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Join NABR in partnership with Corp! Magazine for our CEO & Executive Thought Leadership Series, where Jennifer Kluge sits down with C-Suite Leaders to get their insight and expertise.
NABR is a service organization igniting greatness in companies and their people.
00;00;00;05 - 00;00;12;05
Jennifer
Hello everyone, and welcome to another CEO LinkedIn live. Today I have a fantastic guest. I'm so excited. Jim. Emme. Welcome, Jim.
00;00;12;09 - 00;00;14;18
Jim
Hi, Jennifer. Glad to be here.
00;00;14;21 - 00;00;41;26
Jennifer
Let me tell everyone about you. And you can correct me at the end of this intro. If I missed anything important. But Jim is the president and CEO Now Health Group. They are the parent company to Now Foods, a leading wholesale manufacturer, distributor of dietary supplements, natural foods and natural personal care products. And I happen to have a few of you with me today.
00;00;41;28 - 00;01;03;20
Jennifer
Okay, let me get this. Here's my vitamin C. Here is some of my I have what I call my. My bed is smell good. And in my bag I have lemon. And these are essential oils and lime limes. My favorite. So I have been using your product for years, but it's wonderful to have you with us and I.
00;01;03;22 - 00;01;20;16
Jennifer
I know you started as a plant manager. You have been a best and brightest winner for over 15 years, both at the national level and at the local level there in Chicago, you've been an elite winner, scoring at the top, and it's just so wonderful to have you with us today. Jim.
00;01;20;18 - 00;01;44;24
Jim
Well, thank you for the opportunity, Jennifer. And, you know, it's very humbling as a company to get this type of recognition and, you know, I have town halls every year. It's been a little challenging the last couple of years. But I was very own remote efforts. But this year I'm hitting the road again, and we've got 1800 team members in North America, including a 300 in Canada.
00;01;44;27 - 00;02;13;12
Jim
And, you know, one of the messages that I share and we do share this award to our Canadian colleagues and to let them know is that this this award isn't really about our company. It's not really definitely not about me, but it's about our people. It's their award. It's their award. They're the ones who participate. They're the ones who give us the feedback that we're always grateful for, and they're the ones who create the opportunity for us to succeed as a company.
00;02;13;14 - 00;02;38;03
Jennifer
And as this spoken like the leaders of the best and brightest companies, where it starts top down. So I know it is part of the culture and part of the people, but it comes from leadership too. So thank you so much for joining us now. We were chatting a little bit and one of your products went viral. So tell us a little bit about that and tell us a little bit about what you would recommend for people.
00;02;38;07 - 00;02;48;24
Jennifer
You know there's a lot of sickness going around now. Tell us what you would recommend. And I know you're not a doctor, but give it the feel. Give us, give us the skinny on it, so to speak.
00;02;48;25 - 00;03;11;20
Jim
Well, I have to do the official disclaimer, Jennifer, very quickly that, you know, our products aren't magic bullets. Unfortunately, there are those in the natural products industry that promote things more than they should. But we believe that a healthy lifestyle is what our mission is, and our mission is to provide value and products and services that empower people to live healthier lives.
00;03;11;23 - 00;03;33;16
Jim
Really, we're about helping people meet their personal goals. The and we believe the three legs of that stool, if you will. Our number one good nutrition. You know we are what we make the biggest difference exercise. Even if it's just walking around and getting up and moving from your desk or from your work area or at home, that that makes a difference.
00;03;33;16 - 00;03;55;24
Jim
And the third is if you can use supplements or personal natural products to augment your true nutritional needs. That's where we come in personally. You know, the big sellers in the last two years really has anything to do with immunity. Your vitamin C, 1000mg a chapter. Jennifer, thank you for the plug. But that was that's been a staple for decades.
00;03;55;26 - 00;04;23;16
Jim
Who would have thought that that would be one of the top selling supplement products throughout the world? From to 2020 through early 2022. And low cost and very effective antioxidant. That's what it is. Personally, my go tos are really around antioxidants club health also regarding workouts past 60. So I still try to remain active, but it takes a while for me to recover from workouts.
00;04;23;19 - 00;04;39;19
Jim
So that one is going to me. And I like glutamine. Personally, I find it helps me with recovery and soreness. It certainly doesn't fix it all, but that makes it a little easier. I take whole enzyme Q10 as an antioxidant. I take.
00;04;39;22 - 00;04;40;07
Jennifer
One.
00;04;40;10 - 00;05;01;26
Jim
I take and you know what? It's a major go to for cardiologists around the world. And you can read up on that online from some reputable sources. Another one I take is an omega three to get EPA and essential fatty acids. It's a good approach to that in blood health and supports that. And I also take a multiple vitamin.
