Taking Care of Your People So They Can Take Care of You

Admin   |   14 February, 2015   |   531   |   3980

When I was a graduate student at The University of Texas, I spent a month in Washington, D.C., learning about the federal government and how it works. A couple of us in the program were given the incredible opportunity to visit the West Wing of the White House. James Baker, a fellow Texan and President Ronald Reagan’s Chief of Staff at the time, was our tour guide. The highlight, of course, was the Oval Office. While telling stories about President Reagan, Mr. Baker walked over to the President’s desk, opened a crystal jar and offered us some of his famous jelly beans. It was unforgettable, and so was a small brass plaque sitting next to the jar. It read, “There is no limit to what a man can do or where he can go if he doesn’t mind who gets the credit.”

To me, President Reagan was emphasizing that success is all about teamwork, about attracting and retaining the best people and giving them the recognition they deserve.

Today, Chris Chambless, my Co-Founder and our CMO; John Burke, our CIO; Laurie Rodriguez, our CFO, and I all have replicas of that brass plaque on our desks. From the very beginning we wanted to build a culture that would enable us to attract and retain the best talent. First, however, we had to decide what we wanted to focus on and what we were willing to say “no” to.  We had to narrowly target our limited startup capital and time. We kept repeating, “The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.”

At Ambit, we have three main things: our systems, our people and our standards.