their mission
statement and what they're andtalk about what they want for their
mission and then they write itand then they put it in a book and
then they put it aside.
But when you make it front andcentered and people can live and
(15:41):
breathe it like what you'vecreated, like kudos to you and to
your parents for starting thatbecause that does create that longevity
and a culture and the peoplecan jump in like they really can
attach onto that and.
And for lack of better word,they're just part of this great journey
(16:03):
with you guys and part of that.
So you said each meeting youtalk about you have the mission and
you're focusing on.
Is that something that, like,do you not to make the comparisons
like the one thing that justcame to my brain, but almost like
the pledge of allegiance.
Do you start each meetingreading the mission or saying what
the mission is?
(16:23):
Some meetings, yes.
So we have, for example, everyweek we have a different lunch and
learn that's open to the whole community.
And every quarter we have ahello from Huntington where I'm speaking
to the system and othercolleagues are.
We always start that meetingwith our mission, our vision, and
(16:44):
our corporate goals.
We have three corporate goalsthere to improve profitability at
the center, increase unitcount and streamline business processes.
In those meetings, we have itfront and center on the PowerPoint.
If it's a management meeting,usually we do have a slide on that.
I'll kick off the meeting andground us in that.
(17:05):
We also not in every meeting,but I would say in the majority of
our meetings, we start with asuccess story in terms of here's
something that just happenedat a certain center just to ground
it, to remind us why we'redoing what we're doing.
No, I love that.
Sharing that success story.
Okay, so speaking ofsuccesses, a lot of times leadership
(17:28):
people talk about there'susually an aha moment that they had
that there was a turning pointwhere they went from maybe something
not so great to somethinglike, oh my God, here.
So what was your turning point?
Aha.
Trajectory moment when Irealized I couldn't.
Be the bull in the china shop.
And I realized that I had todo it my way and I needed the trust
(17:54):
from my parents.
So I was building out a newprogram and my.
I was reporting to my mom atthe time and she wanted it a very
particular way.
And I said, and I was tryingit and I was doing okay, but I wasn't
doing at the level I'm used to.
So I had to have a reallyfrank conversation with her and I
(18:16):
said, give me time, let me tryit my way.
If it doesn't work, I'll goback to your way.
And with that trust, I wasable to knock it out of the park.
I was able to show her look,there are a lot of different ways
to get to the same solution.
And when working, especiallywith parents, I'm their daughter,
(18:36):
right?
You can't change that.
Like my dad might say acomment that I'm just like, oh dad.
Like I don't call him dad atwork, I call him Ray.
But the reality is I am their daughter.
So how do you then step out ofthat and then show that look, I'm
also a colleague, I'm also aboard member and I'm an owner.
(18:56):
So how do I ensure that we'reall speaking the same way?
So that aha moment was reallywhen I was able to show myself and
Huntington at large who I am.
And again, I had all thebacking before Huntington, all the
success before that and allthe projects I do outside of Huntington.
(19:18):
So I really had to show whoAnn Huntington charmer was and why
I'm here and why am I leadingthe charge and why do you have belief
in me?
So it's that aha almostconfidence of I got this, I've been
trained for this and now letme go.
But don't be the ball in thechina shop per se.
(19:41):
One thing I wanted to ask youabout is you got 200 corporate employees
we were talking before andabout the longevity of the people
that had been been there withyou and mission I think is so important.
But how do you keep the thatculture going?
(20:02):
And that because that's soimportant and I.
And so I'm curious because Ithink that's a true insight that
you could share with ourlisteners because 200 employees with
the longevity, you don't seethat a lot today.
No.
And you know, so before COVIDSo we're coming up on our fifth year
(20:24):
anniversary in these postCovid times.
Before COVID we were inperson, very conservative, sometimes
wore jeans on a Friday, suit, tie.
And then now we are remote.
Right.
So five years into remote.
I don't believe any companyhas figured out what the blueprint
(20:45):
is for a remote culture tolive and breathe it fully.