00;05;01;26 - 00;05;18;25
Jim
You can't bypass that either. And I, I take a glucosamine product that helps with, some onset of arthritis. But you know, along with a good stretching and such that, you know, they all go together again, the three things. Well, those are some of my go tos.
00;05;18;27 - 00;05;43;15
Jennifer
Well, wellness decision is huge right now in many, many respects. And I have my personal theories for for why. And we do the best and brightest and wellness, which you've been a winner of for several years as well. So much is going on in the wellness industry. There's mental health, there's physical health, there's a financial health. And it's been a very fast changing industry.
00;05;43;17 - 00;06;09;03
Jennifer
How have you shifted your your operations in this industry? What's changed and what have you had to adapt or adapt to quickly? And I know you just said that one of your vitamins went viral because the celebrity took them. So I would imagine that would create a little chaos and chain with supply chain and what have you. So so how have you navigated all the shifts in this industry?
00;06;09;05 - 00;06;36;15
Jim
Gosh, do we have another 50 minutes? No, I you know, really we we have used a phrase that our vice president of human resources, Michelle Canada, coined it for us. And it was so true of all the things that I've been through in my career, I've done quite a bit. I grew up on a farm, and so I guess I've had the agricultural side, you know, my career, my undergraduate degree is in food chemistry with a microbiology minor.
00;06;36;15 - 00;07;05;10
Jim
I've done many different things large corporate positions, acquisitions and such, but I was never prepared for what was going to happen in the Covid environment. I was prepared to understand to about doing the right things. We're a family owned business. I'm not an owner, I'm just a steward of the company. But, being owned by a family, it's a lot easier to make decisions that aren't always oriented around the profitability of the organization.
00;07;05;13 - 00;07;29;20
Jim
It's about taking care of our people. But if we weren't agile and we weren't adaptive with supply chain challenges, Covid shutdowns to prevent spreads, slowed production because of separation of people and such, and all right. Things to do. And we did that. If we're we weren't open minded and able to do that. I think our, our chances of success would have been quite hindered.
00;07;29;23 - 00;07;54;12
Jim
Jumping back a little bit about the celebrity you mentioned, this was just last week. One of the Kardashian sisters, Kourtney, had tweeted that she had had Covid. She listed a group of products she thought helped her. We have no science to back that up. Matter of fact, we were somewhat surprised by the product that she chose. But she put a link to it, to Amazon and also another website.
00;07;54;13 - 00;08;24;20
Jim
Next thing we know, boom flew off the shelf. So we have to adapt to things like that. Probably one of our strengths is that as a company, we've always had a wide array of products. We've got 1400 SKUs in our wholesale catalog and their personal care. As you said, we've got a pet supplement line, which is doing very well, natural supplements as well, and then sports products, organic snacks and foods, personal care, which the aromatherapy that took off in Covid because of home spa days.
00;08;24;23 - 00;08;46;19
Jim
It's crazy, some of the things that happened, but because we've always had this wide array of catalog or catalog products, it always seemed that anything even obscure that didn't sell very much. But we had it because retailers wanted to around the world all of a sudden, because we had it and other companies didn't, it took off. And so that's been part of our success.
00;08;46;19 - 00;09;07;16
Jim
The other part is that value term and our mission statement, the value is the best possible product at the best possible price. That's best quality. We have 160 quality scientists some degree. We've got a chemical analytical eye some universities don't have. And we're able to test and assure purity.
00;09;07;19 - 00;09;16;11
Jennifer
And it keeps all ones and go in there at no margin. The the ingenuity that happens in it all.
00;09;16;13 - 00;09;38;02
Jim
All of that adds up to allowing us to be adaptive and make better choices. The better information you have, the better choices you make. But but it still comes down to the skill and ability of our people. You know, whether they're a chemist, whether it's a person working on the line. One of the things I share with, with everyone is every each and every one of us is a leader.
00;09;38;04 - 00;09;59;22
Jim
Let's say you work in our distribution center and you're packing that order. You are the last representative of our company that sees those products going in that box before it gets to the customer. So you're leading, you're representing all of us. And it's a concept that's pretty simple. Not everybody buys into it, but it's that's real. Most do.
00;09;59;22 - 00;10;03;08
Jim
And they get it because we do have a clear common mission.
00;10;03;10 - 00;10;30;00
Jennifer
So so let's talk about leadership and and let's say you had in in this room with us, let's say you had ten young entrepreneur years just starting out. What leadership advice would you give them or what lessons would you share with them about maybe what you learned or what you wish you would have done differently, or things that were really successful?
