Purpose Project
Do you feel like you're supposed to do something different with your life, but you're not quite sure what to do? If so, you've come to the right place. Purpose Project is a research study designed to explore the topic of purpose from all different angles. Through this research we hope you will discover and realize your unique life's purpose.
Purpose Project
S2E13: How to Do Purpose In the Workplace with Jim Money
In this episode of Purpose Project, host Leslie Pagel talks with Jim Money, the former President of Automotive Finance Corporation (AFC). Jim shares his journey of leading a purpose-driven transformation at AFC by helping employees identify their “why” at work. He discusses his career and the evolution of his leadership philosophy. The conversation underscores the significance of purpose in creating a cohesive, motivated, and successful workplace. Jim emphasizes the ongoing commitment required to keep purpose alive in an organization and the positive impact it has on employee engagement and company performance.
00:00 Introduction to Purpose Project
00:46 Meet Jim Money: Personal and Professional Background
01:51 Jim's Career Journey and Retirement
04:14 Discovering Life's Purpose
07:00 Jim’s Purpose The Three Cs: Community, Connections, and Council
13:47 Transitioning to a Purpose-Driven Leadership
15:37 Implementing Purpose in the Workplace
23:04 Challenges and Impact of Purpose-Driven Leadership
27:23 Purpose and Values in Hiring and Retention
30:58 The Power of Purpose in Action
32:03 Embedding Values into Daily Practices
37:27 Quarterly Check-ins for Continuous Improvement
39:26 The Impact of Purpose on Business Growth
42:57 Aligning Mission, Vision, and Purpose
46:22 Personal Purpose and Professional Fulfillment
51:47 Advice for Leaders and Managers
53:27 Final Thoughts on Purpose in the Workplace
Purpose Project is a research study on the topic of life's purpose. You can follow along in the making of Purpose Project:
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Welcome to Purpose Project. I'm your host, Leslie Pagel In this episode, I sit down with Jim Money, a former President of Automotive Finance Corporation or AFC. Jim shares how he led a purpose-driven transformation within the organization by helping employees uncover their why at work. His story shows what's possible when leadership goes beyond strategy and takes responsibility for cultivating purpose. Let's take a listen. Jim, thank you for being an on purpose project. I'm looking forward to talking about how purpose shows up in the workplace.
Jim:Alright? Yeah, you bet. Great to be here.
Leslie:Wonderful. Before we dive in, tell us a little bit about yourself, both personally and professionally.
Jim:Alright, so, uh, personally, um, I've uh, been married for going on 34 years to, congratulations. My best friend, uh, Laurie. And we have a son who is, uh, 25. He's a Butler grad, so we're both IU grads. So, but that was great. Uh, I'm in, I love to cook. My wife hates to cook so that it works out really well, works out. Uh, and I actually found out that on bad days at work, in, in those days that, uh, you know, doing things that required a lot of dicing really came in handy. You know, you try to get rid of some of the frustrations, but no. I love to cook and, uh, I love to walk. I, I used to like to run, but my knees don't like that. Uh, love music. I would rather listen to music all night than watching a TV show. Um, avid reader, um, and, uh, travel quite a bit. Nice. And actually, you know, the last, this year and last year, we've traveled quite a bit because on April the first, I. Retired, or as I like to call it, I entered my second half because retirement sounds so old. Um, but, uh, you know, I spent 25 years with a company called Automotive Finance Corporation. Mm-hmm. Um, started out as their, uh, controller, worked my way up to be the, uh, CFO of the organization, and then spent the last eight years as the president. A FC is a part of an organization called Open Lane, which is a publicly held company. So I've been in that space for the last 25 years. And then before that I did a little tour duty. It's gonna sound crazy in the toying game business. Oh, really? CFO there, uh, did a little time in the transportation business up north of West Lafayette. Spent some time at Anthem, locally and, and a little time in, uh. The, uh, public accounting space. Yeah. So, uh, so that's me, uh, you know, personally and professionally. Yeah.
Leslie:So I heard family. Mm-hmm. I heard a bit of curiosity and wonder and, um, kind of letting, letting your mind wander through walking and through cooking and Oh, yes. And things traveling. Then it sounds like most of your career in the finance aspect ending as kind of oversight for the, for the entire business.
Jim:Correct. I, I, you know, I'm a bean counter by, uh, you know, college as an accountant got my CPA, but I worked like heck to try to stop doing accounting. I got bored with it. Okay. But I, I liked the other side of the business world. I, I liked. I was really good with numbers. Mm-hmm. But I liked trying to figure out how do we move the business forward through all of the people in the organization.
Leslie:Okay.
Jim:That, that is, that's where I was working towards. Right, right. I was never a traditional CFO. Yeah. I was not the guy who lived in the gap and the Fas b pronounce my world. I, I wasn't that tech technical guy. I was more of the guy thinking about the operations of the business and the strategy and where we're going. Uh, and obviously. Uh, love doing things from a leadership perspective.
Leslie:Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. So that makes sense. A natural progression to be president Yeah. Of the organization.
Jim:That was the goal.
Leslie:Yeah. Uh, before we dive into purpose in the workplace, a question I ask everyone is whether or not you have a life's purpose.