But from our perspective, it'smaking sure that it's a zoom meeting
or a teams meeting, that we'represent, that there are different
check ins, that sometimes it'spicking up the phone and having it
via telephone versus doing azoom call.
(21:07):
It's also to haveopportunities to be in person, if
that's possible.
So we have regional meetings.
We have specific meetings forthe management team, some of which
are remote and some are in person.
We last this.
This year in February, westarted a whole new IT arm.
(21:29):
We have our regular ITdepartment, which is going through
a transformation with ourlegacy systems, and then leveraging
everything that's happening in AI.
We started a whole new ITdivision in February.
So we met in person to makesure that, okay, no one's met.
How do we ensure that we'reall align, that we all know why we're
(21:53):
doing this, who we are?
So it's having those touchpoints, regardless if you're in a
remote world or you're inperson, that you're building out
that sense of culture, thatsense of understanding that my job
is part of something larger.
And it's always going back to that.
In terms of marketing, it's grounding.
(22:14):
We just did a whole newmarketing campaign that's rolling
out, and it's stepping backand talking to the marketing folks
and saying, okay, we have toensure that this works, because this
is.
If a franchisee uses this,they are putting their dollars out
there, and they need to ensurestudents are seeing it.
So it's peeling back the onionto show that every single role works
(22:40):
to something larger, to agreater good.
So, again, being remote haschanged us over the past four, almost
five years.
And like I said, I don't thinkanyone has figured it out fully,
but we have a really strongfoundation and a strong understanding
in terms of what needs tohappen to ensure that our franchisees
(23:01):
are successful and ourstudents are successful.
No, that's.
Actually.
That's.
And I love what you just saidabout each role serves actually something
that's like the greater good.
There's.
Everybody has to grasp thatfrom everybody, from the.
Whether it's the person who'scleaning the offices all the way
up.
(23:21):
One of the things that wetalked a little bit about before,
before the start of thepodcast, education in the school
system, education that youguys have, and leadership.
What do you see?
Like, how do you see those twomeeting together?
I think one of the beautifulthings about Huntington, we've been
doing this for nearly five decades.
(23:42):
We've seen a lot of change,positive and maybe not so positive
within the whole education arena.
Where we see us being valueadd is really creating partnerships
with schools, nonprofits,organizations who need to help their
students.
And for the most part,everyone's a good person, right?
(24:06):
A teacher does not want thestudents to fail, per se.
You hope not.
But if a class size.
If a class size is 30 plus,that teacher needs to get through
certain curricula.
So that's where we can help.
And we can build out differentprograms for the schools, and we
(24:26):
have great success with that.
And we have a whole divisionthat's a public private partnership
division to really help bridgethe education gap that we know is
greater than ever coming outof COVID and families, parents specifically,
or whoever the caregiver is,has more transparency in terms of
(24:46):
what's actually happeningbecause they were able to see what
was happening or was nothappening during COVID From our perspective,
there have been a lot ofchanges over the decades.
And we can help.
We can help with the district,with the local charter school.
We can help with the nonprofit.
We're agnostic.
(25:07):
So our goal, and it soundscheesy, but our goal is to help every
student get the best educationpossible, however they come to us.
And I think probably somethingthat's important to that is to get
the best education possiblefor each of them because each student
is so different.
And I think that's something.
What you shared is that it's a customized.
(25:30):
It's customized.
And I think that's soimportant for students because you
might be a visual learner andI might be great at reading something,
but.
Or I might be a great visual.
I need the combination.
I still laugh remembering thescience teacher who drew the four
red hemaglu in the shoppingcart on the science board right when
(25:52):
I was a kid.
There you go.
So everybody learns differently.
And so to be able to have thatand to create that partnership is.
It's really fantastic.
And what are your challengesthat you're facing?
We're about to go into a new year.
So from a leadershipstandpoint, what's one.
What's the big challenge thatyou're facing in the year or that
you.
(26:13):
Time.
I need.
I need more time.
That's my biggest challenge.
And I don't know if anyone hasfigured that one out.
So time is the biggestchallenge from a corporate standpoint,
I think of it as more of anopportunity where how can we make
such an impact?
