Creating a Successful Business Starts and Ends With Giants

Someone recently said to me that in order to create a great company, you have to hire more giants than not. And when you conclude that someone is not a giant, move on quickly.

This sparked many thoughts about creating a great organization, business or brand and what we need to do to attract more giants. Thankfully, we have already recruited several.

If people buy based on product, people, profits and plans—or product, leadership, profits, accessibility, and strategy—then giants are ultimately the cornerstone for success. Yet, they are often overlooked.

I think about a brand like Slim Chickens. If you haven’t heard of it, look up their leadership on LinkedIn. It’s a 40-location “better chicken” brand based out of Fayetteville, Arkansas that is 100 percent committed to hiring giants and awarding franchises to giants. While their growth may seem slow and methodical, it aligns with other giant brands’ growth in foundational look and feel.

At 13 years old and with 40 locations, the brand has not grown too fast. In a recent news article, the brand wrote, “Slim Chickens has come a long way in its 13-year history, with more than 40 locations in 10 states and plans to grow to 600 locations in the next 10 years.”

Is 600 locations possible? Sure, because of the line that followed that statement: “To further fuel this effort, the brand is continuing to strengthen its executive team with the recent hiring of industry veteran Mark Mears.”

Mears joined the emerging brand after serving as the Chief Marketing Officer for Noodles & Company. Before that, he worked with Schlotzsky’s. Those are two widely recognizable brands. Clearly, he’s a potential giant.

What the team at Slim Chickens continues to do is invest in people who have been creators in the past. They are committed to hiring giants in hopes that a whole bunch of giants will collectively create enough ideas, momentum and power to achieve their growth goal. Perhaps this means you should hire more creators than doers. Does your organization have more people on the sidelines awaiting their next assignment or more people getting their hands dirty in the playing field?  

Might the brand not reach 600 units in the next 10 years? Sure. The economic environment can change—from food cost to the health of their core product. But, when you spend more on the initial foundation and build structure around it—like what Slim’s has done in operations, development, marketing and leadership—you have a fighting chance to hit the goals you set out to achieve. It’s like playing blackjack with the cards up—you can still lose but you have great visibility into the probability of winning.

Our agency, No Limit Agency*, is on a mission to become the greatest mid-sized agency that ever existed. We may get lucky and become that naturally, but, if we continue to place a focus on hiring giants and elevating giants from within, we will have a better chance. Our roster includes many power hitters and we will continue to bring on more as 2017 nears. We certainly want to play blackjack with the cards up.