Above: 5 of the current 8 Credera partners along with Bryan Polster, CEO of Broadleaf Commerce, on our company trip to the Mexican Reviera in 2011
“It’s all about relationships and helping our friends” –An (unofficial) Credera Proverb
A few weeks ago we had our bi-annual State of the Office meeting. During this meeting 2013 financials were reviewed, a three-year strategic plan for the firm was rolled out, promotions were announced, and recent client wins were highlighted. But there was one specific statement made by Rob Borrego, president and CEO of Credera, that caught my attention more than any of the other announcements.
Rob mentioned that the eight partners of our firm not only strive to achieve unity as a partner team, they also work diligently on their friendships. Friendships? My initial thoughts were twofold: 1) How do they have time for that? And 2) Is it really that important to be buddies with your colleagues?
My questions were immediately answered when I remembered that I was sitting between two colleagues, Jennifer and Abby. These women are not only fellow Crederians, they are my great friends. They inspire me, push me toward excellence, encourage me, and support me. When I am struggling, they step up to help me without any expectations. And when things are going great, they are the first to celebrate with me. They are a huge part of the reason why I love to come to work every day.
Some may argue that friendships are not for the workplace; that they are distracting and counterproductive to the broader goals of the company. I’m thankful that at Credera, we believe exactly the opposite. It is great to know that our leadership team is “diligently pursuing friendships with each other.” I believe it is well worth their valuable time because it makes them stronger leaders and promotes a company culture centered on relational generosity and others-centeredness.
In fact, I now recognize that at the core of everything we do at Credera is a wholehearted desire to build valuable, long-lasting relationships with our employees, clients, and industry partners. To say it another way, our goal is simply to help our friends. The ambition to build relationships and serve others begins with our leadership team and permeates throughout our entire company culture. We strive to build a family-like firm culture and believe workplace friendships actually make us better and more effective as a firm.
In the following blog series I look forward to sharing more stories that illustrate how this motto of helping friends can saturate your company culture and client interactions, and ultimately yield success, personal growth, and fulfillment.
This series consists of four more blog posts that will be posted in the weeks to come:
It’s All About Relationships Part 2: Viewing Clients as Friends
It’s All About Relationships Part 3: The Importance of Mentorship
If you would like to learn more about how we think about culture, leadership, business, or technology please connect with us on LinkedIn.
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