So we are a legacy company.
(26:35):
We're going throughtransformation across the board.
We are continuously investingfor the future, but it takes time
to roll out certain programs.
So one of the biggestchallenges is to ensure that all
the projects and initiativesthat we're working on are going to
(26:56):
roll out successfully.
They're going to have adoptionby the system that they're going
to show the same efficacy, ifnot better, in terms of student outcomes.
The biggest challenge rightnow is going through that transformation
and ensuring that we knock itout of the park.
(27:18):
And it's really.
It's a positive challenge.
And then on top of that, weneed more Huntington Learning Centers.
We need to help more students.
We need folks to open abusiness for themselves, but not
by themselves.
That's the mantra in franchising.
It's part of the Americandream to be a business owner.
(27:42):
And we are such a greatopportunity for that individual.
So another challenge is how dowe help folks see that Huntington
is an opportunity and helpthem open as quick and efficiently
and cost efficiently aspossible so they can make an impact
in their community.
(28:03):
That's.
That is really great.
And I just love what you're doing.
I love the Huntington Learning Center.
I love the fact that you'vehad this longevity.
And I do think that one of thethings that you had shared was to
go international.
Definitely see that.
Because it learning is wealways have to keep learning no matter
(28:24):
what our age is.
And it's like one of thosethings that I feel like we can't
tell our kids enough too.
Right.
We can't press upon thatenough and tell the audience how
they can connect with you,find you, get more of your wisdom,
maybe grab a franchise.
There you go.
So if someone's interested inreaching out to me, I'm Ann Huntington
(28:44):
Sharma.
I'm on link for HuntingtonLearning Center.
We can help your student ifyou're in K through 12 with tutoring
and test prep.
You can call us at 1-800-COINor you can visit our website, which
is huntingtonhelps.com ifyou're interested in a franchise,
it's huntingtonfranchise.comand we hope that we can help you
(29:04):
in wherever you are in your journey.
Oh, that is fantastic.
So thank you so much.
And I have to just share with everybody.
This is the UnstoppableLeadership Spotlight podcast.
We do hear from great, amazingleaders like Ann every week.
If you have a leadership storyjourney that you would like to share
(29:25):
or know somebody who is agreat leader with a great story,
Please go toleaptoyoursuccess.com podcast and
apply to be a guest and makesure you hit subscribe today on this
podcast so you can hear allabout and from all of these amazing
leaders every single week andbe unstoppable.
(29:46):
So I'm Jacqueline Stromingerand thank you for listening.
And I'm going to see if I can.
Okay.
Awesome.
Hello, everybody.
I am Jacqueline Strominger.
I am the host of theUnstoppable Leadership Spotlight
podcast.
And I'm so excited for ourguest today.
(01:18):
We have Ann Huntington Sharma,and she is the president of the Hunting
Huntington Learning Center.
And the name itself justbrings warms to my heart because
I think of Boston, but that'sa whole other scenario.
But I am so excited to haveyou on the show and to talk to you
about education, leadership,the whole nine yards.
(01:40):
Just to give you guys a littlebit of background.
Ann and I were talking beforehand.
So she is originally from New Jersey.
She is now on the west coastcoast and more towards the west in
South Dakota.
That's more of the middlecompany, more middle of the country.
And she is the president.
And this is a family startedas a family business, and you said
in 1977.
(02:01):
So this is fantastic.
And you have over 200corporate employees, and that's not
even to mention the franchisefolks that you have.
So welcome to the podcast.
I'm so glad to have you here.
Thank you, Jacqueline.
I'm really excited for this conversation.
Yes, I am.
And again, beforehand, we weretalking about, obviously, leadership,
(02:21):
education, and a whole bunchof other things as well.
But talk to me a little bitabout your journey into your leadership
position and how you got towhere you are.
Great question.
Huntington Learning center, asyou shared, is a family family business
started by Eileen and RayHuntington, who are my parents in
(02:41):
1977.
In terms of HuntingtonLearning center, it has always been
part of who I.