00;10;30;00 - 00;10;32;13
Jennifer
How would you mentor potential mentees?
00;10;32;19 - 00;10;52;29
Jim
That that's a real good question, Jennifer. I really have a lot of tools in my toolbox I've used over the years now, and I've been blessed with great mentors who saw something in me I never saw in myself that gave me the push when I needed it. But as an entrepreneur and we are our founder was an entrepreneur.
00;10;53;02 - 00;11;19;22
Jim
He the brand was founded. He ran several retail stores. We have 12 retail stores in the Chicago area called The Fruitful Yield. And the now brand became the house brand for that store because he couldn't compete buying the other brands with markups and such. But anyway, the three three areas I look at, number one is it's almost always better to make a decision, even with limited information, you can.
00;11;19;24 - 00;11;41;21
Jim
It's okay to wait for more information, but you need to make timely decisions. And if you've got if you've got some information that will always lead you to a direct, correct decision. And that's that's a good guidepost. Because if you don't make a decision, the situation's not going to change. And odds are it's going to deteriorate. So do that.
00;11;41;21 - 00;12;02;15
Jim
Don't be afraid to do that. And it actually becomes more of a habit like muscle memory, you know, golf swing or something. You you can be consistent. It's a habit and you can build upon it. And you know what? You're going to make mistakes. And that's okay. If you make a mistake on it, acknowledge it and make it right.
00;12;02;17 - 00;12;25;08
Jim
You know, we're we're a large company with a large number of team members, and we make mistakes often, but just acknowledge it, you know, just come clean on it. It's okay. People understand the world is a very forgiving world, right now. So long as your intentions were honorable, you'll be okay. And that that's a big piece of decision making on that.
00;12;25;08 - 00;12;52;14
Jim
But it's also one of the those three items. The last one to me is the most important thing. And it may sound trite, but it's really simple and fundamental. Do the right things for the right reasons, you know, have have a mission statement, have what your values are, what are the values in support of that mission. Those are what will you'll be able to communicate as you grow.
00;12;52;16 - 00;13;16;05
Jim
You add people on. You can share with customers, you can share with vendors and, and do the right things for the right reasons and treat people respectful. That's a key element of doing the right things for the right reasons. And, you know, our founder had always said that. I ask him what his secret to success was, because now that was when I realized I couldn't do it all myself.
00;13;16;07 - 00;13;44;18
Jim
And then he got a little cheeky with me. Elwood Richard was our founder and he said, but also understand nobody can do it better than you can, but you have to do it. You have to let it go. You have to do that, which I'm a recovering micromanager, I understand that, but any any Casey. But he also said that one of the main reasons for doing the right things, for the right reasons are, you know, a business is always going to go through challenges and sometimes difficult times.
00;13;44;21 - 00;14;05;01
Jim
But if if you're going through a difficult time or you're going through an era of rapid change right now, we're going through that with the external forces being more crazy than they were even two years ago. In many ways, if you're trying to do the right thing, you can feel good about yourself and I'll and you can say, hey, you know what?
00;14;05;03 - 00;14;26;03
Jim
I did my best. Ethically, we did the right things. We're trying to give people a fair shake. We're trying to be honorable to anybody that we do and says, what? And if you do that, it propels you forward. If you don't have barriers of doubt going into your mind. So those three key areas I think are the most important for anyone starting a business.
00;14;26;10 - 00;14;46;18
Jennifer
It seems so simple when you you discussed it, but you and I both know running a team or leading a team, it's more complex than that and holding true to it. But but you know, a lot of times people wait for it to be perfect or they wait for it to have this piece of information. You have scientists that you work with.
00;14;46;18 - 00;15;06;14
Jennifer
So they want fat, they want numbers, they want data. Right. And and to your point, sometimes you have to go and tweak as you go. Let's just get our foot out. Because if you wait for perfect, things won't happen. And by the time you wait for perfect, there's 5 or 6 other things that happen that you missed your shot.
00;15;06;17 - 00;15;11;13
Jennifer
So I really like that. Not many leaders talk about that. So thank you for sharing.
00;15;11;15 - 00;15;24;23
Jim
Yeah I made chatter for at. Another piece of that is when you make those decisions, sometimes it's deciding not what not to do. That's a piece of the two. Now that's for strategic. But you know yeah. Thank you.
00;15;24;25 - 00;15;50;26
Jennifer
Yeah exactly. You had started talking and couldn't help but hear this loud and clear. You sound like a servant leader. Helping people and having people live healthy lives is what the mission of your, your company is. That ties into retention, especially with, people just now graduating. They want to make sure they're working for a company that has a higher cause or a higher purpose, and helping people.
