Vision Culture and Storytelling: Building Companies That Last with Experts Speak Podcast

And welcome to another great episode of Experts Speak. I’m Michael Dillon. Today I’m talking with Andy Galpin.

Andy, welcome and thanks for being here, man.

I’m delighted to be with you today, Michael.

It’s going to be a great conversation.

So Andy runs a company called Tree & Leaf Partners. He’s a follower of Christ as I am. And we’re going to dive deep into culture, using our faith to build business.

How do we integrate that value system? Storytelling, just lots. It’s going to be a fun, fun episode.

So hang around. It’s going to be great. Andy, tell me as we dive into this whole thing, how in the world did you get doing what you’re doing today?

The common theme I see in my life when I look at all the different experiences I had is using technology to solve problems. Using technology to solve problems. So this started in my very early days during high school.

Me and my friends started a web and graphics design firm. This wasn’t quite pre-internet, but it was before everyone had a website. And we spotted that many of the businesses in our local community didn’t have an active web presence.

And we thought we have the skills to be able to solve that problem. So why not go about doing that? So we did that for a couple of years before we headed off to our undergrad studies at university.

And I continued of a similar ilk. I was focused on engineering and using kind of technical thinking to solve problems. But what I found frustrating after a while with engineering was you end up very narrow in your field and very specialized in what you’re doing.

And what I really like doing is taking a step back and looking at problems from a system perspective and going, how can we make this work better as an ecosystem? So after my undergrad, I spent six years at IBM helping our clients design more meaningful experiences for our customers’ employees. And really loved that work.

Loved diving into different problems across sectors. I loved the high level of learning content you had to do in that kind of environment. And I ultimately loved working with people.

A lot of a consultant’s job is to work with and through other people to help them solve the very biggest problems that they have. But one of the things that really frustrated me in the consulting world was you’re only ever an advisor. So I can give you advice, Michael, until I’m blue in the face.

And you’ve one, got to decide that you agree with my advice. And that could be a good, that’s a good first step. But second, you’ve got to actually decide you want to do something about that and actually drive a change within your organization.

And I got to the point where I didn’t want to focus on the problems the organization thought were there. I wanted to focus on the ones that I felt were blatantly in front of me and within that organization and much more pressing and important. So that was my pivot out of consulting.

I came across the pond. I did two years at Kellogg School of Management with my MBA and came across this idea of entrepreneurship, but through acquisition. And I’d learned about myself that I’m not really one of those zero to one founders that really likes identifying a problem in the world and building a product around it to solve it.

But I am one of those one to 100 type entrepreneurs that really likes taking a really solid foundation where we’ve solved a problem. We’ve got a product that people love and helping scale and grow and build the impact that that has in an ecosystem.

So I launched Tree and Leaf Partners, partnered with a group of investors, and I’m looking for that one company that needs that next phase of growth, whether they’ve been running the company for 20 years and they’re just ready to do something different or they’ve been running it for three years and maybe they want to go back and start something new.

And I want to step in and keep building out that vision that one founder has into the foreseeable future.

How very cool. Love that.

Love that. So so let’s let’s dive in here with with, you know, we were both followers of Christ. We talked a little bit before this about, you know, we have similar passions around culture and storytelling and talk about integrating your faith into business.

How can other faith driven entrepreneurs really get that done and make an impact in their own culture that then, you know, obviously spews out into how they how they run the company? What have you found or some tidbits of help there?

Yeah, I describe myself as a redemptive acquisition entrepreneur.

And what I mean by that is redemptive. And I think this applies to every Christian business owner if we’re kind of following what God has called us to be in the world and how he has called us to impact the world. And I see business as the center of an ecosystem that drives change around it.

And the most obvious place that is, is the employees that work for us in our organizations. So we spend more time at work than we probably spend with our spouses if we take our sleeping time. And I like to think that life is too short for us not to enjoy the work that we do.

And God has given each of us a set of skills and gifts and abilities to use to solve real problems in the world. And I love that business is a way of bringing those people together to really focus on a problem in the world to solve. So the first thing we can do is look at the people around us and are we creating and adding to their experience of being the body of Christ if they’re Christians or living as human beings in this world if they don’t yet know God and haven’t got a relationship with him.

And part of that starts with us and the culture that we set as individuals and the values that we bring to that organization when we start. But if we aren’t intentional about kind of capturing those, systematizing them and recognizing what are the norms for our organization, how do we make decisions, what do we prioritize, which is a lot of what values kind of speaks to, what behaviors reflects those values.

Then often the culture starts to shift as we grow a business and scale it because I’m no longer the one interviewing everyone coming in.

I’m no longer the one kind of telling you how to do your job and walking you through what that looks like. I’ve become one step removed as we’ve built the organization up and that’s not a bad thing but it means I’ve got to train other people to share that culture and share what’s important to us as an organization.