Jim:You know, I, I do. And, and you know, and I'll tell you that, uh, for a big chunk of time, it really was. Can, how can I help small businesses be successful? Mm-hmm. And so thinking so it was very professional. Okay. Yeah. Very much my, and that was a big part of my life, uh, because everything I've done, I've either been serving small businesses or I've been in a small business, so I even know what it means to face the challenges and the failures of, of, of that side of the, the equation. Being an entrepreneur. So, um, and that's what my dad was, so, and I worked with him, so I got my teeth cut on at a real young age. So I just was really in awe of what these people did every single day. I mean, I think of entrepreneurs as heroes,
Leslie:Uhhuh,
Jim:because they're willing to put everything on the line to chase a dream mm-hmm. Of their own. And so my thought was, how can I help them? Through their quest and so everything, and I didn't really connect the dots until probably 2017. Okay. That's when I started to connect the dots as, as far as what was, what was kind of going on, and, and, and it led me to understand that that's, that's who I was. Yeah. Now I get to March of 23 and the business world is starting to probably take a toll on me, and, and I knew that I need to step away. I, I need, I need to get out and kind of reenergize. Um, and then something happened. I'm meeting with a financial advisor and the world's worst thing that they can say is, you know, Jim, you could retire anytime you want. And so the light bulb went off. Obviously my wife goes, oh, no. You know, kind of one of those moments. But, uh, you know, I told her I was ready. And, and, and, and the time is right. I had a great succession plan already in place, already had a guy that was lined up and thank God that that all came to fruition. And I, uh, I shifted and, and, and it was, I'm no longer that person. I'm now this person that there were things that I've always wanted to do that I've not been able to do, and so. I didn't do a real good job of taking care of community opportunities. Okay. I didn't do a good job of my connections that I have with people and, and I, because I just was always heads down and, and, and I realized that I probably learned a thing or two along the way. And so this, this new purpose that evolved in March of 23 was I want to serve what I call my three Cs. Okay. Which are community connections and council. And so, uh, I, I, I do a thing every Friday with my wife, uh, to serve at a local food pantry. And there's some other stuff that, that I've thinking about trying to dip my toe into. I've been minding my connections, my relationships a lot more than I ever have. I'm actually building some new ones, which is really making me feel good, you know, as I'm mentoring kind of those twilight years. And then the last thing is counseling. And, uh, you know, the things that I've learned throughout my business life. How can I share those with others, whether they're in the for-profit sector or the non-profit sector? Mm-hmm. And, and I have a great opportunity to do something with the local foundation and there's some other stuff that's going on there, so those Nice. That's my time is gonna shift into, into doing more serving, not necessarily entrepreneurs now, serving others within my community
Leslie:right. Yeah. So talk a little bit about, you mentioned March, 2023, you, you had this realization, um, and now you've identified these three Cs. How did that unfold?
Jim:Uh, well. You know, the, the whole process for me was, uh, I, I, I kept it internal for a little while mm-hmm. For probably about eight weeks. And so it was March when I had the idea that I think the time is right for me. And it was early May when I sat down with my wife and I walked her through it. Mm-hmm. Okay. And then it was July when I walked my boss. Through it. Yeah. So I was giving, you know, him a nine month heads up basically. Um, and, uh, and through that entire process as I'm going along, I'm, I'm just now realizing that these were the things I always wanted to do and, uh, and, and now I have that time. So that just became very natural to me. Right. But I'm a very, um, uh, detail oriented kind of a guy. You know, and then like I tell people, I'm a raging introvert. A raging introvert who's very detail oriented. And, and so I thought through the entire stage and, and so I already knew what was gonna happen over the next few months. A after that. I mean, it was always me staying ahead of it. And I've always been a perpetual planner, uh, probably, you know, not to the point where, where, where, where I, uh, cause harm to some sort of a project. But, but I like to understand where things are going and, and even think about where I could pivot if I have to pivot. Mm-hmm. And so, uh, I don't like surprises Okay. So much. Mm-hmm. Sometimes surprises are a good thing, but most times surprises can be very challenging. And so if I can avoid a challenge like that, I, I'll, I will do that. So it was a, it was a well thought out process. Yeah. It just continued to evolve and evolve and, uh, uh, the, the three Cs, uh, uh, were, were easy to, to come up with. And I even used the concept of the three C's when, when I was trying to work people to come back into the office. And it wasn't that I wanted to get people back into the, to the office from a, from, from a, a work perspective. It was more of from a culture perspective mm-hmm. Of, you know, how do we get people two to three days back in, uh, because I really felt, uh, and I use the three Cs at that stage, that they were missing out on collaboration. They were missing out on something I called collisions. And collisions were, you know, things where you were walking down the hallway and you see Leslie and you go, Hey, I've been meaning to talk to you about something. Yeah. You can't do that from home. Right. It doesn't happen real naturally. And then the biggie was comradery. You know, how do we get everyone back together and to create excitement And as leaders of the company, it was our responsibility to figure out how do we do that outside of just saying, you have to do this.
Leslie:Yeah.
Jim:Because at the end of the day, it's so much better when. The folks decide I want to be here. Mm-hmm. You know, I want to be here. And, and that's, that's, uh, so the three C's I had the three C's of, of, of return to work, if you wanna call it that. And it was easy for me to start thinking about this other stuff and then, you know, it was just percolating. Yeah. Yeah. It was already probably pre 23 even happening in my mind. Okay. I knew that. Okay. Yeah, I knew I'm getting closer and closer. I wanted to work till I was 65. Um. I stopped at 62.
Leslie:Yeah, that's good. So yeah. So were the three Cs. Did you feel yourself moving towards the three Cs? Is that what was calling you? Or did? Was it more of like, I feel like my time in the professional world is coming to an end and as you're starting to plan for after that those came?