00;15;51;02 - 00;16;21;04
Jennifer
And it's amazing how many companies help people from different angles. Right? You specifically have health products and wellness is your product. So a lot of times now there's been the shift to discover what our significance is as companies and how we can measure and track that could do you track the people you help and are there some stories that you can share from from a not only a brand culture, but, you know, I if I was an employee of your company, I would want to know what you're doing to help people.
00;16;21;04 - 00;16;24;16
Jennifer
So do you have some of those specific stories that you can share with us?
00;16;24;18 - 00;16;50;19
Jim
Well, it's it's somewhat difficult because, you know, we're we're doing billions of doses of supplements, billions of ounces of essential oils, packaged and, and and tested and analyzed. I tend to flip that and say, okay, who has had a problem with what we're doing? You know, if they had an adverse event by law, we're governed by the FDA and many other regulatory agencies.
00;16;50;19 - 00;17;14;23
Jim
Is and how many adverse events of their happened has has there been this happen? And if we're not getting a lot of problems like that, then we've got satisfied consumers who are coming back and ordering our products again. And are being loyal to our brand, loyal to to what we're about that help us and that that's really how we can do that.
00;17;14;25 - 00;17;39;23
Jim
Metrics are changing so much. It used to be our ambassadors were small, independent retailers, and now the majority of our business globally is online and we're sold in 90 countries. We certainly have a global footprint. And, you know, it's if if things are going well and see, you know, I don't hear about it, tell vendors and I'll see a vendor and I'll say, so boy, we're really appreciate your business.
00;17;39;25 - 00;18;05;12
Jim
How are we doing? And I'm great. Haven't heard any problem. That's that's one way of getting that with influencers that we use today and the like, you can get more metadata of what's going on with the brands. But just like a lot of marketing efforts, it's hard to coordinate. Yeah, I'd say that our our growth over the years has and is really the biggest measure of that, a power helping now is specific stories.
00;18;05;12 - 00;18;19;21
Jim
Yeah. We'll get stories from people that are like, you know, you change my life with this or what have you. And, you know, we're grateful for those opportunities. But, you know, we we try not to tout that too much too. So that's not what you added.
00;18;19;22 - 00;18;27;21
Jennifer
And I didn't realize this. You added that you're governed by the FDA. So you have to be very careful what you share. But you get the love letters, right. Do you do.
00;18;27;25 - 00;18;28;10
Jim
The.
00;18;28;13 - 00;18;29;28
Jennifer
Prayers with your team?
00;18;30;00 - 00;18;58;04
Jim
We do, we do. And you know, more and more importantly, our team members in regards to retention. You know, I've, I've, I've got a daughter who's a millennial who actually is an attorney with our company. I you know, she has a better logic and I do and thanks knows how to argue with facts and not emotion. And, you know, really what's important to a lot of the age groups, not just millennials, is that we're modeling what we say we're all about.
00;18;58;06 - 00;19;24;17
Jim
And if you don't want to talk with what you say, you lose credibility with your team members. I believe that that's going to affect retention or being in the Chicago area. There are many pharmaceutical companies. And here I talked about our scientists that are so important to us, our analytical chemists. We get these pharmaceutical companies knocking on the door and throwing around stock options and pick pay increases and all this.
00;19;24;19 - 00;19;49;21
Jim
And oftentimes, you know, they'll harvest our care of us. And, you know, it's sad to say, but I, you know, I don't hold anybody back for trying to advance their position for their family and themselves. And but I respect that. But most of them want to come back and say, go to the other culture. And sometimes those folks are our best ambassadors because they say, look, you don't know what you've got here at now.
00;19;49;23 - 00;20;10;21
Jim
And it's so hard to describe. We tell people that, I mean, we're talking about behavioral styles, leadership styles, you know, the analyzers and search every and mid-level leader above gets a behavioral profile. We do the Thomas Kincaid instruments. We do well. We used to do desk and some of the other groups. But now we do a basic leadership style.
00;20;10;21 - 00;20;36;20
Jim
Are they a driving style? Are they advocating style? Are they creating style and the analyzing style and the risk managers or successful ones are all analyzing? You know, they do want the perception quality. People are scientists, legal people, right? The anyone who manages risk is HR for that matter, and many ways. So, you know, I think that having that diversity in styles helps too.
00;20;36;26 - 00;20;53;10
Jim
But understanding what those styles are and better understanding each other, I, I used to be more of a driving style. I've been CEO for over eight years. I've shifted up into the creative quadrant and I'm in denial on that. I refuse to accept that I have created. Well, I.
00;20;53;10 - 00;20;54;05
Jennifer
Think if.
00;20;54;07 - 00;20;55;28
Jim
You that.