I bleed green, though.
That said, if you're a newfranchisee, you too bleed green because
you're part of Huntington fromthe national level.
And each of our locations areindependently owned and operated,
(03:02):
so we can create leaderswithin each center.
So back in 1977, nearly 50years ago, Ray and Eileen started
Huntington Learning Center.
And I like to say I'm centernumber 17, because when they weren't
opening locations, they had children.
I have a brother who's notinvolved with Huntington Learning
Center.
(03:22):
I decided to become part ofthe family business.
But my journey to where I amto running Huntington Learning center
was not a given.
Just because my maiden name isHuntington does not mean that gives
me a right to be the presidentof Huntington Learning Center.
So before joining Huntington,I had a career in a totally different
(03:46):
industry.
For a decade, I had a careerin the art industry, where I worked
at an auction house.
I started my own artcuratorial company.
And of course, within familybusinesses, there are Always conversations
about what's going on.
So even as a child, I knew whoall of the folks were.
(04:06):
I was actually a student at Huntington.
And then when I had my careerwithin art, I was very much involved
behind the scenes in terms ofwhat is happening at Huntington.
And my parents and I had avery frank conversation in terms
of what.
What is the future.
Are you interested in Huntington?
(04:26):
It is a family business.
Are you interested in getting involved?
At that point, my brother wasinvolved with the family business.
So I.
I jumped on board as aconsultant when we were going through
a rebranding initiative.
But anything I do, I dive deep.
So from there, I went throughour training program.
I started as a director.
I started getting out into thefield, visiting a franchi, figuring
(04:50):
out what the pulse of thesystem was, learning, seeing new
opportunities, building outnew departments, and taking a lot
of the skills that I hadlearned over that decade plus.
And of course, through myschooling, I applied that to Huntington.
And I've been with Huntingtonnow officially for over 10 years.
(05:10):
And I became HuntingtonLearning Center's president in 2019.
And even before I waspresident, my mantra to the system
was and still is, to protectand grow the company.
I'm the one of the custodiansof it, and that's my job.
Of course, when I becamepresident, we were getting ready
(05:32):
for 2020.
And at our convention, I didsay that mantra.
I said, it's protection and growth.
And 2020 is clear.
We all put on 3D glasses.
We all know it happened in 2020.
And that's when I reallyrevved up the whole protection aspect
of the brand.
And now that we're through theCOVID times, now we're in that growth
(05:54):
mode.
So my journey was not set in stone.
It was through different conversations.
And even when I became part ofHuntington, it was figuring out what's
right for the company, what'sright for our students, to ensure
that our mission continues togive every student the best education
possible and what'sappropriate for our franchise community.
(06:16):
Because.
And we are.
We right now are national.
Hopefully we becomeinternational at some point, but
we have to ensure that thefuture for Huntington is secure.
So my path brought me to whereI am today because of my.
My leadership strengths, mybackground, and my drive to really
(06:36):
make change, positive change.
That's purposeful, that's great.
It's such a great story.
There's a couple of thingsthat just were coming to my brain
as you were talking.
And it's almost like when you were.
When you first got there, youwere Actually, like the Undercover
Boss, you were, like, tryingto figure that out and.
And seeing what was good, the.
The good, the bad, and the ugly.
(06:57):
And so as you move up, one ofthe biggest things you often hear,
particularly in familybusinesses, is, and you said you
were not given this, you hadto earn the respect and the trust
of the people that were there.
So tell me, tell us a littlebit about how you did that besides
(07:19):
just going under and seeing me undercover.
Undercover, like being the undercover.
There you go.
There you go.
Though I look very similar toEileen and all of our.
Before we went through therebranding, our centers had an image
of me as a child, and I dolook very similar.
So I have to really change my appearance.
Nevertheless, when I started,I was a big bull in a china shop
(07:42):
because I wanted to makechange right away.
I was coming from the artindustry, which culturally was very
different than how Huntingtonwas set up.
So it was a learning curve for me.
