Watch yourself
Ranger had set a goal for TriMedx to be profitable within its first three years of existence. As the second year was drawing to a close, it appeared this ambitious goal was within reach.
“We were making money, our first profit of several hundred thousand dollars, and it felt good,” Ranger says. “We were ahead of budget. My boss was very proud of the fact that this new young company that had spun out that nobody else would have done was ahead of its budget and doing very well.”
Unfortunately, there was a problem. It was discovered that a customer had been paying for a service that was no longer being provided.
“We hadn’t changed the contract,” Ranger says. “They never would have found it. We could have waited until the end of the year and changed the contract. But we went back to the client and told them that this error had been made, and we needed to give them a credit. It cost me my profit margin.”
But what Ranger earned from his employees by admitting the mistake was of much greater value. It set a tone for how Ranger expected things to be done in his company.
“It was the ethic around it that really got some people strong in the company that this is the thing we stand for in this business,” Ranger says. “That’s how we operate and how we do things. It’s what is right.”
Ranger is acutely aware of the microscope he works under as the leader.
“People are all watching you, as you walk through the company’s office area where the cubes and hallways are and as you stop at one person’s desk and say something to them, you could hurt the feelings of three or four people if you didn’t stop and say something to them, too,” Ranger says. “All you were doing was saying, ‘Hey, I remember you were doing this today,’ to somebody. You have to remember what you don’t say or don’t do says something, too.”
Obviously, no one is perfect, but Ranger says it’s a lesson that you have to stay cognizant of: You are a role model for your employees.
“I’ve got to be able to look every one of these folks in the eye every day,” Ranger says. “There’s a verse in the Bible that says, ‘We reap what we sow.’ Not only do we reap it, we reap it in multiples. I want to reap the good stuff. I believe that with all my heart. It doesn’t mean I don’t make mistakes. We all make mistakes. It’s what we do when we figure them out.”
It’s not just about admitting when you did something wrong. It’s also being forthright when you didn’t make a goal or failed to live up to your strategy in some way.
“People want to see that when something doesn’t work out, you don’t just bury it,” Ranger says. “You need to share why you did it and whether you’re going to try again or if you’re going to move to something else.”
The idea behind this transparency is to give your employees a clear sense from top to bottom of how and why things happen in your business. When information is kept from them, good or bad, they feel less a part of the business and less valued in being a part of helping the business grow.
“Integrity is huge,” Ranger says. “People have to trust you. If they don’t trust you, they don’t want to work for you.”
