What is culture? There are more definitions of culture than can be mentioned in this short article. At the Perry Richey Group, we like to think of culture as a company’s beliefs, values, and attitudes, and how those things influence the behavior of its employees. Around the office we find ourselves talking about operations in the theatrical terms of frontstage and backstage. Frontstage represents our “brand” (how we are perceived by our clients), and backstage represents our “culture” (how we connect and behave as a team). For example, when you sit in the audience of a Broadway play, you are viewing the frontstage. What you see is polished choreography, picture perfect lighting, and seamless set changes. The backstage view, however, would be a wildly different story. Just off stage in the wings, a flurry of non-stop activity ensues throughout the entire show as each member of the behind-the-scenes production team executes with precision and right on time. We believe in our business that a seamless frontstage experience for our audience-- our clients--is delivered by a well-executed backstage. It is for this reason that we strive to be especially focused on, and intentional about, our backstage, or culture.
In his book, Good to Great, Jim Collins talks about a culture of discipline. He says, “In a culture of discipline, people do not have jobs, they have responsibilities.” While it’s accurate that every one of our team members comes to work to make a living and support their families, it is also true that each one of us works hard every day because of our duty to serve our clients and their families. It is this sense of responsibility that ultimately drives every decision we make, from the investment platforms we select, to changes and enhancements of internal operations that happen in the background, right down to the educational opportunities and client events that we plan. When we tout discipline as one of our four core values, it is oftentimes manifested by the responsibility we bear for our clients.
So why does this matter to our clients, prospective clients, advocates, and centers of influence? Our team believes that culture is our biggest competitive advantage and most compelling service offering. Many businesses talk about their “culture,” but we live it. We are one big family inside the office and out. We eat lunch together almost daily and truly love spending time together. Clients consistently comment to me about how they can tell we all love what we do! It’s true--we love who we work for (our clients) and who we work with (our teammates). We appreciate this affirmation from our clients because we think it’s imperative to our success, and it’s also incredibly encouraging to have it recognized by those outside of our team. Culture matters, and it’s our goal to continually focus on it and cultivate it…for our clients’ benefit and ours.
Shawn M. Perry
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