Episode 3: Are companies with strong cultures more valuable? with Paul Spiegelman

Jul 25, 2018

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Paul Spiegelman is the co-founder of the Small Giants Community, a peer-group of businesses focused on culture and servant leadership. He is the former chief culture officer of Stericycle, the co-founder and former CEO of BerylHealth and the founder and chairman of The Beryl Institute.

Paul is a New York Times best-selling author and has been honored with the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award. He is co-owner of the restaurant, Wine Gallery, in Laguna Beach, CA.

Paul is a sought-after speaker and author on leadership, employee engagement, entrepreneurship, culture, and leading a purpose-driven life. He has made many radio and TV appearances and his views have been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Inc. Magazine, and he is currently a columnist for Forbes.com.

Paul practiced law for two years prior to starting BerylHealth. He holds a bachelor’s degree in history from UCLA and a law degree from Southwestern University.

What you’ll learn about in this episode:

How Paul used to get annoyed when he’d hear others speaking of being “mindful” and now with his own meditation practice is more present and aware – referring to “mindful” as these powers that he realized we all have
The important lesson Paul learned from his Dad: always be kind. He would say in his early years, “Always be nice, never burn a bridge, and treat people with respect.”
Why most of us that start businesses just dive in and work hard and just try to survive
How like many people in business, we typically have these events that changed the course of our business that we really didn’t expect or in some ways can’t control.
Why some of our best ideas in business come from listening to our customers – this is how Beryl became a call center for hospitals
Creating a recurring revenue business and using that to scale your profitability
How Paul and his brothers moved from Los Angeles and opened a call center in an old Wal-Mart Space
How sending a handwritten note card to a prospect helped them win a huge deal
Why being nice and treating people with respect and caring about people is not only the right thing to do — it’s also good for business
Showing your employees gratitude, treating them with respect, developing them over time, and making life as good for them as you can
Stepping outside of your comfort zone, reading books, working with mentors, and really trying to soak in as much information as you can because there is so much to learn
How Paul met his wife (hint: while traveling…)
The anxiety a lot of business owners have over planning everything, why some things are better out of our control and learning to let things come to us
Why he titled his best selling book, “Why is Everyone Smiling”
How and why the book, “Small Giants,” inspired him. And, the blind email he sent to the author, Bo Burlingham
The importance of having conversations when people approach you, just talking to people, and building relationships
Why you never know what’s going to happen
Why Paul — after walking away from an offer from a private equity company — maxed out his line of credit and reduced profitability to go “all in”
How his strong culture led to selling the company at 22 times multiple!
How a simple conversation led to Paul becoming a 50/50 partner in the Wine Gallery in Laguna Beach, CA
How Paul feels when his restaurant receives a poor review on Yelp
Why Paul feels there is value in taking a silent meditation retreat and his story about the “lonely tree” that really isn’t lonely after all

Ways to contact Paul:

Resources:

Website: www.smallgiants.org
Website: winegallerylaguna.com
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/small-giants-community
Facebook: www.facebook.com/smallgiantsbuzz
Twitter: @smallgiantsbuzz