Jim:Yeah, I mean, I was really, uh. I was physically and, and kind of me mentally exhausted. Mm-hmm. You know, and, and I knew that I need, I need to step aside. I think for the, for the health of the organization, I, I felt, I really felt like it was, I needed it for me, but I thought it was, it was time for, uh, someone else to be in there. I knew I would've, I would be in roughly eight years. And I was like, that's a pretty good run for basically like a CEO type of an individual. Mm-hmm. Um, and, that was really the gestation of it. Yeah. Yeah. I, I was, I was ready to go and then transit, you know, thinking about the other stuff, you know, I already knew that there was things like that, that I'd be able to, once I retired, I'd be able to spend more time doing this. Right. So I already, I was looking forward to, yeah. That change of, of pace, and I was really looking forward to the connections. Mm-hmm. And that was the one that, uh, and shame on me. You know, I, I didn't do a real good job. I, I was never a good networker. Um, you know, I. I was, I'm the guy who hangs out against the wall at the party, nursing the drink, and then the extroverts come over and talk to me. You know?'cause that's just, just, that's not naturally, uh, how I do things. Although I talk with people and they go like, how can that be? I mean, I've seen you in presentations. I'm like, yeah, I could stand in front of two to 500 people and I could talk, but I'm like, that's my job. Mm-hmm. But in a personal setting, that's not my job. But, uh, it's, uh, it's been a good transition.
Leslie:Yeah. Yeah. So thinking back to your career, your professional career mm-hmm. And, and maybe just looking across it through the history of it, through the, the tenure of it, how did you see this topic of purpose show up in the workforce?
Jim:Um, I would say that, uh, you know. I probably always knew it was there. Mm-hmm. Uh, but I really didn't connect the dots to it. And it wasn't until, um, 2017 when I really started thinking about the purpose. So I, I, I rolled into the president's role in, uh, June of 16 and, and I was about 15 months in, and, and I knew I wanted to, to take the. The team through a, through a process and, um, because I always felt like this, this inside of me was telling me that I know why I am here. Mm-hmm. Because I, I, I work in an organization that has 12,000 used car dealers, and they're all small businesses. Mm-hmm. So I, I get that. This is something that attracts me. I mean, that, that I can help these, these women and men who are. Putting their, their life on the line every single day to just have their own business and have their own say in their world. Um, and so I wanted others to try to figure out what, what is it that means something to you? And so I sat down with, with, with a good friend who was working for, uh, the, the parent company where I worked Car Global at that time. Uh, and someone that you know quite well, Josh Plaskoff. Mm-hmm. And Josh and I started talking about it and, and. And, and I told Josh that I'd like to take people through a discussion of why we exist. And so he and I put together a bunch of stuff and, and we rolled some things out in January of 18 and we were able to take our, uh, entire company, which was roughly 600 people through a process. I told them it was important to me to have everyone involved, and I understand that we all can't gather and sit in a room for a few weeks and do this. There are different aspects of this process that can involve every single person in the company. Right. And I said, I think it'll be more meaningful, uh, if everyone feels like they have a voice. Mm-hmm. And, uh, and that's what we did. You know, we, we used a, a conference that we do every year in January as the kickoff for it, where I had about 200 people and we got them to roll up their sleeves as part of, uh, their, their time there to, to come up with words and phrases that. Meant something to them about AFC. Mm-hmm. And we used all of their words in these phrases to be the process to start writing purpose statements. And we, at the end of the day, we had a small team. They took all that stuff that we had gathered, and uh, they came up with five statements that all looked and feel the same. And we pushed it out to everyone in the organization saying, you get a vote. Which one, which one resonates with you? And then I even asked everyone. Um, if you do so, put in why you, why you selected the one you did, why, why did it speak to you? Right? And then I even said, you know, if you're not really good with words, snap a quick video on your iPhone and send it to me. And, uh, at the end of the day, we had a clear winner. Um, I got 32%, which may sound kinda light, but the second place came in with like 24. So be clear, about 115 people provided. Comments, which I thought was fairly well, about 25%, 25 people sent videos in. And, um, so we had a winner, which you think like, yay, we're done. Yeah, we have a winner. Uh, I called Josh to my office, uh, and, and, uh, in an act of vulnerability, I told Josh, uh, I said, I got a problem. I said, uh, I told everyone in the company that. The one you selected is the one we're going with. He said, uh, I can't do it. I can't support the one everyone wants. Oh. And Josh was like, whoa, Jim, that's can't do that. And I go like, I go, can you hear me out? And he goes like, oh, okay. I said, the first thing is the one that won, got 32% of the vote. He said, yep. I said, that means 68% of the people wanted something else. He's like, Jim, it's still won. That's just the way it is. And I'm like, all right. I said, but the second one, Josh, you're not gonna have an easy time talking me down from, and I said, uh, I read through all these comments and I watched all these videos, and, uh, I'd see I voted for this one because of X, or I voted for this one, but I wish it would've talked about X. Mm-hmm. And then I'm watching this video. It's a young lady from our Cincinnati office, and she said, I voted for blah, blah, blah, blah in our community. And the one that she had mentioned didn't have the word community in it. And I started looking and I noticed that only one of the five had the word communities in it, and it's the one that won. But there were people that voted for all this, but they were like, I want communities. And I realized our goal. Was to come up with five statements that felt the same. And we left out a critical component, which was communities.'cause communities is a very family feeling. Mm-hmm. Word. And it's important to everyone. And I said, that's why I can't do it, Josh. And he said, uh, you do exactly what you did with me, with all of them and will understand. And that's what I did. I fell in the proverbial sword and I said, this is, I can't do it. This, this is why. So what I'd like to do is I'd like to pull together a small group of your peers and have them take all five and make it into one. Uh, and uh, I had phone calls, I had texts, I had emails, people dropping by saying, thank you. Thank you for listening, and thank you for allowing all of our voices to be heard. Right? So, uh, you know, uh, that's. The process that I used to build this. And then it got rounded out by, uh, a group they called themselves the culture collective, led by a guy by the name of Rob Pat Chadley. And uh, and they came up with not only the, uh, the final product, which is we fuel the entrepreneurial dream in our community, but they came up with the four core values, which are elevating relationships, being powered by passion, being vision driven, and above all being dedicated to you. Mm-hmm. Those things are forever embedded in my brain. Yeah. I can't ever get rid of'em. Um, but that purpose process, a lot of, a lot of times people tend to take things like purpose or values, um, their culture. Mm-hmm. It's like checking the box exercises. Mm-hmm. And these things are not checking the box, exercise. These things have a life of their own and they continue to be nurtured all the time. And so I knew that. That process of identifying it was just one thing. We don't, don't slam'em up on the wall or give everyone a little laminated card. Right. So they can put on their desk and, and, and it's always in front of them. You have to be very, very, I hate to use this word purposeful mm-hmm. About getting the purpose out there and making sure that everyone not only sees it every day, they, they live it every day. Mm-hmm. And the only way they can live it every day is you keep talking about it. As my good friend and old boss, Don Gottwald once said. Lather, rinse, repeat. Okay. And that's what it is. It is a lather, rinse, repeat exercise. It never ends. It just keeps going and going and going like that little energizer bunny, and it just goes and goes and goes. And, uh, that's the job, uh, of bringing a purpose to life mm-hmm. Is, is never stopping.