I made a lot of peopleuncomfortable at first because we
had tenured folks who werehappy and full of pep and liked their
routine.
(08:03):
They liked knowing what theywere going to do it and how they
were going to do it and whenthey were going to do it.
They understood my parents.
They understood what made them tick.
They understood what theexpectations were.
And then here I came in and Iwas like, nope, this isn't going
to work.
It took me a few years toreally understand politics, if you
(08:25):
will.
I had to get something done.
And through.
Through time, I was able toreally prove out a lot of my hypothesis
in terms of people and processes.
But the key really was and isthat my parents and I, and when my
brother was part of it, hetoo, he decided to exit.
The company was to be alignedin terms of what are our goals as
(08:49):
owners and how are we going toachieve them.
And I, of course, had to learnreally quick that I can't really
make friends per se at workbecause it's.
Everyone is trying to figureout an angle.
And thankfully, that bull in achina shop, I learned as long as
(09:10):
we get to the outcome, itdoesn't matter how we get there.
It doesn't have to be my idea.
I need to surround myself withsmarter people who will achieve the
goals that need to be achieved.
It was a learning curve, andwe have some really great folks.
So I don't want it to soundlike I was trying to remove everyone.
(09:31):
We have some folks who havebeen with us for over 30 years.
We have some folks who justcelebrated a 25th anniversary.
Our 10 years old awesome.
In terms of the people who areon the team and the impact that they
have been able to achieve overthe years is really tremendous.
But it's a lot I had to figureout and navigate.
(09:53):
How do I make sure that wefocus on our mission?
Because every decision isbased off that mission.
To give every student the besteducation possible.
And how do I make sure thatwe're all marching in that direction
and make sure that folks knowI'm not my mom, I'm not my dad, I
am who I am.
(10:14):
And we have to work togetherin the way that we have to work together.
And that's not just mycorporate colleagues, it's the franchisees
have to understand that, okay,they bought into a system, they believe
that system and theyunderstand where their leadership
is going for the future.
Great.
So you said a lot of amazing things.
(10:35):
So I have so many questions orthat are just awesome.
I'm a firm believer and I feellike I talk about this all the time,
that leadership starts andit's something that you said, it
starts with mission.
Then you have to align withthe goals.
And so I feel like you'repreaching to the choir here.
(10:55):
But what I'm curious about isyou have to sets of, well, actually
three technically sets ofclients, right?
You've got your franchisepeople, right?
There's team members there,then you've got the corporate team
members and then you have yourstudents, right?
And so those are all threeseparate areas, but all team members
(11:15):
in different ways you want toput them.
So how do you communicate themission to all three of those segments,
into the segments and how dothey differ?
So the mission, regardless ofwho I'm speaking with, is the same.
It's to give every student thebest education possible.
And now it's trendy to have amission, right?
(11:37):
A mission driven company.
We are, we've been doing itsince 1977.
So hats off to my parents.
And I think it's a testamentto why we are still number one.
We are the leading tutoringand test prep company in the nation.
When speaking with thedifferent population sets.
So you said franchisees, yousaid the corporate colleagues, employees,
(12:02):
and you said students.
It's really understanding whatis the driver for those three buckets.
I'll call them.
So the franchisees, they comeinto a system because they want to
be able to provide ameaningful impact in their community.
(12:22):
They want to give back andthey also want to do well financially.
So we have a vision statementof world class student results and
franchisee profitability.
So when speaking with thatBucket, if you will.
Those franchisees, it's reallyensuring that they understand that
they are part of a largersystem, that there's a methodology,
a proven methodology that works.
(12:46):
And when that individualfollows that, they will do well financially.
So that mission is grounded inhelp the student who's in front of
you, make sure it's theHuntington program and you will do
well financially.
So that's to give everystudent the best education possible.
So you're not just, oh, here'sanother, I know this.
(13:08):
No, this is a very importantmoment for you.
You're speaking with a familywho's at a critical time.
And we need to ensure that wehave the highest ethical standards
to ensure that student doesachieve the best education possible.
So that's the first bucket.
