Second in Command: The Chief Behind the Chief with Cameron Herold Ep.521 - Ruby Digital COO Ebert Grobler Explains How “Grow People, Grow Profit” Built a Thriving Culture
In this episode of the Second in Command Podcast, Cameron Herold sits down with Ebert Grobler, COO and co-founder of Ruby Digital, one of South Africa’s top-ranked digital agencies now expanding across the globe.
Ebert, who is a COO Alliance member, shares how his company has achieved near-perfect team retention and why their internal mantra—“Grow People, Grow Global, Grow Profit”—has fueled both performance and culture. From developing a system called The Ruby Way to empowering every team member to operate like an entrepreneur, Ebert breaks down how Ruby Digital builds sustainable high performance without burnout.
He also explains how they’ve turned retention, trust, and human connection into a competitive advantage in a saturated market and why premium service is still one of the rarest differentiators in the U.S. marketing landscape.
Timestamped Highlights
[00:01:45] – Why Ruby Digital is expanding from South Africa into the U.S.
[00:05:25] – The surprising gap in the U.S. market: quality and retention.
[00:08:12] – How Ruby Digital achieves 95–100% staff retention.
[00:10:20] – Creating “The Ruby Way”: an operating system built on trust.
[00:12:45] – Letting employees act like entrepreneurs without the risk.
[00:16:00] – “Step Up”: the six-month advancement model that keeps people growing.
[00:18:30] – Guardrails against burnout: scorecards, balance wheels, and wellbeing KPIs.
[00:22:40] – Why culture drives premium client delivery.
[00:25:05] – How Ebert measures success: Grow People → Grow Global → Grow Profit.
[00:27:15] – Ruby’s philosophy: manage risk, not just marketing.
[00:30:10] – B2B growth: focusing on long-term relationships, not quick wins.
[00:33:25] – The “SMC client” model—serving sophisticated, mature companies.
[00:36:10] – How much companies should invest in marketing (and why most don’t).
[00:41:10] – Ruby’s 15% marketing reinvestment and in-house client mindset.
[00:45:30] – Turning unused leads into referral revenue.
[00:48:10] – The biggest lesson from failure: trust is earned, not given.
Resources & Mentions
- Smart Marketing 2.0 Podcast – Co-hosted by Ebert Grobler
- Scaling Up by Verne Harnish
- Good to Great by Jim Collins
About the Guest
Ebert Grobler is the COO and co-founder of Ruby Digital, a global performance marketing agency headquartered in South Africa with hubs in the U.K. and U.S. A former communication-science student turned “human-systems engineer,” Ebert is known for creating organizational models that blend business growth with human sustainability. Under his leadership, Ruby Digital has been recognized as one of the Top 20 Companies to Work For in South Africa by the U.K. Sunday Times and continues to redefine what it means to run a people-first, performance-driven company.
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