Leslie:Nice. So, um, what I hear there is, at some point in your career, you. You were determined to really lead with purpose. Oh, yes. And you had the opportunity to do that. Yes. And it was important, uh, to hear from everyone and not just like re um, vote, but really hear yes and listen and be thoughtful and intentional because, uh, it was a responsibility, a ha, a big responsibility. Yeah. That you carried.
Jim:Yeah. And, um, you know, and selfishly, you know, I, I, I knew this was gonna be a good exercise. Mm-hmm. Um, especially for my senior team, I really felt that they would get a lot out of it. I mean, they're still carrying that same message today without me being there. Right. Which, which tells me that it made an impact on them. Which, which is, which is great. Uh, but I think it made a big impact on. On, on a lot of people. Yeah. I mean, you know, um, the crazy thing is, um, sometimes when you go through a process like this, um, even some challenging things can come out of it and, uh, you know, because there's gonna be people that are naysayers, right. That it, it's not that important to them. Mm-hmm. And, uh, then it becomes a really, really difficult thing when you're a manager. Or even a leader in the organization, um, to try to figure out, well then if we've spent the time to identify who we are and we're using purpose in all of our decision making mm-hmm. We always shine that light on, is this who we are? It becomes a lot easier to say yes or no to something. When you think about does this represent who we are? Right. If it doesn't, then why are we talking about it?
Leslie:Yeah.
Jim:Why are we wasting our time on it? Why is that part of our strategy? Um. But if people don't want to align with who we are to steal a line from Jim Collins, they probably don't have a seat on the bus. Mm-hmm. And you gotta start making some difficult decisions. Um, and, and some people have challenge doing that. Um, there are, there are people out there that, that we could probably ask to. To to step aside because maybe they're not performing or doing things like that, but the ones that are really scary are, are the ones that are performing. Yeah. They're the ones that, uh, read. Ha has Hastings, CEO, founder of, uh, Netflix calls the Brilliant Jerks. And the brilliant jerks are the ones who they, they hit their target every year. In fact, they blow past it every year. They're the, they're the person you can't afford to lose. But at the same time, they're the person that will run over their teammate whenever they can. They will kick and scream and steal from others. They'll do whatever it takes to hit their numbers and to be at the top of the game. Right? And then people think, I can't afford to lose them.'cause look what they do every single year and. They don't think about the morale that's being just trashed. They, they, they don't think of, uh, the, the other people that they're starting to lose because they don't like working with this individual anymore. They can't stand it. They're very toxic. Uh, so that can be a very detrimental impact of, of, of having a purposes if, if you don't really act honestly towards your purpose, right? Because there's, there's fallout from all this.'cause there are some people. That just leave me alone. Let me do my thing. Uh, and uh, uh, you do your little purpose thing all day long at school. But, uh, I think sometimes you gotta figure out are, are those the people you want in your organization or not? Right. If you really, truly do believe not only your purpose, but your, your values, and if they don't adhere to them, they really shouldn't be there. Right? Yeah. So it depends A challenging aspect of Right. Having a purpose.
Leslie:Yeah. Well, and what I was thinking about as you were talking is the difference between individual purpose and shared purpose. You know? And it is, um, it's, it is one thing to just have a purpose and put it up on the wall, but it's another thing to live it out. And, and when you're doing that amongst other people towards a shared purpose, it, there's a responsibility of. Um, keeping people honest to it. Right. And, and making the difficult decisions. Yeah.
