A young chef finds her passion for cooking again, a factory worker's marriage improves because he's talking more with his wife, and an owner regains her energy and love for business as she finds a renewed purpose and a vision for her company.
These are a few of the stories I heard while interviewing the gang at Zingerman's for the first few episodes of the Inspired and Intentional business podcast.
This episode is going to be a brief overview of the top lessons learned and to also point out a few resources I've learned of while getting this podcast going.
Lessons:
1. There's an art to this whole culture thing. To creating and thinking about organizational development. Really thinking through how your people, customers, suppliers and community experience your company. Are you adding benefits beyond pay, product/services and taxes? Why should you?
2. People will make up stories in a vacuum. Fill in the holes with truth, openness, and authenticity. Work through what they need to know by putting yourself in their shoes and thinking through what they worry about. What questions will they ask you?
This really goes beyond the simple issue of being open during a crisis. This vacuum is filled day by day via the building of trust within the team. You can't be open in a crisis and expect people to believe you, you have to open all the time. During the good and the bad.
This topic came up during the discussion of numbers, salaries, profits and what the owners are making, and why certain decisions are made. If they don't understand numbers and how a company makes a profit and generates cash...on a daily basis, they will make up stories about where all that money is going. (Probably to the government and the bank! : )
3. Collaboration and consensus doesn't mean you have to agree all the time and always see eye-to-eye on all decisions. Collaboration does need the parties involved to share values and vision. It also doesn't mean that every decision has to be by consensus or by democratic vote. Just be clear on how the decisions are being made and who's involved in the process.
4. Systems help employees consistently perform their best when they otherwise don't feel like it.
5. Dissent - come up with ways to encourage it. There's the "what's working/not working" meeting or the open forum method.
6. Create a system for change. Some call it Kaizen and some continuous improvement. Zingerman's calls it Bottom Line Change.
7. The importance of a vision. So many of the issues brought up would come down to vision. Do your systems support you vision? Do you HR practices support the vision? People are engaged when they're clear on the vision, take part in creating it, and understand the role they play in making that vision a reality.
Clarity, communication, and consistency are the 3 "C" words I would use when working with my vision.
Resources
Classes - Books - Tours - Certifications
B-Corp - from their website - "B Corps are for-profit companies certified by the nonprofit B Lab to meet rigorous standards of social and environmental performance, accountability, and transparency."
BW Leadership Institute - a Barry Wehmiller company
Everybody Matters Book by Bob Chapman
Great Game of Business - business coaching, classes, free resources
Hitachi Foundation - Good Companies at Work
Holocracy - A complete system for self organization
ZingTrain (Books, DVDs, classes, and free resources like essays and webinars.)
News Feeds and Blogs
Forbes - Bill Fotsch and John Case - They write We write about economic transparency and open-book management
Huffington Post - Impact News Feed - good news in the world of business and volunteers
Huffington Post - What's Working Purpose+Profit - News Feed
Truly Human Leadership - Barry Wehmiller blog written by Bob Chapman, their CEO. This also ties into their podcast, Everybody Matters. They claim to be transforming lives through people-centric leadership.
Talks - Webinars - Podcasts
TED Talk's Social Good, Inc - ways companies are contributing to the greater good.
TED Talk - Barry Schwartz - How we think about work is broken
TED Talk - Ricardo Semler - How to run a company with (almost) no rules
Businesses that seem to be running well.
Amy's Ice Cream
Barry Wehmiller - Building a better world through business.
SRC Holdings - The remanufacturing company that started it all - The Great Game of Business anyway.
Tasty Catering - Illinois catering company that has successfully changed the way they do business.
Zingermans Community of Businesses
I would love to see your answers at one of the many Inspired and Intentional outlets:
You can find show notes, the questions, at http://inspiredandintentional.com/tweener1 . While there you can also sign up to be kept up to date on the latest podcasts and happenings in the world of Inspired and Intentional business news.