From a colleague perspective,any meeting we have, it's always
(13:31):
about the mission to giveevery student the best education
possible.
So any decision that we aremaking has to be aligned with the
mission.
And that's how we really focuson that mission.
And it could be someone who'sbeen with the, the company for 33
years or who has been with thecompany for 30, 33 days or 20 days.
(13:53):
I, I just, I'm saying 33because I have a colleague who just
had her that anniversary andher birthday was yesterday too.
So that's why that number isin my head.
But everyone knows that wehave a really robust training program.
And be it a franchisee, acolleague, a, a part time, a teacher,
(14:13):
everyone understands that mission.
And the most important set isthe student.
The student needs to come andknow that they have come to the right
place.
They may have gone to our competitor.
They may never have been ableto really have the confidence to
believe in themselves.
(14:34):
And with that mission to givethe best education, they now know
that, okay, I'm at the rightplace, it's going to be okay.
And the cool part about whatwe do is we can help this student
who wants to get into the IvyLeague university.
We can also help the studentwho's trying to get out of special
education and into general edbecause it's all customized and individualized
(14:58):
to the student.
So regardless of where thatstudent is on their academic journey,
they are at the right place.
And that's the mission forthem, to give every student the best
education possible.
So that's how the mission istrue, regardless of what segment,
but it would be tailoreddepending on what the goals are for
(15:19):
that segment.
That's fantastic.
And you said a couple ofthings and I just absolutely love
that because front and center,putting that Mission forward.
And I truly believe that a lotof times companies write their mission
statement and what they're andtalk about what they want for their
mission and then they write itand then they put it in a book and
then they put it aside.
But when you make it front andcentered and people can live and
(15:41):
breathe it like what you'vecreated, like kudos to you and to
your parents for starting thatbecause that does create that longevity
and a culture and the peoplecan jump in like they really can
attach onto that and.
And for lack of better word,they're just part of this great journey
(16:03):
with you guys and part of that.
So you said each meeting youtalk about you have the mission and
you're focusing on.
Is that something that, like,do you not to make the comparisons
like the one thing that justcame to my brain, but almost like
the pledge of allegiance.
Do you start each meetingreading the mission or saying what
the mission is?
(16:23):
Some meetings, yes.
So we have, for example, everyweek we have a different lunch and
learn that's open to the whole community.
And every quarter we have ahello from Huntington where I'm speaking
to the system and othercolleagues are.
We always start that meetingwith our mission, our vision, and
(16:44):
our corporate goals.
We have three corporate goalsthere to improve profitability at
the center, increase unitcount and streamline business processes.
In those meetings, we have itfront and center on the PowerPoint.
If it's a management meeting,usually we do have a slide on that.
I'll kick off the meeting andground us in that.
(17:05):
We also not in every meeting,but I would say in the majority of
our meetings, we start with asuccess story in terms of here's
something that just happenedat a certain center just to ground
it, to remind us why we'redoing what we're doing.
No, I love that.
Sharing that success story.
Okay, so speaking ofsuccesses, a lot of times leadership
(17:28):
people talk about there'susually an aha moment that they had
that there was a turning pointwhere they went from maybe something
not so great to somethinglike, oh my God, here.
So what was your turning point?
Aha.
Trajectory moment when Irealized I couldn't.
Be the bull in the china shop.
And I realized that I had todo it my way and I needed the trust
(17:54):
from my parents.
So I was building out a newprogram and my.
I was reporting to my mom atthe time and she wanted it a very
particular way.
And I said, and I was tryingit and I was doing okay, but I wasn't
doing at the level I'm used to.
So I had to have a reallyfrank conversation with her and I
(18:16):
said, give me time, let me tryit my way.
If it doesn't work, I'll goback to your way.
And with that trust, I wasable to knock it out of the park.
I was able to show her look,there are a lot of different ways
to get to the same solution.
And when working, especiallywith parents, I'm their daughter,
(18:36):
right?
You can't change that.
Like my dad might say acomment that I'm just like, oh dad.
Like I don't call him dad atwork, I call him Ray.