Jim:And, and it's important even for, uh, you know, I hate to like, to use the word the, the staff kind of level people to hold the managers responsible as well. Right.'cause if they're not living it out, that's a problem. Right. Um, you, you mentioned, you know, shared company purpose versus individual purpose. Mm-hmm. I think that to, to me that's probably one of the biggest reasons why you need to have your purpose, uh, alive and kicking, so to speak. Uh, and you need to identify it, uh, and live it because more and more people want to know that, am I joining an organization that actually. Feels good with me personally mm-hmm. That I can, I can support that or do I connect with it perfectly. Mm-hmm. Which even makes it even a better thing. I think if you have the, do the right thing with, with your purpose, it can be a great way in, uh, you know, uh, acquiring new talent in the organization mm-hmm. As well as retaining your existing talent. Um, but, uh, I, I often felt like. In the last, call it seven years to eight years, that when I would interview people, and it wasn't often that I was interviewing someone a little bit lower, but occasionally I got to, to, to go down a little bit lower. You know, you always think about a, a as a manager of people that, that you're the one that's in charge of that interview. And it was slowly kinda to kind of, to flip a little bit. And that is the person who was inter being interviewed. They were trying to figure out, is this the place where I wanna spend Right. 40% of my waking hours each week. Mm-hmm. Is this where I want to invest my time and my energy? And I could start to sense that, that I was being interviewed. Okay. And I liked that. I liked, and so that even helped it, it even made the process of identifying that purpose even more easy because Right. That became, became one of the things that I talked about in the interviews was this is who we are. Mm-hmm. These are the values that, that, that we hold dear to our heart. How does that sound to you? Yeah. You know, and, and basically, you know, uh, getting people to get the light bulb going off, this is a place I want to be, I wanna be a part of this. Right. And, uh, you know, when you, when you have that strong purpose and, and those core values and, and people can see that you are. Honest. Mm-hmm. And you're living them out. Um, it goes a long way in, in, in, in that hiring process.
Leslie:You talked about, um, once you had your purpose and the values, that it was more than just putting them on the wall and you said it's about communicating them, like constant communication. What were some other ways, uh, maybe with the executive team? Let's start there. What were some other ways where you made purpose a part of the, the rituals and routines of business?
Jim:Well, uh, I'll tell you, um, one of the simplest ways that I did it, which is gonna sound kind of maybe a little crazy, um, you know, we'd have, you know, meeting agendas,
Leslie:Uhhuh. Okay.
Jim:And, and right across the bottom of the agendas was the purpose statement and the four values.'cause we had the, the values were, uh, they were graphical. Okay. Okay. So they were like little pictures. Mm-hmm. Uh, and, um, so it was always in front of people. Yeah. When you started, if you had a presentation, the, the very first slide had the purpose statement. Mm-hmm. It, it was, I mean, you just, you always just keep it in front of people. I, I did an email. 52 times a year called last week, and it was right on there. Okay. It was just right on there. Um, and, uh, you know, you, you're always calling it out. Yeah. I hate to say, I'm not trying to, you know, dumbify it or anything like that, but it really was just keep it front and center. Mm-hmm. And, you know, and then you catch yourself. Using the words. You know, I, I love it when I would go out and visit people and they would say, well, Sally, over here, she's just power with passion. And I'm like, oh gosh, that's just going straight to my heart. I'm going like, you know, they weren't being prompted to say that. They just were saying it. Right. And that is because I think it was not ingrained in people, but they always saw it and then they started believing it. Mm-hmm. Which is, you know, which it was always there. Like I told them, I said, I didn't. You know, I, I didn't come up with this, this purpose. I didn't come up with these values. You all always had'em there, right? I just shined the light on it. Mm-hmm. I just brought it to the surface for you. This, this is who you are. Right. Because this, this is what you say every single day. Um, and, and our customers, uh, can sense that as well.
Leslie:Yeah. Well, it's interesting that you say that because in season one. Um, I was talking with people that had clarity in their purpose and they were living it out every day. And one of the things that I learned is that understanding our purpose is a process of going within. Mm-hmm. Like it's an intentional process. It's not something that just like we slam into, we Right. We do that through introspection, through asking questions. And it sounds like that's exactly what you did for Shared purpose, is you took the time to say, we're gonna all get together and we're going to take a moment and think about our purpose and, and it's already here within us, but we're gonna be able to articulate it. Right. And then in terms of the routines and rituals, keeping it in front of people. Um, it does, it starts to make it woven into the fabric when you talk about it, when I imagine you're telling stories of people living in purpose or hearing stories, it sounds like. Yeah. Yeah.
Jim:Yeah. And, and so, um, one of the things that, that I did about two years after all of that had kind of been identified. Mm-hmm. Um, I sat down with a, a lady who worked with me, Devra Callahan, and, and we, she was, um, VP of marketing and, and I told her, I said, you know, there's one thing that that does bug me about our values is that, um, we talk about'em a lot, which is great. And I, and I, and I see people that, um, they shake their head, yeah, yeah, that's who we are, you know, and, and sometimes they kind of like, you know, kind of do that. And I'm going, like I said. Let's try to think about how do you see our, our values in action. So, and that's what we did was we came up with, there's about five to six sentences that, that we eventually embedded below it to kind of like, so when someone says, what does power by passion mean now? Now they actually have, you know, some examples of what that looks like in action. A lot of that's the customer experience. Yeah. Side of it. Or even the people experience side. Um, but I, I thought it was important that we, we kind of gave them some, some thoughts, Uhhuh, because sometimes they would, they go, gosh, I just don't see that in action. Then when you show that, they go like, okay, now I get it. Yes. Okay. Now I am powered by passion. Right? Yeah. I, yeah, I get it. I get vision driven. I, I get it. Right. I am. So, I, I think it was really, you know, helpful, uh, to, to, to do that and give them a little bit more insight of. Of how they're living them out, even when they can't even sense that they're living it out. Right. And it's like, no, you are.
Leslie:Yeah you are.