And I think we can rest a lot on kind of some of the stuff that the Bible kind of tells us to do and how it tells us to live in how we treat people, how we treat our customers, how we interact with our suppliers, how we go to market and talk about the products and services that we offer and how we prioritize the needs of both our employees and the customers that we’re solving problems for.

Yeah, that’s good. Well, there’s a mouthful there. I love that.

You just really listen to that. One of my favorite passages in scriptures talks about look out not only for your own interest but also for the interest of others. And that’s really what you were just saying there at the end of the day is in business, yeah, we need to make a profit but we need to serve a client first and the byproduct of doing great service is that profit.

But in the interim, if our people are being fed, cared for, shepherded well, it makes our job a lot easier, makes our client experience so much better. And it makes the team members so much happier, right? Because it’s not a drudgery to come to work, it’s a joy.

It’s how it should be, right?

Amen. And I love that idea of servant leadership that’s very core to Christ’s example to us in the Bible and the idea of flipping our org chart upside down and viewing the CEO’s role as both working out where we want to go as an organization, but your job is to help us get from where we’re at to where we need to go by serving others and empowering them to do their roles better.

So by flipping that and having that more servant mindset, we can come to people and help them solve problems, help them have a better place to come to work. And if we help them do their job better, the whole organization is going to function in a much more healthy way.

Absolutely.

I know you’re a big fan of storytelling and unpack that a little bit because we hear a lot about storytelling, but I still think a lot of entrepreneurs don’t understand or don’t grasp the importance of it or how would you actually use something like that in business? What can you tell us about the power and impact of storytelling?

Human beings are fundamentally narrative beings.

We think and we remember in stories. So if I was to ask you to think of a memory, Michael, you’d be replaying a story or a moment in time that went through that, in that experience. You’re not thinking of a list of facts and a lot of the mistakes that we make in a kind of go to market or a sales process is we give the customer all the facts.

Look how much money I can make you, look how much time I can save you, but we don’t take them on a journey and tell them a story of the impact that this project or service or kind of product is going to do in their lives. So I used to work for IBM’s chief storyteller in IBM. I spent a lot of time thinking through what’s important to clients and what narrative do we want to help them walk through to help them understand that spending this money and investing in this product and service is really going to solve a problem.

And it speaks to our very nature as human beings that we are very purpose driven. We like to find meaning in the work that we do and we’re seeing that as a big trend in kind of my generation and the generation after us that work has become more about purpose and meaning. And the reason for that is because we want to know that what we’re doing matters.

So we want to communicate to the clients that the problem they’re going to solve really matters in the world. And a lot of the time stories taps into our natural incarnation as kind of human beings to feel emotions, to go on a journey and to really understand that closure at the end of a story that we get at the end of a good movie.

So a good example of how I use that is I named my firm Tree and Leaf Partners and that’s after a collection of short stories by the English author J.R.R. Tolkien. And he wrote a wonderful little story called Leaf by Niggle and that’s in that collection. And this was kind of a 12 page story he wrote after the Hobbit and before the trilogy. And what many people don’t realize is it took 30 years to write those three books in the trilogy.

And Tolkien looked at that challenge ahead of him and went, wow that’s an immense task to get everything that’s in my mind down onto these pages and into these stories. So he wrote this little story about a painter who had a vision much bigger than himself and knew that he wouldn’t be able to capture that vision entirely within his lifetime. And that really resonated with me and it touched my heart and grabbed my emotions in terms of what I’m doing and the type of journey I’m taking the owner of one small business on.

That they have a vision a bit like Niggle and a bit like Tolkien that’s much bigger than themselves and they need someone else to come in alongside them and continue building out that vision or painting out that picture. So their business can last far beyond the time that they’re in that driving seat.

That’s cool because we hear a lot of business owners talk about legacy and a lot of business owners don’t really think about exit plans.

And so is that kind of where you would come if you had a business owner who’s got a good business and they are thinking now, well I’d like to retire in five years or something. They could start engaging with you to see if they might be that one company that you would come in and continue that legacy, the impact in that general keeping the employees stable. I mean is that close?

That’s exactly it Michael. So we work with one business owner when they’re ready for that transition to come. But I’m more than happy to talk to people at any stage of this journey.

As human beings we don’t like to think of ourselves as having an end and only having a certain number of years on this planet. But we’ll all die at some point. So having that plan in place and thinking through how do I build something that outlasts myself.

And I think that’s the stewardship mindset versus the owner’s mindset. Because a steward feels responsibility beyond their ownership. Whereas an owner feels like when they sell the business it’s gone and it’s no longer their responsibility.

