Not only does Bryan Min
believe in motivating his employees, he sings the praises
of doing so. Literally.
Min, founder, president and
CEO of Epsilon Systems
Solutions Inc., makes it a tradition to inspire his employees
with a quixotic rendition of “The
Impossible Dream” during the
company’s annual holiday party.
In addition to drawing on his
military background as a nuclear
submarine officer and his
accomplishments as an Ironman
triathlete and marathoner, Min also finds motivation on the silver
screen, and you’re more likely to
hear him quoting “Braveheart”
or “Jerry Maguire” to his
employees than paraphrasing
Jack Welch.
His motivational techniques
have spurred Epsilon Systems to
growth, from seven employees
in 1998 to more than 600 last
year at 22 locations worldwide.
The professional and technical
services company works with
the U.S. departments of
Defense, Energy, the Interior
and Homeland Security as well
as other industry clients. And
last year, the company hit nearly
$100 million in revenue.
Smart Business spoke with
Min on how he finds the right
employees and inspires them to
succeed.
Look everywhere for potential
employees. Every time I go out,
if I enjoy interfacing with an
individual — a waiter or waitress who impressed me
because of their attention to
detail — I get their name, give
them my card and say, ‘If you
ever need a job, give me a call.’
I’m continually networking in
that way.
You’ve probably heard the
saying, ‘Line up the cash when
you don’t need it because
when you need it, it will not be
there.’ You’re always looking
for opportunities to maintain a
people bank, where you could
draw from these folks if there
is a need that comes up.
That’s something that I promote throughout the company with the key employees:
Continue to interview and look
down the line, and don’t worry
about whether we need to have
that person or not. If that’s a
good person, then we’ll see
what we can actually build.
Identify an interviewee’s character. I look at the way job candidates have built their career,
the way they live outside of
work, their relationship within
their family. Those are all indicators of a person’s character,
integrity and how they live
their life.
I try to focus in on that. Is
this a person I could give my
checkbook to and know that it
will come back exactly the
way I would care for it?
I’ve let senior executives go
because after working with
them for several months, I
decide that I made a mistake
in the initial assessment. I’m
pretty quick about making that
move; I don’t prolong the relationship if I know the individual isn’t going to cut it any
longer.
If I work to move on somebody before six months, they
haven’t had a chance to
change in the company in a
permanent way.