Jim:You do this, you do that. Look at that. And they're like, oh
Leslie:yeah, yeah, I do do that. And that think it creates a little
Jim:bit more excitement about it. Absolutely. A purpose. You know, another thing that purpose, a really well written purpose statement could, can be, is a very inspirational mm-hmm. Uh, wording. Uh, creates motivation and, and, uh, it's not that you're, you're, you're, you're, you're trying to be deceitful or anything like that, but, uh, you're saying it in a way that it, you should, you should feel an immense pride in who you are. Right. This is who we are. Right. And be prideful of that. That's okay. And use it for your source of inspiration. Mm-hmm. If you need to, like, they do it in Notre Dame football, if you have to go up and, you know, slap the, whatever, uhhuh, whatever the little sign is, they have believer. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. I'm, I'm, I'm not a Notre Dame. I'm not a gold. I'm not sure if that's it, but I'm,
Leslie:but yeah. But yeah,
Jim:this is, it's the same concept. If you need to do that, then do that. Right.
Leslie:You know? Yeah. Do you, speaking of, I love the values in action. Um, because I do think sometimes people need help making that bridge, you know, the connection to purpose and values. Do, did you do any type of, um, did you weave that into performance reviews or self-evaluations or,
Jim:yeah, so we, we, we, they started weaving in the values into the interview process. Okay. So there would be. Questions that were kinda like focused on being powered by passion or elevating relationships. So those, and they would even, I think they would even talk like, you know, one of our values is this and how do you go about, you know, doing this
Leslie:uhhuh.
Jim:Um, we, we didn't get it all the way we interwoven into the, uh, the review process. But the review process was actually, uh, starting to change, which was kind of cool. So, you know, went from that, um. One pager. You do it in February, and then you talk about here's the stuff you did really well, and here's the stuff that we, you can do better. You remember, you remember Leslie back in March and I was like, come on, gimme a break. You know? And I, I hated reviews. Mm-hmm. I mean, I just, because I'm like. Reviews should be immediate feedback.
Leslie:Right.
Jim:Okay. That should happen. A review, a re a review could happen every week.
Leslie:Right. Exactly.
Jim:You know, and there's no reason to call out stuff. But then we, we got to the point at the, when I left, we were down to, we did four check-ins. Okay.'cause I was a big fan of something I, I called quarterly check-ins. Mm-hmm. And, and I did it with about 28 people. And it was just, I wanted to sit down for 45 minutes. You can use up the entire 45 minutes. I just wanna know three things. What's going well? What's not going so well, and how can I help? You know? And, uh, you know, some people may wonder why did I, why, why did I do it? Uh, you know, I wanted to know what you, Leslie, thought you were, was going well, right? Because I, there were times where I'd go like, you're right. That was incredible. Great job. Or I would go. Why do you think that's going? So well help, help me to understand that. Or this didn't go well, right? And I'm like, why do you think that didn't go well? I mean, you know, I wanted people to understand that, that when we make mistakes or when we fail, as long as we're learning from it, I'm like, don't worry about it. Right? But they would think like, it's the end of the world. I made a mistake up all'em. Like, did you learn something? Oh God, I'm never doing that. I'm like. Amen. Right. That's, that's all that needed to happen out of it. So, um, uh, that check-in process, uh, that I had, I think maybe had some influence on others and, and how we started kind of maybe changing other stuff with the organization.
Leslie:Yeah. Hopefully from a spective. Yeah, that's great.
Jim:Because I used, I, I used them ad nauseum. I, I, I loved him. I looked forward to my, my quarterly checkups, Uhhuh.
Leslie:Yeah. That's awesome. It took a lot of time, but, but, but a lot. Yeah. But it also, I imagine the person that you're meeting with felt valued and important because you're asking and and you're asking how you can help them too.'cause you want them to be successful. Yeah. Yeah. So you went through this process of discovering purpose, um, working to weave it into the fabric of the business. What changed? After
Jim:what changed?
Leslie:Yeah. What were the outcomes of it or Oh, the outcomes?
Jim:Well, uh, outside of, you know, I, I think, uh, more cohesiveness. Mm-hmm. Um, I, uh, I can tell you, uh, I, I was having a conversation with, uh, some people at, uh, central Indiana, better Business Bureau Uhhuh, that there,
Leslie:you know, Kathy? Yeah. Kathy was episode one.
Jim:Yeah. So, so I was talking with them and, and I even. Talking about purpose and, and I go, you know, you might not buy into this purpose thing. Uh, so I get it. I'm a finance guy, I'm a numbers guy. You know, I, I, intangibles are really kind of cool, but I kind of get stuck on the tangibles. What did it do? And, and I, and you know, I can honestly tell you that where we were as, as a business in 2016, mm-hmm. Started rising in 2018. Mm. And we went off and, and we hit record earnings in 22. Uh, but all of our, our metrics that were important were all increasing, uh, minus the, the pandemic, which kind of course kind of threw everyone for over. Yeah. But, and it's growing back again. But, uh, I can honestly tell you that I, I think the reason behind that type of growth that we had. That we had an excited workforce and, uh, they were very prideful and, and their goal was always, how can I make my customer extremely happy? Yeah. Because I always told everyone, listen, at the end of the day, if we can just, if we can just nail the customer experience and we can have really happy customers, it's hard to not win. Right? I mean, it, it's just really hard to not win. When you're doing all that stuff the right way and, uh, and,
Leslie:and, uh, show. Well, and the, the purpose was all about fueling the entrepreneurial spirit, which was the customer Oh, as the entrepreneur. Yeah. Yeah.