00;20;56;01 - 00;21;21;03
Jennifer
Yeah, it's pretty cool how you take in that tool, the personality tool to manage you yourself and your leadership and and to allow people to thrive within your culture. And that that's another example of why your best and brightest company. Let's talk. You know, if there were other CEOs in the room, let's shift the room here to a room full of CEOs.
00;21;21;05 - 00;21;41;10
Jennifer
And they were leaning on you to say, hey, what kind of things are going on in your industry that we should watch out for? What are some indicators going on right now? And we can we can talk about some of those indicators as well and how we're navigating through that. There's a lot going on. So let me pose that to you.
00;21;41;11 - 00;21;50;07
Jennifer
What industry indicators that are you privy to that other CEOs could benefit from, no matter what industry they're in.
00;21;50;09 - 00;22;14;26
Jim
Well that's good. Good point Jennifer. And we are we have a strategy map that basically has pillars on it. What what are our key points that our strategy is focused around their perspectives. Lenses. There's the people lens which is so important to us. And and by the way you know our mission statement has to start with our people first before it nails our customers.
00;22;14;26 - 00;22;42;08
Jim
We have to be worried about giving, making them feel valued and helping them lead healthier and more fulfilling lives. But there's a customer perspective. So financial performance perspective, there's a risk management perspective. There's a shareholder perspective of all those have to be considered in our strategy and support of our mission, vision and values, GAAP and those are pretty fundamental.
00;22;42;09 - 00;23;09;24
Jim
B-School things. You know, you espouse them right and left. But again, how are you modeling it? How is it perceptive perceived that way? Those are thing denominators are going to be common with any CEO right now. The great resignation. You know, we've all heard about you know, we've seen it too. And you know, it's I envy some of the the younger adults that are that are making choices to make the changes they do.
00;23;09;27 - 00;23;31;13
Jim
It's like, wow, I would have never had the courage to do that age. But, you know, hey, they're doing it, they're happy and it's it's awesome. But that's a challenge. Retirements and accelerated challenge. And now we're in a, in an environment of of rapidly increasing wages which is yeah it's appropriate. We believe in a fair living wage for everyone.
00;23;31;13 - 00;23;53;08
Jim
And we give our quarterly bonuses to everyone in the company. We all get the same bonus. That's based on financial performance. And you know what? If the bonus goes up great. We know things are going well. If it goes down well, what do we do to fix this? And everybody talks about it and it keeps us engaged. But that's that's another element of the the fact that inflation is hitting.
00;23;53;08 - 00;24;17;25
Jim
And there are a lot there aren't many generations that have been in business. We're double digit inflation exhausted. And that's one that every CEO I talked to is dealing with. You know, in conjunction with supply chain challenges. Another piece of it that we've had some strength training coaches and that we collaborated with was an organization, Division one Universities Athletic groups.
00;24;17;25 - 00;24;42;25
Jim
And fascinating for me, I didn't even know these people existed. I didn't know they had an organization. But, you know, one of the things we were all sharing that I, again, was ill prepared for and the Covid environment, but fortunately, with the culture of our company, we were able to address it, chose compassion, empathy is anxiety. The level of anxiety has not dissipated that much.
00;24;42;27 - 00;24;44;11
Jennifer
We're really nice.
00;24;44;14 - 00;24;54;07
Jim
And the cost of living, you know that the drug problems and such, those are all affecting our workforces and we need to.
00;24;54;07 - 00;25;00;05
Jennifer
Do what what do you do for anxiety with your team members in your culture?
00;25;00;08 - 00;25;24;15
Jim
What's your first? And first of all, we provide them the resources they need with our wellness program. The mental health resources, and make sure they're aware they're there. We also have a third party group that helps us with counseling. Yeah, a Christian based based company. So we have chaplains that don't interfere with the business, but they're available to people if they want to talk about it.
00;25;24;17 - 00;25;30;14
Jim
And they're really psychology counselors. They they're another resource. We we help out with.
00;25;30;17 - 00;25;48;15
Jennifer
Their first second. A lot of the best and brightest companies have those three things. The office, they have a third party to help with the mental health and discussions, like an employee assistance program and nondenominational chaplain. And some people have a month.
00;25;48;17 - 00;25;51;21
Jim
Yeah. Are we coming on? So, yeah.
00;25;51;23 - 00;25;55;15
Jennifer
Some best and brightest companies have social workers on site, you know.
00;25;55;20 - 00;25;56;16
Jim
Good idea.
00;25;56;18 - 00;25;59;13
Jennifer
And interesting things. I'm sorry to interrupt. Keep going.