But the reality is I am their daughter.
So how do you then step out ofthat and then show that look, I'm
also a colleague, I'm also aboard member and I'm an owner.
(18:56):
So how do I ensure that we'reall speaking the same way?
So that aha moment was reallywhen I was able to show myself and
Huntington at large who I am.
And again, I had all thebacking before Huntington, all the
success before that and allthe projects I do outside of Huntington.
(19:18):
So I really had to show whoAnn Huntington charmer was and why
I'm here and why am I leadingthe charge and why do you have belief
in me?
So it's that aha almostconfidence of I got this, I've been
trained for this and now letme go.
But don't be the ball in thechina shop per se.
(19:41):
One thing I wanted to ask youabout is you got 200 corporate employees
we were talking before andabout the longevity of the people
that had been been there withyou and mission I think is so important.
But how do you keep the thatculture going?
(20:02):
And that because that's soimportant and I.
And so I'm curious because Ithink that's a true insight that
you could share with ourlisteners because 200 employees with
the longevity, you don't seethat a lot today.
No.
And you know, so before COVIDSo we're coming up on our fifth year
(20:24):
anniversary in these postCovid times.
Before COVID we were inperson, very conservative, sometimes
wore jeans on a Friday, suit, tie.
And then now we are remote.
Right.
So five years into remote.
I don't believe any companyhas figured out what the blueprint
(20:45):
is for a remote culture tolive and breathe it fully.
But from our perspective, it'smaking sure that it's a zoom meeting
or a teams meeting, that we'represent, that there are different
check ins, that sometimes it'spicking up the phone and having it
via telephone versus doing azoom call.
(21:07):
It's also to haveopportunities to be in person, if
that's possible.
So we have regional meetings.
We have specific meetings forthe management team, some of which
are remote and some are in person.
We last this.
This year in February, westarted a whole new IT arm.
(21:29):
We have our regular ITdepartment, which is going through
a transformation with ourlegacy systems, and then leveraging
everything that's happening in AI.
We started a whole new ITdivision in February.
So we met in person to makesure that, okay, no one's met.
How do we ensure that we'reall align, that we all know why we're
(21:53):
doing this, who we are?
So it's having those touchpoints, regardless if you're in a
remote world or you're inperson, that you're building out
that sense of culture, thatsense of understanding that my job
is part of something larger.
And it's always going back to that.
In terms of marketing, it's grounding.
(22:14):
We just did a whole newmarketing campaign that's rolling
out, and it's stepping backand talking to the marketing folks
and saying, okay, we have toensure that this works, because this
is.
If a franchisee uses this,they are putting their dollars out
there, and they need to ensurestudents are seeing it.
So it's peeling back the onionto show that every single role works
(22:40):
to something larger, to agreater good.
So, again, being remote haschanged us over the past four, almost
five years.
And like I said, I don't thinkanyone has figured it out fully,
but we have a really strongfoundation and a strong understanding
in terms of what needs tohappen to ensure that our franchisees
(23:01):
are successful and ourstudents are successful.
No, that's.
Actually.
That's.
And I love what you just saidabout each role serves actually something
that's like the greater good.
There's.
Everybody has to grasp thatfrom everybody, from the.
Whether it's the person who'scleaning the offices all the way
up.
(23:21):
One of the things that wetalked a little bit about before,
before the start of thepodcast, education in the school
system, education that youguys have, and leadership.
What do you see?
Like, how do you see those twomeeting together?
I think one of the beautifulthings about Huntington, we've been
doing this for nearly five decades.
(23:42):
We've seen a lot of change,positive and maybe not so positive
within the whole education arena.
Where we see us being valueadd is really creating partnerships
with schools, nonprofits,organizations who need to help their
students.
And for the most part,everyone's a good person, right?
(24:06):
A teacher does not want thestudents to fail, per se.
You hope not.
But if a class size.
If a class size is 30 plus,that teacher needs to get through
certain curricula.
So that's where we can help.
And we can build out differentprograms for the schools, and we
(24:26):
have great success with that.
