“As an owner you wear a lot of hats. Some of those hats fit great and some of them don”™t.”
So says Jeff Snyder, founder and chief inspiration officer of Inspira Marketing Group in Norwalk.
Business Journal contributor Brad Scheller recently sat down with Snyder for a conversation about building and leading his firm, which ranked 44th in the 2012 Inc 5000, an annual publication of the country”™s fastest-growing firms by revenue. Notably, Inspira was ranked as the second-fastest-growing firm in Connecticut and the eighth-fastest-growing advertising and marketing firm in the U.S.
The following are excerpts from the conversation.
Scheller:Â Â How did Inspira get its start?
Snyder: “I was very, very fortunate at a very young age in my career to stumble upon the world of what we call ”˜event and experiential marketing,”™ and really, I”™ve spent the last 20 years in the field itself working for two fantastic companies: GMR Marketing and RedPeg Marketing based in D.C. But I really wanted to do something a little bit different and take the risk and hang out my own shingle.”
Inspira is a great name, how did you choose it?
“Believe it or not, the name of the company, Inspira, comes from my daughter being an inspiration to me.”
How so?
“During my time with the second company, my two-year-old daughter was stricken with a spinal cord tumor ”“ just devastating, not a great prognosis, and we spent the last several years going through surgeries and chemotherapy treatments and different protocols and such. They told us initially to not expect five years. It”™s been 10. She just keeps fighting.”
How else has that experience tied into your business?
“Our mission, which is to help eventually find a cure for pediatric cancer, provides this energy or ability to band together with one another. We have a lot of respect for one another and will go out on a limb to help each other out.”
It sounds like this also drives your culture.Â
“Yes, I”™ve built an organization around culture. I know all organizations are somewhat bottom-line driven but we”™re in this from the experiential standpoint because we are a group that is all about igniting passion in consumers to fall in love with the brands that we represent.
“At the same time we”™re up here in FairfieldCounty and as you know, it”™s very difficult for people to work on a marketing salary. So by creating the culture where people are just excited and fired up to come to work provides different perks and benefits. We”™ve created this environment and culture where people like coming to work.”
How else do you go about motivating your teams?
“On the largest level we believe in overall transparency within the organization and just really allowing everyone to know the direction that we”™re headed. As a team we collectively share our goals and missions and then find the different ways that people can contribute…
“Our theme this year is based on a metaphor of taking a road trip together that ends in a really great place for all of us. We”™ve built this visual wall-board map where we show different stages of revenue and other things we want to accomplish like different cost-savings. Then we have a weekly caffeine meeting where we”™ll collectively meet and share the progress we are reaching. If we hit our goals, and we”™ve hit them for the last three years, we take the entire company on an all-expense paid trip to the Caribbean.”
How does your accountant feel about that?
“My accountant absolutely wants to strangle me. He says this could be the difference between an okay year and a good year, and I”™m like, ”˜It doesn”™t matter, trust me.”™ This is a reinvestment back into the business itself, and I have to tell you, in the grand scheme of things it is such a small investment that we make compared to the dividends that that pays. The great thing about it is when you”™re down in that type of environment you really get to know people outside of work. And when we come back from a trip like this, there”™s all the stories and inside jokes and people saying ”˜Do you remember this? Oh my God, look at the photo. Oh yeah, the coconut.”™ You know, that”™s just great.”
And that whole vibe carries over to the work?
“Absolutely. For example, someone might be up against it like, ”˜Oh my God, you won”™t believe this. Such and such just happened, and I now have thirty minutes to get five different things that need to get to a FedEx location in order to arrive by this certain time. There”™s no way I can do it.”™Â In old companies that I”™ve worked for before they would turn around and tell you, ”˜Wow it sucks to be you.”™
“Here, they”™re dropping everything. They”™re rallying around one another. They”™re collectively getting to it and making it happen. There”™s a frantic drive getting it on the last truck. As they exhale, they say ”˜Let”™s go grab a beer. Let”™s go get a bite,”™ and they”™re all then talking about it and it becomes a bonding time. And this is not orchestrated by me. I”™m not saying, ”˜Hey, you five stick around here.”™ I mean, they”™re doing this on their own.”
How do you maintain that culture in the face of your fast growth?
“It”™s funny because as we continue to grow, more and more of the staff are involved in the hiring and they”™re now saying ”˜You know what? I don”™t think this person is a fit.”™ They”™re starting to talk about what it means to be here and to be a part of our culture.”
How do you interview for that?
“We have a very strong, tight filter. But I have to tell you that is probably one of the biggest challenges that we have. Because on paper someone could look incredibly great and then even through the interview everyone”™s on their best behavior and everyone”™s saying the right points.”
What”™s the toughest part of being the top leader in the company?
“Always smiling.”
Even when you don”™t feel like it?
“Yes, even when I don”™t feel like it. As an independently owned and financed business I”™m personally guaranteeing anything and everything. That”™s a lot of stress and a lot to carry. But I think that people look up to me as a leader and they like the passion and energy that I exude in taking us to the next level. And, you know, frankly there are just some days that you”™re not feeling a hundred percent and you need to put that on in this type of role.”
How has your leadership style evolved over the years?
“In my last company we fell on some very hard times. Prior to the Internet bubble bursting we were predicting 20 to 30 percent growth and instead had a 50 percent loss. We probably didn”™t make some hard decisions fast enough and went through a lot of collateral damage of massive layoffs and total restructuring that really sucked the life out of the organization. So with that as learning behind me I”™ve become more conservative about not overextending ourselves. When I started the organization, I was renting everything. I was renting HR. I was renting accounting. I did not want to have to carry overhead.
“Given what took place I”™m better off by being a lot more conservative with everything. Start with getting the critical players and then only at a time when I feel that we”™ve reached a certain threshold to invest more. There are times when we are in meetings and I think, ”˜Wow, there are a lot of mortgages in this room. There are a lot of fathers in this room. There are a lot of people who are really relying on the success of this organization. And, Jeff, don”™t screw it up.”™”Â
If you had a chance to talk to other CEO entrepreneurs, what question would you most like to ask them?Â
“How are you doing it? We”™ve had a decent run but I don”™t really know how I”™m doing. I”™m figuring this out. We”™ve sort of just picked a path and gone with it. I love being a student, and I love learning. So I really would be interested in asking some CEOs of companies who are much more successful than we are, whether it”™s in our space or completely out of, to ask them about mistakes that they”™ve made, successes they”™ve had and different things that they”™ve done both positive and negative.”
Brad Scheller is an executive coach with Pivot Point Consulting Group in Wilton. He also facilitates peer-group advisory boards for CEOs committed to life-long learning and business growth. He can be reached at bscheller@executiveforums.com.
