Last week, Jay and I attended the Inc. 5000 Conference in San Antonio. Converge was honored to be named #378 on the list of the 5000 Fastest-Growing Companies in America.

We listened to keynotes from founders of tech startups to the one-and-only Tony Robbins. The kickoff keynote featured Eric Ryan, one of the co-founders of Method. If you don’t know their story, it is pretty amazing. Check out How Two Friends Built a $100 Million Dollar Company.

In white coveralls and glasses, Eric addressed an audience of more than 2000 people—notably the entrepreneurs that started the 5000 Fastest Growing Companies in America. His presentation was one of the best presentations I have heard in years. This conference is the epitome of what is new and next for entrepreneurs.

The Method story is inspiring. The company took on the likes of Proctor & Gamble and other industry giants to create the first line of “fun” cleaning products. A culture that fostered and was true to what they sell helped Method land on the list of Fastest-Growing Companies in America.

So how does this relate to higher education?

After copiously taking notes, I brought back a number of ideas from Eric’s session to the Converge team. I also want to share them with you.

Here are a few key lessons I learned from Method at the Inc. 5000 Conference:

CULTURE

“Everything starts with culture. Our only long- term competitive advantage is culture. The only thing you can’t copy is our culture.”

In my 20 years of campus visits to hundreds of colleges across the country, I have never heard anyone say that their culture is their competitive advantage. In a sea of sameness where 4000 colleges offer virtually the same product, how do we not think about culture? How is this not one of the most important things we establish on our campus every day?

Guess what? Southern New Hampshire University did this. They thought about how to bring an innovation unit to their campus. They thought about offering a product/service to the marketplace based on data and marketplace demand. They also determined that marketing was important and the culture they built – from their program offerings to the stories they told – would be driven by the consumer.

What if we spent one day a month on our campuses thinking about our culture?

What it currently looks like, what it could be and what we want it to be. What if we decided to be the most innovative campus in the United States based on consumer and marketplace needs, driven by how we can help and serve others, not just our personal agendas. It might look a lot different, eh?

MEETINGS

Every Monday, Method has an all-company meeting called the Huddle. Everyone shares—a name is drawn the week before and that person runs the meeting. The best way to get your employees and team engaged is to create an institution, company or place where everyone is accountable, responsible and capable of leading.

What if your team had a weekly huddle guided by a different individual who led the discussion on key topics?

Would it give everyone the opportunity to participate and engage? Would it give people a chance to celebrate success instead of complaining about lack of funding or communication?

Some ideas to get these conversations started on your campus:

• Shout Outs – Who did something amazing that should be recognized?
• Academic Moment – Share examples from the classroom (or beyond) when your mission was realized.
• Presidential Moment – Something this week that the campus is working on, recognizing or appreciating based on the leadership team’s enthusiasm and vision.

NEW AND NEXT

The U.S. is lucky to have the academic system we have. Our country is blessed with some of the brightest, most distinguished leaders, faculty and staff. If we stop and look at case studies from outside our organizations (and have the audacity to use all of the intellectual capital), we could get somewhere.

What if we took a few ideas from business or outside industries and made them our own?

What if we took a risk and it made us more successful? A vision for what our industry could be would give us a chance to do more, be better and fulfill our cause. I can’t wait to meet the person who takes me up on this idea. I know you will have success a millionfold. #NewAndNext #ModelingSuccess

Ideas, thoughts or opinions? Email me at ann@convergeconsulting.org.

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