Jim:We, we, you know, there was, there was nothing better than watching small business evolve over time. Mm. You know, I mean. Um, and, and I've got, I, I have like the outliers, if you wanna call'em the outliers. I can still rem Remember someone who started with about a$75,000 line of credit with us, and then when they left us, they had about 16 million. Wow. Uh, and another guy that was probably, he, he started a little bit before I did. So when I knew him, he was about 150 and he was in the mid twenties, 20 million range. Both of them left to, to, to go to more. What I think of banking relationships,
Leslie:Uhhuh,
Jim:um, which is what I always envisioned, was, uh, we're there to help these small businesses, but at some point they're gonna outgrow us Uhhuh, and that's okay. Right? That's okay. Yeah. Let's go. Let's, that's good. Yeah. Let's just keep finding more and more people like that to just kind of keep blossoming and growing. Mm-hmm. And if, if they leave us, they're not leaving us, they're just transitioning onto another place. Right. They're never gonna leave us.
Leslie:Yeah. Yeah. So yes.
Jim:cause a lot of them. Their, their parting gift to us was, I'll make sure that if anyone comes up to me to say, you know, uh, I'm thinking about starting out the business. Exactly. You need to talk to a FC, right? Yeah.
Leslie:Okay. So you mentioned your numbers guide, tangible outcomes. You saw it, but what was it? It was 2016, I think that you said when you, what was it? And before that. It sounded like purpose didn't, it was probably there in your career, but it, it wasn't like a, a wouldn't call out spotlight. Yes. Yeah. It
Jim:really wasn't. I mean, it, uh, you know, it was, it was always there. We just didn't, uh, call out the purpose statement. Yeah. There was a mission statement. Okay. But a mission statement to me is, is very much a, a, a. Document that illustrates what, what we do uhhuh. And it's really, I think of it as a mission statement, is more short term in nature. Okay, so what are we gonna do this year? Right? This is how we make our money. This, this, this is, this is where we're going to serve our customers, et cetera. And the vision statement is that aspirational thing, that this is where we, we want to get to. Mm-hmm. We wanna get to this place. You need both a mission and a vision, but. I think a purpose statement is what grounds both a mission and a vision statement. Mm-hmm. Because if my purpose statement and my mission statement don't align one of'em wrong. Right. Okay. Yeah. One of'em wrong. Same thing with my purpose and my vision. If they don't align, one of them's wrong. Mm-hmm. I'm not saying it's the purpose is is right and the other's wrong. I'm just one of'em is wrong. Right. Because it's very easy to say, this is our purpose. Well. What's going on? It doesn't really feel like that's your purpose. Right. You might need to take another shot at it, and that's okay.
Leslie:Yeah. Or
Jim:sometimes purposes they evolve.
Leslie:Yeah. Yeah.
Jim:But to just stay on top of it.
Leslie:So what was it that happened in 2016 or before where you're like, this is missing, or,
Jim:well, 2016. I got to make the decisions.
Leslie:Okay. You were put in the position. So I
Jim:was, I was, the position was there and, and I really felt like, like I said before, selfishly, I was like, I think we need this Uhhuh. I, you know, and I, I need this uhhuh, I, I need, I need people to understand that. This is what I value. Mm-hmm. In, in, in this, this job that I have, in this organization that I work for. You know, I, I want everyone to know that I'm here because, um, I wanna help these women and men have a shot, right. I wanna be a part of their trajectory to their successful mm-hmm. Path. And I want people to know that, but I also wanted them to, to know. How would you categorize who we're, so that, for me was extremely important. And I was like, you know, I can make the choice. And we're, we're doing it. Darn it. Yeah. We're gonna do it. We're we're, we're gonna do it. And some people may think I'm crazy, but I think it's the right thing to do. And I've, I've read enough stuff to, to know that that purpose is extremely important. Yeah. And I'm like, you know, it's gonna be hard for someone to say, this is a not a, not a, not a good use of time. Obviously Josh, Josh was all over it. Uhhuh, I mean, he loved it and, and uh, and then others stepped up and yeah, they could really sense that it was important as well.
Leslie:Yeah. Yeah.
Jim:And then that evolved into something I, I think I shared with you and others within the conscious capitalist organization that I called the Tennis Ball
Leslie:Uhhuh.
Jim:And, and that was really what is your personal purpose. Mm-hmm. And, uh, you know, because that tennis ball, uh, uh, I think it was Drew Houston. From, uh, a company called Dropbox was given the commencement address and he was talking about, um, with those seniors that were getting ready to graduate, that if he had a cheat sheet when he graduated, it would've been the greatest thing in the world, what to expect when I enter the real world. And he's like, I'm gonna give it to you. And he talked about it's only got three things in a tennis ball, a circle, the number 30,000. And uh, and I'll go backwards in, uh, a little bit. And, uh, the circle was all about. Surround yourself by, by a four to five people that can really bring the best out of you. Mm-hmm. That is something you need. Make sure you're not around people that don't pull the best out of you. Yeah. So, surround yourself with really smart people. We only have about 30,000 days in our lives, which is about 80, 82 years of age. So time is of the essence. Don't waste your time, spend it wisely. And the tennis ball. He talked about the dog that he had when he was a kid, and the dog could be just lounging on the couch and he could pull that tennis ball out. That dog would just come to life. Uh, and he would throw the ball and the dog would just chase it, chase and chase it. You know, that tennis ball was something to that dog and he's like, find something that really means something to you. Find a problem that you're really passionate about solving. Or find something that just brings you excitement and do it. Yeah, do it. Make sure you're doing something that brings you life and that's that's your purpose. Yeah. So I always ask people what gets you outta bed each day? What, what's, what's that tennis ball that makes you decide to want to jump in the shower at six in the morning? Mm-hmm. Shower, shave. Head off to the office or jump on a plane. Right. Or get in your car and go visit co. Why do you want to do that? Yeah. And, and I, I wanted to know what was your purpose, right? Yeah. That was my way of asking for your personal purpose. Right? And then it was about, okay, if that's your personal purpose, think about our purpose. Uhhuh, kinda start connecting the dots a little bit.