I can also be reached on Twitter @ToddAReed, on LinkedIn at LinkedIn.com/in/toddareed, and on Facebook, search for inspired and intentional.
https://twitter.com/ToddAReed
https://www.linkedin.com/in/toddareed
https://www.facebook.com/Inspired-and-Intentional-1658283491074728/
One last favor, reviews and ratings really help other leaders looking for a podcast to inspire them. Please take a moment to review this podcast on iTunes or stitcher.
Thank you for listening and join us next week as continue our conversation with Matthew Bodary from Zingerman’s Coffee Company. Until next week, be inspired and intentional.
The inspired and intentional business podcast is copyright 2016 by it’s owner. The music is Funk Game Loop, Kevin MacLeod Royalty Free from Incompatech. Thank you for sharing your talent.
I review the Zingerman's Guide to Great Service book. It's small and a fast read full of great information on how to look at your customer service.
Find details at http://inspiredandintentional.com/toddreeds1
Please let me know what you think of this in the comments below, or on one of the Inspired social outlets, Twitter @ToddAReed, on LinkedIn at LinkedIn.com/in/toddareed, and on Facebook, search for inspired and intentional.
Gallup says 70% of US employees are disengaged from their work. This causes, what Ari Weinzweig calls an energy crisis in the workplace. Lost innovation, productivity and profits. Not to mention the tolls on the communities.
There are companies and organizations working to improve this. they are creating more open and collaborative work environments. They are realizing that treating people with dignity and providing meaningful work can be done while also running a financially solid organization.
My hope with this podcast is to inspired leaders to make intentional choices to balance profit and social impact.
Welcome to the inspired and intentional podcast, I’m your host, Todd Reed. I would like to thank all those who have reviewed the podcast.
Today will be the first part of our series with Matthew Bodary, Zingerman’s Coffee Company Account Manager. This first part is a slight departure from the other episodes in that this is more of a personal story of a young man at the beginning of his career journey. He is an employee of a Zingerman’s company and not a managing partner like the previous episodes.
After recording this episode, I thought I would cut most of this first part and give you a brief synopsis. However, upon further listening I was convinced that I wanted to share his telling and version of the story because it gives insight into him and his view of Zingerman’s more clearly than I could. I also felt a tad like this episode channels a little of Studs Terkel.
Here are the questions for this week’s episode:
1. When new employees start working at working at your company, do they believe they’ve stumbled upon something special?
2. Great Food. Great Service. Great Finance. The 3 Bottom Lines of Zingermans. Is the “main focus” of your business this clear to your employees?
3. Do you have an opportunity for your people to grow within your current organization or by creating a new opportunity that supports your current business?
I would love to see your answers at one of the many Inspired and Intentional outlets:
You can find show notes, the questions, at inspiredandintentional.com/episode10. While there you can also sign up to be kept up to date on the latest podcasts and happenings in the world of Inspired and Intentional business news.
I can also be reached on Twitter @ToddAReed, on LinkedIn at LinkedIn.com/in/toddareed, and on Facebook, search for inspired and intentional.
You can get hold of Matthew by emailing him at mbodary@zingermans.com.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/toddareed
https://www.facebook.com/Inspired-and-Intentional-1658283491074728/
One last favor, reviews and ratings really help other leaders looking for a podcast to inspire them. Please take a moment to review this podcast on iTunes or stitcher.
Thank you for listening and until next week, be inspired and intentional.
The inspired and intentional business podcast is copyright 2015 by it’s owner. The music is Funk Game Loop, Kevin MacLeod Royalty Free from Incompatech. Thank you for sharing your talent.
Join me for the 3rd part of my conversation with Amy Emberling, Managing Partner of Zingerman’s Bakchouse and Candy Manufactory. This week we’ll talk about:
Entrepreneurship and Innovation
A process for nurturing change within your organization
Succession planning and what keeps Amy inspired to keep improving
Here are the questions for this week’s episode:
Throughout the process, people will challenge it to see if it fits the vision of the company and business unit.
3. What inspires you to keep improving? Or, are you inspired to keep improving or innovating. She talked about new ideas just coming to her all the time. Do you have that? If not, how can you re-engergize that within yourself?
