When Tony DeCarlo started
IdeaStream Consumer Products LLC
in 2002, he did it with a shoestring budget and an 18-month window. The president and CEO of IdeaStream knew that,
based on simple math, he and his partners
had to create a viable business in 18 months
or move on to something else.
Sounds stressful, right? Now consider that
the company’s founders had no idea what
they were going to make or sell. All they had
was a business model: Be focused on the
end users’ wants and needs. IdeaStream
would design and develop new products as
trends changed, partner with manufacturers
to make the products, and then market
the products to retail stores.
The gamble paid off, as the company
has grown its revenue to more than
$23 million in 2007.
Smart Business spoke with DeCarlo
about why you need to treat the delivery guy the same way you treat your
customers.
Q: How do you develop a vision?
Vision begins with passion for something. It ultimately becomes an expression of things that are core to your values, beliefs and desires — in pursuit
of that passion. When you have a
staunch, firm belief that’s rooted in
core values and you’re in pursuit of
something, the vision presents itself.
When we set out to create our business, we’re very information-based.
We’re not trying to predict what
tomorrow will look like as much as
we’re trying to understand what happened today.
If we understand what happened
today, we can position ourselves
best for what might come tomorrow. It goes back to the flexibility you need
to build into your business model.
Q: How do you communicate your vision to
employees?
The first thing that’s important is you
surround yourself with people who
share the same core values. People don’t
like to be preached to or read to from
manifestos. What they want is to be
included in the construction of the vision. Assuming that they’re people you
believe in or believe in you, you’ll generally get to the same place.
You become a team of people who continually articulate and live the vision. It’s
important that it’s simple and that it’s a
continuous and consistent expression of
your hopes and your purpose.
Q: How do you promote that team environment?
Collaboration builds camaraderie and
team. Through involvement, through a
shared vision, through encouragement
and reinforcement and soliciting input,
you create a sense of culture.
Every interaction with a supplier, with
a customer, with a rep, with a local service provider, even with the DHL guy, you
just need to demonstrate consistency in
how you interact.
No matter who the person is or what part
of your business they are plugged into, if
you treat people consistently with the
same respect, that’s a big part of it.
Q: How do you get input from your management team?
There isn’t a major decision we make that
we don’t collaborate and discuss. What
makes it easy is that if you were to dissect
each one of us, we share a set of core beliefs
and core values as it relates to our business
and our personal lives and everything in
between. We’re also all comfortable enough
with each other to defer in areas in which we
lack expertise.
If you talk about effective leadership styles,
one of the most important things you can be
is humble enough to say, ‘I need to seek input
from others.’
Obviously, I need to be a motivator,
but I also need to seek motivation
from my partners. We all need a pep
talk every now and then. That’s why
collaborating with people you know
and respect is so important.
Q: How do you find those business
partners?
A big part of picking your partners …
is picking people and building a team
that supports the type of culture you
want to create and not only shares but
participates in the vision that you’ve
constructed.
A pitfall is being too slow to recognize
performers in your business. The other
side to that is being too slow to boot
those who don’t fit with the culture. You
do a disservice to your internal partners
in both instances.
Q: How do you recognize when someone is right for the organization?
From a leadership perspective, it’s just
being in tune to who’s doing what in the
organization. That goes back to being
engaged in the business, but at the same time,
you’re empowering people to be leaders in
their functional areas.
Assuming you’re engaged and you’ve given
people the tools they need to do their jobs
effectively, you ought to be close to who’s
going to pinch down and who isn’t. Then be
quick to support those people who are, and if
they’re not, you try to ferret through that.
HOW TO REACH: IdeaStream Consumer Products LLC, (866)
459-2400 or www.ideastreamproducts.com