00;25;59;15 - 00;26;24;28
Jim
Oh, no, that's all right. But yeah, you know, it's it's it it's affecting performance of the organization in many different ways. But it really I circle back to doing the right things for the right reasons. And we have to be flexible with people in Covid. Daycare center shut down or became very strict. We had to be flexible with our people to accommodate their situation with their children.
00;26;25;01 - 00;26;45;08
Jim
We had to be flexible with elderly care, parent care. It's all but the biggest point is getting people to feel comfortable enough just to broach the subject with us. If they've got a problem. Because, you know, the good news is there's not the stigma around that. But there used to be, oh, well, we can't count on them or whatever.
00;26;45;08 - 00;27;07;00
Jim
And, you know, we've never been that way as an organization. But I worked for something that was something was just there. Yeah. And and, you know, just engaging and providing that help. And you know what? We've had a lot of success stories on that. If somebody can talk about the problem they're having, we can't solve the problem for them most times.
00;27;07;00 - 00;27;27;23
Jim
But we can assist them to getting to that solution or, you know, you never know what journey somebody is going through. You know, I'll see somebody else say, hello, so-and-so, I haven't seen you. While how are you and and they're just not the same. There is something going on there. And you know, I don't pride. You know, the some of them are freaked out.
00;27;27;23 - 00;27;49;01
Jim
The CEO is talking to them other sorry man for 20 years and they'll, you know, challenge me in an appropriate ways and that's good. But just letting them know, hey, we care. We understand. We're trying to do our part. Yeah. And it's a fundamental thing that you refer to that's so simple, but it makes the most difference in the world.
00;27;49;01 - 00;27;51;26
Jim
And we can feel good about ourselves.
00;27;51;28 - 00;28;17;05
Jennifer
Well, you're touching upon an area that we have been focusing on as an organization to help businesses. And one of the things that we do is we announce at the end of each year, we say, okay, based on the data that we received, these are our recommendations for the leadership of the best and brightest companies. And one of those things is to build trust and transparency and focus on that as a CEO.
00;28;17;07 - 00;28;39;15
Jennifer
According to the data, CEOs think that they're communicating. They think that they're building trust in transparency. And then when you survey the employees, do you trust your CEO to do this, this and this? You'd be surprised. Just some of the scores that come back. So we have been focusing on doing a better job in building trust and transparency.
00;28;39;15 - 00;29;04;02
Jennifer
Now talking to you, Jim, I can just tell that you're just one of those people that you pull anyone in and, and build a rapport with. So what advice would you give or how do you build trust in transparency? And what kind of communications do you do as the CEO yourself with your team to foster communications, trust, transparency at all levels?
00;29;04;05 - 00;29;05;24
Jennifer
What what are your thoughts?
00;29;05;27 - 00;29;31;21
Jim
That to me, it's fundamental. When I became CEO, one thing I was not prepared for was the amount of time I would spend on culture. I thought maybe 5%. I spend a third and a half of my time on cultural issues, and it's tough. I was the third CEO in the history of the company, and the first one was the founder of the second one was right hand person.
00;29;31;22 - 00;29;51;08
Jim
Shout out our wonderful man mentor. Pretty, pretty big shoes to fill. But one of the things I realized I had an executive coach appointed director said, you should get on. And the coach helped me with understanding that, look, you're different. You need to get out on the road. You need to get in front of everybody and they know you.
00;29;51;08 - 00;30;15;09
Jim
They've known you for years, but they never know you. CEO and you need to establish what it is you're looking for and you need to do it quickly. Otherwise, there's going to be a confusion. And the law of entropy and physics nature abhors a vacuum. Anything in nature left up to itself will lead to disorder. If you're not engaging in communicating, people create their own facts, and it's human nature.
00;30;15;09 - 00;30;39;16
Jim
I've done it too. But I put together a group of things called my operating sense. And there are six categories. One of them is authenticity and accountability. And it talks about, okay, we're going to hold each other accountable, but we're going to do it with respect. And, you know, and and building trust and transparency. That's basically tell the truth.
00;30;39;16 - 00;30;56;22
Jim
And, you know, and people are going to embellish and take liberties. And I use the example. I had worked with a guy at another company whose cousin was best friends with Brad Pitt, and he used to just brag about that, you know, and everybody kind of, oh, here we go again, you know, talking about that. But you know what?
00;30;57;00 - 00;31;18;11
Jim
That's not doing any harm. Who knows if it was true or not? I think it was. But still, I don't care about that. But if you're if you're misrepresenting things as a leader that is so systemic and so damaging, it has a ripple effect, like dropping a pebble in the water. And that wave ripple just carries on through.