4. Have you consider succession planning and the future of your organization? How can you continue the vision?
I would love to see your answers at one of the many Inspired and Intentional outlets:
You can find show notes, the questions, at inspiredandintentional.com/episode009. While there you can also sign up to be kept up to date on the latest podcasts and happenings in the world of Inspired and Intentional business news.
I can also be reached on Twitter @ToddAReed, on LinkedIn at LinkedIn.com/in/toddareed, and on Facebook, search for inspired and intentional.
You can get hold of Amy by emailing her at aemberling@zingermans.com or by calling the bakery at 734-761-7255.
Martin Seligman - http://www.amazon.com/Flourish-Visionary-Understanding-Happiness-Well-being/dp/1439190763
https://www.linkedin.com/in/toddareed
https://www.facebook.com/Inspired-and-Intentional-1658283491074728/
One last favor, reviews and ratings really help other leaders looking for a podcast to inspire them. Please take a moment to review this podcast on iTunes or stitcher. There are links from my website to help you do this.
Thank you for listening and until next week, be inspired and intentional.
Join me for the 2nd part of my conversation with Amy Emberling, Managing Partner of Zingerman’s Bakchouse and Candy Manufactory. This week we’ll talk about:
Training systems
Culture and pulling dissenting opinions to make the team stronger.
Having the difficult conversations.
Keeping excitement and focus for a long term vision.
Here are the questions for this week’s episode:
4. Keeping the momentum up for a long term vision. How can you break down your vision into smaller bite size pieces to keep the momentum and focus on the long-term goals?
I would love to see your answers at one of the many Inspired and Intentional outlets:
You can find show notes, the questions, at inspiredandintentional.com/episode008. While there you can also sign up to be kept up to date on the latest podcasts and happenings in the world of Inspired and Intentional business news.
I can also be reached on Twitter @ToddAReed, on LinkedIn at LinkedIn.com/in/toddareed, and on Facebook, search for inspired and intentional.
You can get hold of Amy by emailing her at aemberling@zingermans.com.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/toddareed
https://www.facebook.com/Inspired-and-Intentional-1658283491074728/
One last favor, reviews and ratings really help other leaders looking for a podcast to inspire them. Please take a moment to review this podcast on iTunes or stitcher. There are links from my website to help you do this.
Next week we’ll continue our talk with Amy Emberling. She’ll cover entrepreneurship vs innovation, a process for organizational change and introduce me to Pavlova.
Thank you for listening and until next week, be inspired and intentional.
The inspired and intentional business podcast is copyright 2015 by it’s owner. The music is Funk Game Loop, Kevin MacLeod Royalty Free from Incompatech. Thank you for sharing your talent.
Amy Emberling, Managing Partner of Zingerman’s Bakehousend, has been an avid food lover and baker since her childhood in Nova Scotia, Canada where she often treated friends to after-school concoctions. She grew up in a family business and always hoped to have her own business one day.
In addition to her work at the Bakehouse, Amy also teaches seminars for ZingTrain in two
seminars: Leading with Zing and Bottom Line Training. She is also one of the partners of
Zingerman’s Candy Manufactory (with Charlie Frank), which was developed in the bakery.
In this episode we talk a bit about:
Episode 7 Questions
I would love to see your answers at one of the many Inspired and Intentional outlets:
You can find show notes, the questions, at inspiredandintentional.com/episode007. While there you can also sign up to be kept up to date on the latest podcasts and happenings in the world of Inspired and Intentional business news.
I can also be reached on Twitter @ToddAReed, on LinkedIn at LinkedIn.com/in/toddareed, and on Facebook, search for inspired and intentional.
You can get hold of Amy by emailing her at aemberling@zingermans.com.
https://twitter.com/ToddAReed
https://www.linkedin.com/in/toddareed
https://www.facebook.com/Inspired-and-Intentional-1658283491074728/
One last favor, reviews and ratings really help other leaders looking for a podcast to inspire them. Please take a moment to review this podcast on iTunes or stitcher. There are links from my website to help you do this.
