Plan for growth
Shreiber has a favorite saying when it comes to growth: “You
have to reinvent yourself before someone else does.”
Either you are going to be proactive in leading the evolution of
your business or you are going to be reactive in trying to keep up
with the businesses that evolved first.
That’s why any growth needs well-defined, measurable goals
in place that your company can work toward. With defined
goals also comes the responsibility of consistently reviewing
them, something Shreiber has his management team do monthly.
“You need to establish your goals, measure your goals and
make sure the goals are reviewed,” he says. “First, there is
always the financial part of it. If you measure it monthly as we
do, it becomes a report card, just as you received in school. It’s
a summary of your time-frame goals.
“As a public company, we are measured on sales history, historical
growth, future growth and past performance, and to that end, I’m
most proud of the fact that my team has led us to 36 years, meaning
144 straight quarters, of profitability and increased sales growth for
each year.”
Shreiber says the key to maintaining a growth-oriented mentality, regardless of the manner in which you want to grow, is
to never become content. No matter how much growth and
success you have under your belt, always believe that you can
— and should — do more.
That is a mentality that needs to start with you and your senior leadership. If your company’s leaders are all on the same
page and communicating the same values to every employee in
your company, you will be able to achieve widespread buy-in
and get the full resources and manpower of your company
channeled toward the direction in which you want to point the
company.
“You can be satisfied and proud of what you’ve accomplished, but you need to have other managers share in the culture and vision,” Shreiber says. “In that respect, I feel very
lucky because my company is very fortunate to have leaders
who have been a part of our growth and existence. That’s a
must for any growth-minded company.”
HOW TO REACH: J&J Snack Foods Corp., www.jjsnack.com