00;31;18;14 - 00;31;38;29
Jim
And part of my operating tenants are and I lead off that. It's like, look, this is what I expect of all of you. But you also expected of me that we will hold each other accountable with these talents and it's worked pretty well. But what it takes a lot of care and feeding is we grow in vulnerability.
00;31;38;29 - 00;31;47;12
Jennifer
Having a lot of. Can you give us some examples of where you have been vulnerable with your team, which gives them permission to be vulnerable with you? Have you all.
00;31;47;15 - 00;32;09;01
Jim
Talked your a knucklehead more often than not. So, you know, it's there. There was one time I made a decision on overtime when we were busy in Covid. We didn't. We never. We would have mandatory overtime on weekends every now and then. The leadership team was pushing me. We need to do this. We need to do this.
00;32;09;01 - 00;32;32;13
Jim
I said, look, I've done that. You're going to burn everybody out. And when people were quarantined for Covid and such, we fall behind and and it was tough. And boy, when we did our survey, you know, for it our feedback was you didn't listen to us about work hours and, you know, I had to own that. And, you know, I allowed that to happen.
00;32;32;16 - 00;32;42;14
Jim
And and, you know, it's g you know, on one hand I was right. But I let it happen. So this is on me I don't blame anybody else. This is me. And you know what.
00;32;42;17 - 00;32;44;13
Jennifer
And you made that public.
00;32;44;15 - 00;33;05;07
Jim
Yeah I did and if people and you know what some people are going to attack and most people are understand, but you put it to rest and you can move on and say, here's what we're doing going forward. And I this is my word to you. This is what we're going to do. Things change, but we'll talk about it before we implement another change.
00;33;05;09 - 00;33;08;21
Jim
And if they're going to be leaders, they need to be involved in the decision.
00;33;08;21 - 00;33;09;13
Jennifer
Exactly.
00;33;09;13 - 00;33;23;00
Jim
And that's another that's another key survey area is are you involved in decision making. And it helps in feedback. So give Jennifer and one of the values we get out of, you know, our efforts working with with you folks.
00;33;23;01 - 00;33;25;16
Jennifer
Because they care enough about it Karen.
00;33;25;22 - 00;33;30;24
Jim
And and they feel safe enough to say something. That's another piece of it.
00;33;30;24 - 00;33;53;09
Jennifer
So so Jim, let's shift gears a little bit because as the CEO and you probably get judged by your title and or people treat you to the title versus the human. So let's find out more about the human versus the CEO. Like to do this and our CEO series. Do you have any routines in the morning at night?
00;33;53;09 - 00;33;55;00
Jennifer
What are some of your routines?
00;33;55;03 - 00;34;13;26
Jim
Well, I started out in the morning and early reflecting on the day before, and that's because before I went to bed, I reflected on it to what worked and what did. And I and I used to do it in a mental way. Now I do it more in a learning way, and in the morning it's like, okay, I'm up.
00;34;14;03 - 00;34;43;10
Jim
You know, I get up, I'm getting ready, and some of my best thoughts come when I'm getting ready. I'm thinking about things. I have a little bit of solitude and, you know, it's like, okay, what must be true for this to be different today? And, you know, I'll ask myself that question. Not that I'm going to have an answer immediately, but even when I'm in the car, coming to the office or heading to my home office doing that, which I tend to like to be on site more than that, those are some of the best revelations that I have.
00;34;43;10 - 00;35;03;27
Jim
And then, okay, here are my action steps within my schedule that I have each day that here's steps I'm going to take to make sure that those things that must be true, I'm acting on once again, it's like making a decision as a new entrepreneur. I don't those times it's decision scientists.
00;35;03;27 - 00;35;06;15
Jennifer
You can tell you you approach things by saying same.
00;35;06;15 - 00;35;17;11
Jim
Logic counts, but boy, it gets superseded by perceptions often. So, you know, that's just it. It's okay. You know, I come from I come from humble roots.
00;35;17;17 - 00;35;24;23
Jennifer
Lessness. And here's how we do things. It exudes from you. And it's it's a wonderful leadership trait. It really is.
00;35;24;24 - 00;35;25;20
Jim
Thank you.
00;35;25;22 - 00;35;30;12
Jennifer
I would imagine to be hard on yourself too. You did say you had to lighten up on yourself because.
00;35;30;14 - 00;35;32;17
Jim
I did I.
00;35;32;20 - 00;35;33;20
Jennifer
All right.
00;35;33;22 - 00;35;53;03
Jim
I did. You know, we can all be our own worst critics and such and that it's not helpful. And you know, the other key term that I had for somebody who mentored me for a while was when you start to make the decisions, for the right things, for the right reasons, I put those two together was, you know, what must be true?