Next week we’ll continue our talk with Amy Emberling. She’ll cover issues like training systems, getting dissenting opinions to bubble up in your team, and having those difficult employee conversations.
Thank you for listening and until next week, be inspired and intentional.
The inspired and intentional business podcast is copyright 2015 by it’s owner. The music is Funk Game Loop, Kevin MacLeod Royalty Free from Incompatech. Thank you for sharing your talent.
Last episode maggie talked about Zingerman’s managing partner program and the role of Zingtrain. This week we’ll talk about business systems, staying motivated as an owner and the future of Zingtrain.
When the interview begins, she’s telling us one of the reasons why someone decides to take a ZingTrain class, which very quickly moves into the conversation about systems.
2. What energized you most when you started your business? Have you lost touch with that energy? What would it take for you to get back in touch with it? How could this help your employees be more excited about the work they’re doing?
3. Do you want your business to go beyond you? What would it take to make this happen in your business? If you have potential leaders in your business, could you sit with them to create a vision of succession that would get them and you excited about the future of your business?
I would love to see your answers at one of the many Inspired and Intentional outlets:
You can find show notes, the questions, at inspiredandintentional.com/episode006. While there you can also sign up to be kept up to date on the latest podcasts and happenings in the world of Inspired and Intentional business news.
I can also be reached on Twitter @ToddAReed, on LinkedIn at LinkedIn.com/in/toddareed, and on Facebook, search for inspired and intentional.
You can get hold of Maggie by emailing her at mbayless@zingermans.com.
https://twitter.com/ToddAReed
https://www.linkedin.com/in/toddareed
https://www.facebook.com/Inspired-and-Intentional-1658283491074728/
One last favor, reviews and ratings really help other leaders looking for a podcast to inspire them. Please take a moment to review this podcast on iTunes or stitcher. There are links from my website to help you do this.
Next week we’ll talk with Amy Emberling of Zingerman’s Bakehouse.
Thank you for listening and until next week, be inspired and intentional.
The inspired and intentional business podcast is copyright 2015 by it’s owner. The music is Funk Game Loop, Kevin MacLeod Royalty Free from Incompatech. Thank you for sharing your talent.
Cliff Hanger!!! Next week, in our final episode with maggie, we’ll learn how to keep your systems from creating too much corporate bureaucracy.
But for this episode here are three questions for you to consider:
1. The managing partner program - what are you succession plans? I really like how they looked outside of the concept of the deli to create opportunities for advancement. Did you get any new ideas on ways to open opportunities for potential leaders in your organization?
2. Maggie talks about potential managing partners having a vision for where they want the business to be in a certain time period. It got me to thinking - do I have a vision for the business I’m currently in? Do I have one for the podcast? What kind of vision do you have for your business?
3. What could you learn from taking a class from someone like ZingTrain? I took their class while working at a Fortune 500 electrical/comm data wholesaler and learned tons that we could apply…or adapt for our business. I would encourage you to look them up. (I’m not making anything from this.)
I would love to see your answers at one of the many Inspired and Intentional outlets:
You can find show notes, the questions, at inspiredandintentional.com/episode005. While there you can also sign up to be kept up to date on the latest podcasts and happenings in the world of Inspired and Intentional business news.
I can also be reached on Twitter @ToddAReed, on LinkedIn at LinkedIn.com/in/toddareed, and on Facebook, search for inspired and intentional.
You can get hold of Maggie by emailing her at mbayless@zingermans.com.
https://twitter.com/ToddAReed
https://www.linkedin.com/in/toddareed
https://www.facebook.com/Inspired-and-Intentional-1658283491074728/
One last favor, reviews and ratings really help other leaders looking for a podcast to inspire them. Please take a moment to review this podcast on iTunes or stitcher. There are links from my website to help you do this.
Thank you for the reviews from Jay, Kristy and Anthony Witt, creator of The Champion Entrepreneur - http://tcepodcast.com
Thank you for listening and until next week, be inspired and intentional.