Leslie:Yeah. Love that. I love the connection to personal purpose in the workplace. Why am I getting up? And doing this job right. How can I get energy out of it? How can I get excitement from it?
Jim:Well, you know, um, as I was getting ready for my, my talk with, uh, Kathy's crew, um, I had been looking at, you know, stuff about why is a purpose important. Mm-hmm. You know, and, uh, I was thinking about the, the people side. Hiring side. And as I'm looking through a bunch of stuff, like on the internet, you know, I'm kind of looking, uh, I kind of started to see a theme building. And this is more of like, you think about like the millennials and, and, and Gen Z, or I mean, so these are the pe these are the people that are kind of like mm-hmm. Really getting active in the workforce. And there are, they're we predominantly five things that just kept showing up that were really, extremely important to them from a job perspective. Mm-hmm. And the first one. It's like the no-brainer. You know, they wanna be paid well, right? They wanna be adequately compensated because they all have needs and wants. Mm-hmm. And so that, you know, that needs to happen. The second thing is, uh, and, and it's obvious from the pandemic, they want flexibility. Right. You know, they, they, they, they want to know that if I'm gonna come in the office, it makes sense. Otherwise, why am I commuting? Two hours a day. Right. Et cetera. Or I've got kids. Mm-hmm. How can I, how can I maintain that balance? So they want that flexibility. They also want recognition. Mm-hmm. You know, they want to know that when I'm doing a good job. Okay. At the same time, I think kind of embedded in recognition is they want feedback. Yeah. Constructive feedback, because they wanna know what, what could I do better? Right. Because the fourth thing is. I wanna do something different in two years. So they want career growth. Right. But the fifth one is they want to know that this is a meaningful job. Yeah. I'm doing this more than just to make a buck for you. Right. I'm not doing this just to make you hit your bonus, et cetera, et cetera. Mm-hmm. I wanna know what I'm doing. Working for this organization is meaningful work and. Has some higher purpose to it. Mm-hmm. And I tell you, uh, if people don't believe that having a purpose is a wise thing, the more and more you start interviewing younger people in their twenties, people coming outta college, you're gonna find out that they're gonna be extremely selective and they're even willing probably at times, to forego dollars to have a place that really connects well with them. Mm-hmm. They're willing to do that.
Leslie:Yeah. So
Jim:it's extremely important.
Leslie:Yes. Yeah. Thanks for sharing those.
Jim:Yeah.
Leslie:Uh, any advice for, let's think of leaders out there who are, um, wanting to, uh, create cohesion in their workforce. Any advice for them? Well, I
Jim:mean, I, I, I think it could start with like a, like a purpose process. Mm-hmm. I mean, I think that connects people, but if you're going to do it. You know, be ready. It doesn't end. Yeah. It just keeps going. And, and, and, and you, you have to be serious about it. Yeah. You know, because if you're not serious about it, people will see through it. Mm-hmm. And that there's more damage that can come from that than not even having a purpose. Yeah. Yeah. So, like, if you're not gonna be serious about it, I would say don't do it. Yeah. Because you, you could create a lot more problems for yourself. Yeah. So I think that's extremely important. And then, um, you know, listen to people. I think it's probably the big thing. Yeah. Just listening to people, you know, getting the temperature from them, you know, um, stuff like that. Yeah.
Leslie:Anything for a manager that's not in that leadership position? Uh, listening obviously applies to that person.
Jim:Yeah, I, I would say, um, uh, from a manager perspective, um, make sure that, that, that you're, uh. You know, as, as tight with the purpose as, as you can be as well. And, and that you're living out those values because the last thing you want to do is you, you want to, you know, criticize someone else when you know you need to look in the mirror a little bit. Yeah. So it does get back to that. They need to live it as well. Mm-hmm. Um, I mean, otherwise it's not gonna be seen as, uh, you know, uh, you know, authentic.
Leslie:Yeah. Yeah. Anything else left unsaid on the topic of purpose in the workplace?
Jim:I, um. I'm sure there's all kinds of stuff that could be said. We could go on for hours. I know. Yeah, prob probably, probably. I've said enough.
Leslie:I appreciate you sharing your story and living out purpose every day in your life, whether it's in the workforce or now in retirement through the three Cs, so thank you.
Jim:Yeah. Second half.
Leslie:Second half that, right? Not that old. Yes. And in your second half? That's second half. Yeah. Appreciate it,
Jim:Leslie. It was always great talking with you.
Leslie:Thank you. Talking with Jim reminded me that purpose in business isn't just about having a mission statement. It's about taking responsibility for helping others find meaning in what they do. Jim didn't stop at creating a good work environment. He went deeper. He made a long-term commitment, not to a project, but to the people and to the purpose that would keep the business alive, and maybe most importantly, he was honest about the effort that it takes. Purpose isn't always easy, and it's not something that you just do and let it sit. It requires ongoing effort and an ongoing commitment. Jim, thank you for leading with purpose, and thanks to all of you for listening in. I hope this episode inspires you to show up fully committed to your work, to your people, and to the purpose that fuels it all.