00;35;53;03 - 00;36;09;29
Jim
For this to be different is one question to ask. The other question is, how does this best serve our organization? And I and you always include our people in that question. And when you put it to that, yeah, it's a lot easier to make things tangible and logical.
00;36;09;29 - 00;36;11;11
Jennifer
Yeah, yeah.
00;36;11;13 - 00;36;12;29
Jim
I'm a work in progress.
00;36;12;29 - 00;36;15;19
Jennifer
So do you have any hobbies?
00;36;15;22 - 00;36;22;29
Jim
Well, yeah. You know, I like working on things. You know, I'm not an engineer, but certainly tinker a little bit. Got a couple.
00;36;23;02 - 00;36;26;17
Jennifer
What are you working on now or what would your latest project that you.
00;36;26;19 - 00;36;40;23
Jim
Want to remove? So I'm working on try to get unpacked and get rid of things. So I got rid of a lot. I'm at the age I got to downsize. And my, my goal is to not have too much crap that somebody doesn't want.
00;36;40;24 - 00;36;42;16
Jennifer
So purging.
00;36;42;18 - 00;37;10;14
Jim
Yes, I am purging. So the other the other thing I I'm not a good golfer, I enjoy golf. We've got a short season here in the Chicago area, so I take advantage of that. I do some volunteer work for some organizations and, you know, it's it's good to give back. I feel so important. I've been very blessed and had some great opportunities and great mentors and got to pay it forward in some ways.
00;37;10;17 - 00;37;16;04
Jim
And, you know, family is important to me too. So, family is supersedes at all.
00;37;16;06 - 00;37;16;23
Jennifer
Yeah.
00;37;16;25 - 00;37;22;15
Jim
That's an easy decision to make as well. I'm kind of boring. I'm not a real exciting person.
00;37;22;15 - 00;37;32;25
Jennifer
And that's. Why are you writing? Yes, yes, yes. Scientists coming out again. Let's see. Let's. Oh, this is we'll do some rapid fires here. What's your favorite meal?
00;37;32;26 - 00;37;36;15
Jim
Favorite meal? Sushi, I admitted, I like where you go.
00;37;36;15 - 00;37;37;21
Jennifer
Where do you go for sushi?
00;37;37;23 - 00;37;52;19
Jim
Oh, I go to a restaurant, Naperville, locally called Blue Sushi. I like a good go to service is good, but anywhere around the world. I've been in Asia quite a bit, so I've had the real thing. But you can still find some good things in the metropolitan areas here.
00;37;52;19 - 00;37;57;27
Jennifer
So yeah, let's just we let my family loves it too. Your favorite color.
00;37;57;29 - 00;38;05;22
Jim
Color is blue I don't know, nice blue sky like today. We've got it here. I can look out the window and see. It makes me feel.
00;38;05;25 - 00;38;08;17
Jennifer
What's your favorite way to de-stress?
00;38;08;17 - 00;38;27;06
Jim
A reading I like to read. It makes me forces my brain off of the things that are floating around in there and you know all the things, and it makes me disengage and focus on on things. And, you know, I'll do anything from business books to self-improvement. So some good old fashioned thriller fiction.
00;38;27;10 - 00;38;30;15
Jennifer
So what are you reading right now? I'm eating good.
00;38;30;17 - 00;38;36;22
Jim
Yeah, right. Right now I'm reading a book called speed. It's about execution. And. And so that.
00;38;36;22 - 00;38;38;14
Jennifer
Does not surprise me.
00;38;38;15 - 00;38;49;25
Jim
It's it's it's interesting. And I'm thinking, I don't know, I don't think I'm going to be able to implement this very well book. Well have you figured out let me know. I need the crib notes.
00;38;50;00 - 00;38;54;24
Jennifer
Good fun. Well, let's end it with this. How do you define happiness?
00;38;54;24 - 00;39;22;10
Jim
Well, to me, defining happiness is that you feel that you're part of something larger than yourself. And at the end of the day, each day, did you at least try to make a difference and make it a better day for somebody else? And you may never know. But if you try, that's what counts. So again, you never know what the journey somebody is going through at any given time, and you might have been the only person to give them a kind word on that day.
00;39;22;12 - 00;39;45;01
Jennifer
So you just never know. You just never know. Spoken like a true leader. Well, we've been talking with Jimmy, president and CEO of Now Health Group. Thank you for your words of wisdom and your leadership, and thank you for all that you do to make the world brighter. And thank you once again, one of our best and brightest winners, Jimmy with no health group.
00;39;45;01 - 00;39;46;14
Jennifer
Thank you so much, Jen.
00;39;46;17 - 00;39;47;14
Jim
Thank you Jennifer.