The inspired and intentional business podcast is copyright 2015 by it’s owner. The music is Funk Game Loop, Kevin MacLeod Royalty Free from Incompatech. Thank you for sharing your talent.
In this episode we learn a little about Maggie and her views on why Zingerman’s was such an attractive option for her. We also hear her views on consensus decision making.
Three questions for you to consider:
1. Maggie talked about believing, as she grew up, that business was inherently a bad thing. What attitudes about work and the workplace does your team bring into the decision making process?
2. Maggie says, “the leadership determines the culture of the organization.” What elements of the culture, in your organization, reflect this principle? Do these elements hurt or help the organization meets it’s goals?
3. What are 3 areas of your business would benefit from more consensus? I would challenge you to find some that would benefit from getting consensus from the most entry level people you have.
I would love to see your answers at one of the many Inspired and Intentional outlets:
You can find show notes, the questions, at inspiredandintentional.com/episode004. While there you can also sign up to be kept up to date on the latest podcasts and happenings in the world of Inspired and Intentional business news.
I can also be reached on Twitter @ToddAReed, on LinkedIn at LinkedIn.com/in/toddareed, and on Facebook, search for inspired and intentional.
You can get hold of Maggie by emailing her at mbayless@zingermans.com.
https://twitter.com/ToddAReed
https://www.linkedin.com/in/toddareed
https://www.facebook.com/Inspired-and-Intentional-1658283491074728/
One last favor, reviews and ratings really help other leaders looking for a podcast to inspire them. Please take a moment to review this podcast on iTunes or stitcher. There are links from my website to help you do this.
Next week we’ll get a little insight to Zingerman’s process for developing new managing partners as a way to create opportunities for their emerging leaders.
Thank you for listening and until next week, be inspired and intentional.
The inspired and intentional business podcast is copyright 2015 by it’s owner. The music is Funk Game Loop, Kevin MacLeod Royalty Free from Incompatech. Thank you for sharing your talent.
This is the third of three episodes with Ari Weinzwieg, co-founding partner of the Zingerman’s community of businesses. Last week he talked about the 3Cs of organizational design. This week he’ll cover collaboration and support.
The four questions
1. Is fear holding you back from sharing more information with your team, suppliers, and customers? Could your organization benefit from being more open?
2. He talked about collaborative decision making. What are some small steps you could take to begin incorporating more collaboration into the leadership of your company? What people could bring different insight to the decisions you’re trying to make?
3. Along those lines of collaboration - he talked about how Paul and He rarely see eye to eye, but what they do share are values and vision. Is your team on the same page around values and vision?
4. Do you have a community of like minded leaders to support you in your journey? Remember, you are not alone in wanting to create a more engaged, collaborative, and open work place.
You can get hold of Ari by emailing him at ari@zingermans.com. You can find show notes, the questions, at http://inspiredandintentional.com/episode003. There you can also sign up to be kept up to date on the latest podcasts and happenings in the world of Inspired and Intentional business news.
One last favor, reviews and ratings really help other leaders looking for a podcast to inspire them. Please take a moment to review this podcast on iTunes or stitcher. There are links from my website to help you do this.
Next week, I start a 3 part series with Maggie Bayless, managing partner of ZingTrain. My time with her will cover topics like consensus (trend), creating new opportunities for your growing people, and the importance of systems. Until then, be inspired and intentional.
The inspired and intentional business podcast is copyright 2015 by it’s owner. The music is Funk Game Loop, Kevin MacLeod Royalty Free from Incomptech. Thank you for sharing your talent.
In part 2, Ari shares his thoughts on comparing organizational design to graphic design using the 3 Cs. Content. Composition. Contrast. And the importance of undertaking them in the right order.
First of 3 episodes featuring Ari Weinzweig, Co-Founding partner of Zingerman's Deli. He shares about openness in business and how to engage your team by tapping into their natural desire to learn, improve and be around good people working toward a shared vision
Todd A Reed, creator of the Inspired and Intentional business podcast introduces himself and purpose of this adventure. He covers what's inspired him, like Open Book Management, Jack Stack, Ari Weinzweig, Zingermans, Zappos and others.