In one of his first jobs at a bakery, Bradley Nierenberg was responsible for breaking 1,000 eggs each morning at 4 a.m. Now the president of Red Peg Marketing, an events marketing company, Nierenberg still has that "grunt work" spirit, but he has learned over the years that one of the keys to success is empowering employees.
"My leadership practices have definitely evolved from my early event days," says Nierenberg. "As the leader of the company, I could no longer be the one hanging the banners or organizing the event plan. The best role that I have evolved in is that of the mentor and leader, showing my staff how to think, plan and run events on their own. From there, my employees learn how to teach others." Still, employees like that the boss is "one of them."
Says external resources manager Geoff Northup, "He [Nierenberg] has the 10,000-mile view of where we need to go but he's still there for us day-to-day, helping us set up and drive cargo trucks. He's not afraid to get dirty, and that's the leadership he presents."
Whether it's asking his staff to solve a specific problem or pick a new office location, Nierenberg makes sure that his employees have a say in what happens at the company. For example, he recently challenged his management team to develop a new way for clients to measure the agency's performance. They developed a survey designed to gauge success at various points throughout the course of a given program. Clients can rate the agency's performance, individual performance and also identify areas for improvement.
"This has been a measurable tactic that provides a true rating for our clients. The results have been used to teach employees how to improve and where we have succeeded," says Nierenberg.
He also put together a staff committee to generate a new mission statement to serve as a group motivator and friendly reminder of what the company is about.
When the company decided to move to new office space, he not only took recommendations for locations, he sat down with a list of his employees' addresses and mapped out where everyone lived to help find a building that was closest to the most people.
"I had employees interview with the architect to determine how the office should be functionally set up," Nierenberg says. "I also gave employees the option to choose the paint color for one of their office walls."
Red Peg employees unanimously agree on the importance of playing a meaningful role in the company. In an annual anonymous organizational health assessment survey, 100 percent of employees recognized empowerment as one of the key things they liked most about their jobs.
On an individual level, Nierenberg listens carefully to his employees to make sure they are fulfilled in their positions and are always reaching to achieve new levels. For example, he says, in 2000 one of his operations managers told him he wanted to get into business development. Since the employee was not familiar with sales, he asked Nierenberg to show him the ropes. Nierenberg not only worked with this employee to choose clients and develop his sales technique, he also took him on various new business calls to see the process first hand.
"I wanted him to have immediate ownership of his own career path, and I knew that if he could choose his own clients he would enjoy his job more," Nierenberg says. "Ultimately, after a few new business presentations, I asked him to tell me why he was so interested in the sales process. He said he wanted to create the initial relationship with the clients and speak to prospects about how great the company was. I then challenged him to write his own job description for the new sales position, allowing him to follow his career path. Today, he is a director of business development.
Employees also enjoy the unique work environment that Nierenberg has created, and it is the casual culture (including office dogs, a retractable garage door conference room and a Heineken phone booth) that makes it fun to come to work.
Measuring success at Red Peg is as unique as the company itself. Though Nierenberg admits that he also uses the standard guides for tracking people practices, such as turnover rate, he looks to what he calls the "Golden Nuggets" as evidence that the company is doing something right. "Golden Nuggets are those unexpected joys that come out of the blue and remind me why I started the company," he says.
One example, he says, took place in late 2003 when Garrett O'Shea, a director of business development spontaneously called in to a talk show that was soliciting comments from listeners about why their particular workplace was special. "Tired of hearing callers talk about free gourmet coffee, O'Shea went on the show, on his own personal time, to talk about our expense-paid trip to the islands. He even played the radio clip at our weekly staff meeting because he was proud of his accomplishment," says Nierenberg.
Another Golden Nugget, he says, is when employees come to him requesting more business cards. "I love that. If my teammates are embarrassed or utterly unhappy where they work they wouldn't regularly hand out business cards," he says.
Of course it helps that the events industry is currently on an upswing. But something that sets Nierenberg apart in his business practices is his willingness to share his success with his employees. Each summer he rents a beach house in Delaware, which is made available to each employee at least once every summer. Often, Nierenberg says, groups of Red Peg employees frequent the house together, further building the bond between teammates.
And then there was the $32,000 bonus day, which occurred in December 2003. On that day, Nierenberg walked into the office toting a briefcase containing $32,000 in cash and called a meeting. "Having announced to the team that the yearly incentive goal (a trip to Jamaica) had been attained, I continued to explain that the company had accomplished so much beyond the initial goal that I was rewarding everyone with an additional bonus. I called each person in the meeting up and handed out crisp, carefully wrapped stacks of $1,000 to them. Cash! I had a chill in my spine as I walked into the office that day, never having seen that much money at one time before," Nierenberg says.
Company: Red Peg Marketing
Web site: www.redpegmarketing.com
Industry: Event marketing and sales promotion
Location: Alexandria, Va.
Number of employees: 46
Sales: $11 million to $25 million
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