April 5, 2012
Celebrating 15 Years – Partnering with a Powerful Project by Roger North with guest blogger Mara Creswell McGrann
April 1st marked North Group’s 15th Anniversary. I don’t know where the years have gone, but I do know I’m deeply grateful for the opportunity our firm has had to serve our clients through the years.
I remember our first two years in business. Beyond simple financial survival, our first milestone was to have enough cash flow to hire an assistant. We were fortunate. We reached that point in 18 months. We were also fortunate that a friend referred us to a lovely and very capable young woman, Mara Creswell McGrann. Mara served us extraordinarily well until leaving after several years for a very good reason, the birth of her first child.
Mara and John now have a lovely family of five. With all three children in school, Mara has taken on a new challenge – Executive Director of the Power Packs Project.
In recognition of our 15th anniversary, North Group is partnering with Power Packs Project. This high impact organization is working to eliminate weekend hunger for school children in our community. As our way of giving back, North Group is providing financial and volunteer support. We are excited about this new partnership and have asked Mara to contribute a guest blog today to share with you, the compelling mission of Power Packs Project and importance of supporting this worthy cause.
Guest Blogger Mara Creswell McGrann:
Thanks for this opportunity, Roger!
I’m thrilled to introduce Power Packs Project, a nutrition and education program that began seven years ago to address the weekend nutrition needs of children who rely primarily on the breakfast and lunch program at school. Many families struggle with impossible choices – to pay for electricity or buy food. This food insecurity becomes apparent on Monday mornings when children appear in school nurses' offices exhibiting secondary signs of hunger. You can imagine how hunger impacts a child’s ability to learn.
At Power Packs Project we live our mission every day: To partner with eligible families to provide food and nutritional education so that families are empowered and children thrive.
We serve over 650 families a week in five local school districts. We have a part-time staff of three and over 200 volunteers. The program has grown to serve 25% more families in the past year, and we are expanding through our Affiliate Program into communities around Lancaster County. This year we will offer our first summer program.
Please go here to get the “full story” about how we supply weekend food and combine it with a unique educational approach that has a long term benefit.
I’m so grateful to each of you who will join us in providing food for children…..and to North Group for giving me a great leadership start as their first employee!
Fifteen years ago I was casting about for a new career. A former customer gave me a tip: There's an opening with this new consulting firm. I knew nothing about Leadership Consulting, but thought Roger North and his business partner were extremely interesting and nice – and they had a fantastic vision.
As it turned out, this new organization (now North Group) was like none I’d ever been part of before. Part of me couldn't believe that a workplace like this really existed. I noticed that treating others as they wish to be treated, giving extraordinary service, asking good questions (and listening to the answers!) weren’t only principles to be shared with clients; they were practiced every day in our business. What I learned made a huge impact on me personally and professionally.
North Group's support of Power Packs Project (and of me as a leader) is very humbling. Now as I serve as Executive Director, I use my leadership lessons learned years ago from North Group. Whether I’m working with schools, church groups, families or businesses, I’m reminded that people and organizations are much more the same than they are different. And as Power Packs Project grows, I come back again and again to another leadership lesson – the core importance of our Mission, Vision and Values.
Thank you to everyone at North Group Consultants – I can’t wait to see what the next 15 years hold for us all!
A note to our readers: More detailed information will follow about what North Group is doing (and how you can join us) to partner with Mara and Power Packs to eliminate weekend hunger for school children in our community.
February 20, 2012
Culture Eats Strategy by Roger North
Did you ever shop at Genuardi’s? A wonderful family owned supermarket chain, Genuardi’s was Wegmans before Wegmans. It was Whole Foods before Whole Foods. Whatever happened to Genuardi’s anyway?
Founded in 1920 by Italian immigrants, Genuardi’s was in family hands for five decades. By 2000, this one time corner grocer had grown to 39 stores with a brand known for two things: upscale foods that competitors didn’t carry and hyper attentive customer service.
Genuardi’s had created something great, and it was noticed. Safeway, a west of the Mississippi grocery chain, purchased Genuardi’s from the founding family at the end of 2000 for $530 million. Then in a more recent transaction, Safeway sold 16 of the remaining 27 Genuardi’s stores to Giant Food Stores for $106 million.
What do we see in those numbers? In about 11 years of ownership, Safeway took a “best in class supermarket” and turned it into a “good in class supermarket” according to food marketing professor John Stanton of St. Joseph’s University.
Now, I have no particular bone to pick with Safeway. In fact, I know little about them. But as I read about these transactions, I can’t help but see evidence of one of my colleague’s favorite sayings: Culture eats strategy for lunch.
