A Call To Action For The Rapid Rebuild Of Our Economy For Businesses

A Call To Action For The Rapid Rebuild Of Our Economy  For Businesses and THE BIG 8 ROADMAP

In our last newsletter we spoke about our Call To Action For The Rapid Rebuild Of Our Economy, specifically as it pertains to our country, states, municipalities, and businesses at a strategic level.

In this edition I would like to specifically speak at a tactical level about the Rapid Rebuild of our Economy as it pertains to Businesses. As in all journeys, the journey will start with the important first steps.

Our call to action’s first step will be to build our 100-day plan. The plan will focus on ways  to restore confidence and inspire action around a vision of perfection centered on our customers and our people. Our call to action is to launch a more unified business focused on our customers and our people and the rapid rebuild of our brand. We cannot do this overnight, but we can and will accelerate our plans for growth. Our objective is to emerge as a more formidable enterprise. This starts with knowing who we are, where we are today, and where we are going.

You are the agents of change in your organization. Our vision going forward includes defining:

• Who we are?
• What we stand for, and
• What we will never compromise

The remainder of the year we are focusing our efforts around two main themes – growth and execution. Growth will be the end result from our collective efforts to execute flawlessly every transaction for which we are responsible. Execution is our ability to deliver as a team.

Our 100-day plan roadmap will be guided by the Big 8. The Big 8 supports our 100-day plan and complements our values, ethics, and mission. Both recognize that our people are our most important asset.

The Big 8 starts and ends with our people, as does growth and flawless execution. As an example.

• our people adopting safety as a core value.
• our people looking for ways to serve the unique needs of customers with energy.
• our people exhibiting creativity and enthusiasm for the business.
• Our people approaching each opportunity as a brand ambassador.
• our people recognizing opportunities to improve execution and fixing internal and external issues with true solutions.

The more our employees understand what is expected of them and where we are headed as an organization, the better able they are to align themselves and work efficiently to accomplish our goals. Additionally, the Strategic 100-day Plan  will be developed around  The big 8. This is the basis for developing action plans in order to meet our Big 8 Elements for the remainder of the year. Here are the Big 8 Elements.

1. Safety as a core value
2. Diversification of our customer base to grow organically and take advantage of new opportunities from the new normal.
3. Increase return on invested capital (ROIC)
4. Reduce debt to improve operational leverage
5. Improve capital structure
6. Generate free cash flow
7. Less volatile earnings
8. Be the best people in the industry

This level of planning will help us know and manage this business like we have never done before. Having a sound business plan and effectively delivering Operational Excellence that will set us apart from our competition during the first 100- days and beyond. Our Big 8 in broader detail:

1. SAFETY AS A CORE VALUE Safety is integral to the solutions, we provide our customers in this new world. Through training, communications, and personal accountability, we are committed to instilling a safety culture throughout our organization and one the public can see. Your brand promise will contain a “safe and thoughtful” approach to your business. This includes doing things safely, thoughtfully, and efficiently the first time. This will instill confidence in our people and our customers that they are safe!
2. DIVERSIFICATION OF OUR CUSTOMER BASE TO GROW ORGANICALLY. To grow our business requires a deep understanding of our current service portfolio, new services that will be born out of this ‘ new normal” and the markets we serve. In doing so, we will market what we do well. We will sell where there is opportunity to go deeper and wider with current customers and where there is prospective business with new customers in new markets that span the enterprise. To grow organically, we must all be salespeople and brand ambassadors – always striving for opportunities to promote our business.
3. INCREASE RETURN ON INVESTED CAPITAL. Return on Invested Capital (ROIC) is a financial measure that quantifies how efficiently a company allocates its cash investments relative to how much cash flow those investments generate. Focusing on ROIC effectively allows us to show how we manage a limited pool of resources to maximize profit. When we all Act Like an Owner, we realize that protecting our assets to extend their useful life and leveraging investments to maximize business process improvements and cost reductions increase our ROIC. Always ask, is our investment return greater than our risk?
4. REDUCE DEBT TO IMPROVE OPERATIONAL LEVERAGE. Operating leverage is a measure of how revenue growth translates into growth in operating income, which is impacted by fixed and variable costs. While there are many ways to measure this, three ways each and every one of us can help make exponential gains are by: Growing the business, Reducing expenses and the Company’s use of cash. Look at our business through the lens of Balanced Leadership and Act Like an Owner to create positive operating leverage.
5. IMPROVE CAPITAL STRUCTURE. Capital structure is how our business finances its overall operations and growth by using difference sources of funds. It is measured by a leverage ratio of total debt to EBIDTA. For us in the near term, having low capital expenditures plus an efficient and profitable operating strategy will equal a high level of free cash flow.
6. GENERATE FREE CASH FLOW. Free cash flow represents the cash that we are able to generate after paying for our assets and expenses such as salaries, vendors, facilities, equipment, etc. When we have a positive cash flow, we will be able to better pay down debt and invest in our business and our people to increase growth in the new market segments we have identified. By making thoughtful and deliberate decisions, we can build new opportunities to generate free cash flow and reduce our debt to secure an optimal capital structure.
7. LESS VOLATILE EARNINGS. A well-balanced business has well-balanced earnings. By defining new segments and services, and selling existing solutions in new geographical markets, we can ensure consistency in our earnings throughout the year. This will create a steady stream of revenue, in addition to our traditional business peaks.
8. BE THE BEST PEOPLE IN THE INDUSTRY. Being the best is something to strive for each day. It is an innate force and powerful state of mind visible to others through a determined and enthusiastic, can-do attitude. We intend to be the best educated and safest solutions provider connecting customers with leading technologies in the safest manner possible.

Finally, the goal is to create a vision of perfection centered on the customer. This includes communicating with, educating, and training our people, aligning performance goals, and focusing on accountability.

I am confident we can have a rapid rebuild of our economy and businesses. We can become the world-class company we set our minds to be through disciplined people, disciplined thought, and disciplined action.

Our success will measure by the degree to which we can get everyone in our organization at every level, to:

• understand
• embrace
• emulate
• and, execute our vision and strategy.

We may have to change our speed and approach but our vision, strategy, mission, and our values have not changed, but are being reinforced and applied quicker and deeper. Regardless of this adjustment, as the leaders of our organization, we must set the standards for what “Good Looks Like” and replicate it in everything we do.

None of us can do this alone. But together we can. We will focus on our Big 8 in the short-term, our first 100-days, to take us to our long-term goal of being a stronger company then before this event.

As leaders, we must always be constructively dissatisfied – continuously improving our business processes, improving our own skills, and developing our people.

Today, we launch a more unified focus on the rapid rebuild of our brand and business.