And we have a whole divisionthat's a public private partnership
division to really help bridgethe education gap that we know is
greater than ever coming outof COVID and families, parents specifically,
or whoever the caregiver is,has more transparency in terms of
(24:46):
what's actually happeningbecause they were able to see what
was happening or was nothappening during COVID From our perspective,
there have been a lot ofchanges over the decades.
And we can help.
We can help with the district,with the local charter school.
We can help with the nonprofit.
We're agnostic.
(25:07):
So our goal, and it soundscheesy, but our goal is to help every
student get the best educationpossible, however they come to us.
And I think probably somethingthat's important to that is to get
the best education possiblefor each of them because each student
is so different.
And I think that's something.
What you shared is that it's a customized.
(25:30):
It's customized.
And I think that's soimportant for students because you
might be a visual learner andI might be great at reading something,
but.
Or I might be a great visual.
I need the combination.
I still laugh remembering thescience teacher who drew the four
red hemaglu in the shoppingcart on the science board right when
(25:52):
I was a kid.
There you go.
So everybody learns differently.
And so to be able to have thatand to create that partnership is.
It's really fantastic.
And what are your challengesthat you're facing?
We're about to go into a new year.
So from a leadershipstandpoint, what's one.
What's the big challenge thatyou're facing in the year or that
you.
(26:13):
Time.
I need.
I need more time.
That's my biggest challenge.
And I don't know if anyone hasfigured that one out.
So time is the biggestchallenge from a corporate standpoint,
I think of it as more of anopportunity where how can we make
such an impact?
So we are a legacy company.
(26:35):
We're going throughtransformation across the board.
We are continuously investingfor the future, but it takes time
to roll out certain programs.
So one of the biggestchallenges is to ensure that all
the projects and initiativesthat we're working on are going to
(26:56):
roll out successfully.
They're going to have adoptionby the system that they're going
to show the same efficacy, ifnot better, in terms of student outcomes.
The biggest challenge rightnow is going through that transformation
and ensuring that we knock itout of the park.
(27:18):
And it's really.
It's a positive challenge.
And then on top of that, weneed more Huntington Learning Centers.
We need to help more students.
We need folks to open abusiness for themselves, but not
by themselves.
That's the mantra in franchising.
It's part of the Americandream to be a business owner.
(27:42):
And we are such a greatopportunity for that individual.
So another challenge is how dowe help folks see that Huntington
is an opportunity and helpthem open as quick and efficiently
and cost efficiently aspossible so they can make an impact
in their community.
(28:03):
That's.
That is really great.
And I just love what you're doing.
I love the Huntington Learning Center.
I love the fact that you'vehad this longevity.
And I do think that one of thethings that you had shared was to
go international.
Definitely see that.
Because it learning is wealways have to keep learning no matter
(28:24):
what our age is.
And it's like one of thosethings that I feel like we can't
tell our kids enough too.
Right.
We can't press upon thatenough and tell the audience how
they can connect with you,find you, get more of your wisdom,
maybe grab a franchise.
There you go.
So if someone's interested inreaching out to me, I'm Ann Huntington
(28:44):
Sharma.
I'm on link for HuntingtonLearning Center.
We can help your student ifyou're in K through 12 with tutoring
and test prep.
You can call us at 1-800-COINor you can visit our website, which
is huntingtonhelps.com ifyou're interested in a franchise,
it's huntingtonfranchise.comand we hope that we can help you
(29:04):
in wherever you are in your journey.
Oh, that is fantastic.
So thank you so much.
And I have to just share with everybody.
This is the UnstoppableLeadership Spotlight podcast.
We do hear from great, amazingleaders like Ann every week.
If you have a leadership storyjourney that you would like to share
(29:25):
or know somebody who is agreat leader with a great story,
Please go toleaptoyoursuccess.com podcast and
apply to be a guest and makesure you hit subscribe today on this
podcast so you can hear allabout and from all of these amazing
leaders every single week andbe unstoppable.
(29:46):
So I'm Jacqueline Stromingerand thank you for listening.
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