Genuardi’s was led by the same family for five decades. I think it’s safe to assume that the family had particular beliefs and practices that profoundly affected how they and their employees did business. Surely providing unique, fresh, attractively displayed foods chartered their culture. Even more surely, hyper attentive customer service did.
When Safeway took over they emphasized efficient, tight management of inventory and stores. And why wouldn’t they? That’s Safeway culture. But it wasn’t Genuardi’s. While the name remained on the stores, the brand commitment was gutted. The two companies’ cultures were just too different.
So what does all this public company stuff mean for you and me? I think it tells us (again) that culture matters. In fact, it matters in a big way: your company culture is quite likely the only competitive advantage your competition can’t duplicate.
By the way, did you notice how culture matters when it comes to money? Well, Safeway paid Genuardi’s $13.6 million per store. Price in the recent sale of stores to Giant? Only $6.6 million per store.
Culture eats strategy for lunch!
This article recently appeared as a guest post for the Lacher & Associates blog.
November 4, 2011
Two Leaders – Two Outcomes by Roger North
How can two leaders doing virtually the same tasks get such vastly different organizational results? I’ve been thinking about that question as I’ve observed two leaders lately.
There are many similarities. Both leaders work very hard. No questions about commitment or work ethic. Both communicate clearly and consistently. Communication does not appear to be the difference. Highly organized? Yes, for both.
But here’s the situation. When I walk into the first organization, I feel and see enthusiasm, energy and engagement. When I walk into the second organization, I feel and see hmm...I guess I would call it lethargy.
And, you probably don’t need me to tell you this. The first organization is growing…fast! The second organization is, well, unfortunately it is shrinking.
Does the feeling you get in each firm and the direction those firms are headed have anything to do with their leaders? Of course it does! So where does the difference lie?
Since our beginning in 1997, North Group has believed that “being comes before doing”. Put another way, who you are (as a leader) matters more than what you do.
My favorite example of this principle is President Ronald Reagan. Few would argue that Mr. Reagan was an intellectual or a policy “wonk”. Nor would we contend that he was a financial expert or even a great manager. Do you remember his nickname while in office? “The Great Communicator.”
Here’s my message. I don’t think it was actually about the words Mr. Reagan was communicating. Rather, it was that we believed Mr. Reagan. We actually thought that he believed his own words of optimism and hope for a bright future. We believed that Mr. Reagan’s heart was in his words. His “being” came before his “doing”.
Isn’t that what we ask of our leaders? Sincerity, authenticity, belief? When our leaders are “being” people – essentially those who consistently elevate the interests of others above their own – organizations (even countries) thrive. When we don’t believe in our leaders’ intentions? Well, lethargy, atrophy, poor morale…
What we believe about our leaders matters. Who our leaders are matters. Being comes before doing. Are you a “being” leader?
We welcome your comments at blog@northgroupconsultants.com.
July 20, 2011
The Weight of the Job by Roger North
Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is a golfer now. Yeah, she’s a Stanford professor and a best selling author in waiting. But I am most interested in her conversion to golf. She has a history as an achiever, including as an accomplished pianist and tennis player, so naturally she is turning to the hardest sport of all.
A recent issue of Golf Digest featured an interview with the former Secretary. One of her many thoughtful responses really grabbed my attention. She was asked if she would ever tee it up with President Obama, himself an avid golfer. Her response? “Oh sure, absolutely. I know what it’s like for him. People have absolutely no idea how pressurized those jobs are. You never, ever feel any release from it. You get up in the morning feeling the weight of the job, and you go to bed at night feeling the weight of the job.”
Wow! What a terrific description of what it feels like to be a leader. I identified with Secretary Rice’s comment about the pressure of being a leader. Now don’t get me wrong, I’ve never held the future of the free world in my hands. But I function most of the time as a leader. I’ve felt the weight of those responsibilities as I’ve gone to bed at night and as I’ve awakened in the morning. You’re familiar with that feeling, aren’t you?
Secretary Rice goes on to say: “I remember so well, a few days after I’d left government, waking up and thinking, what’s that? Oh, it’s the absence of pressure! So, anything President Obama can do, whether it is shooting hoops or going out and hitting golf balls, I hope he does it.”
What about you? How do you take care of yourself? How do you relieve the pressures of leadership? I would go as far as to say that you owe it to those you lead to find ways to get away from the pressures of leadership. Why? Because leaders need to lead from a place of wholeness. A place where they can consistently place the interests of their organizations, employees and clients ahead of their own. It takes a whole person to do that consistently well. To take care of others, you must take care of yourself.
Me? I’m trying to get Secretary Rice on the phone to see if she can make a 1:00 tee time on Friday.
We welcome your comments at blog@northgroupconsultants.com.