And I think as followers of Christ it’s really important to think about what does that exit plan look like? How do I look after Gary in accounting? How do I make sure Paul over there in sales has a job when I’m no longer running this company?

How do I make sure the problem that we’re solving for our customers continues to be solved in perpetuity? And how do I build something that outlasts myself? And I think every owner should be thinking through what that looks like.

Whether you started the company yesterday or you’re 30 years down the line. At some point you will have to transition out and it’s much better if we can be in control of that transition. Then suddenly we have to step back for health reasons or for family reasons.

And we have to try and rush through that transition without the intentionality that we need.

Yeah, very good. I want to kind of backtrack just a tad.

You were talking about vision. Having a vision bigger than yourself and I put dot, dot, dot and your customer. So let’s talk about that vision aspect because in today’s culture with all the technology that’s out there, all the AI robots and bots who are doing so many things, businesses are tending to become commoditized in lots of areas.

But having a vision that’s bigger than not just you, but understanding where your solution can help your client go and getting their vision, maybe breathing life into their vision that they may have forgot. Does that play into how businesses can take this idea of vision out?

Vision I think is really important because it helps people understand where we’re going and links to the mission of what we’re trying to achieve.

And if I don’t believe in the problem that we’re solving and the new world that I’m describing as a business, then I’m not going to be very motivated to do my job and solve the problem for customers if I can’t connect in with that. And one of the biggest challenges we often have in smaller businesses is there’s just no articulation of that vision. So we rely on each employee to kind of make it up for themselves or struggle to do that.

And therefore they’re not satisfied in a job that they could actually be quite satisfied if we just help them draw the dots. And one of the challenges we have with companies is in the old days when it was just me and you, Michael, and we would create a book from beginning to end, we get a great sense of purpose and satisfaction with seeing that product go from design all the way through to print to distribution. But now I’m only focused on typesetting, one small part of the book process.

So I struggle to see how my role in typesetting is really driving change and connecting with this broader vision. So as leaders, we need to have that vision, but we also need to use things like storytelling to help people connect emotionally with where we’re taking them and where we want them to go.

Yeah, that’s so good.

I’m glad you just said that storytelling and connecting emotionally. We’ve heard it for years, right? Everybody makes decisions emotionally, then we back it up with logic.

But when you look at most marketing and advertising, it’s mostly logic, right? Just like you said earlier. And if we pull back in health stories, a friend of mine, we just published his book and it’s all about storytelling because he understands, you understand, I understand, stories carry the day because it allows your customer to see themselves in the story, in the flow.

How do business owners start down that path of understanding, not just their story, but the story of their customer? Do you have any tips or highlights or thoughts?

I would start by speaking to your customers because your customers had a problem that you helped solve for them.

That’s why they’ve been buying your product or service. And sometimes it’s not the problem that you think it is. And we’ve got to dive a little bit deeper to really understand what problems they’re solving and why they chose to buy from you.

And those are really powerful stories that then you can reuse in your marketing when you’re talking to other customers. You can talk them through the journey this customer was going on and say they had a problem. They really wanted to market better, but they didn’t understand how to share their knowledge with the world.

And then they met you, Michael, and you helped them articulate into a book all the knowledge that they knew was really important for their client base and share that with the world. And now that person has a story and you have that story that you can share with other people that really helps connect them with the problem that person had and how your product and service can help solve that problem.

So I think it starts with the customer and really understanding that, because if you don’t know the problem you’re solving in the world and why people are buying your product, then you’re not going to be able to tell a story that helps drive the emotions that bring people on that purchasing journey together.

Yeah, that’s brilliant. Thank you for saying that. Rewind about three minutes and re-listen to that, folks, because that is so good.

Talk to your existing clients, ask them why they bought, what was the result? And more than likely, you’re going to find some great information, some nuggets. Make sure you record the conversation so that you can go back and get it.

But so many times, because their story, their success, their results are going to mirror your next prospect. And as you just simply tell a story, they’ll see themselves there and go, wow, if you did it for them, maybe you could do it for me. And it bonds emotionally, builds trust, and it’s not salesy.

That’s the thing I love about it. We all love stories. And if you fill your marketing, if you fill your book, if you fill your podcast with stories, people will remember the stories, kind of like you said earlier, right?

I talk to people a lot. And it’s funny how the brain works with stories, right? They’re locked in there.

But if you and I, Andy, are sitting here talking about stories and business, and I say, okay, Andy, who’s the first man to walk on the moon? You can tell me, Neil Armstrong, because it’s locked in there. And your brain just went and opened up that door and pulled it out.

And now we have a story, where were you? What was going on? And we can do that over and over in story.

And it’s so powerful. All right, so let’s get back to you and your business. You’re looking for one business.

I love how, when I went to his website, I’m like, you’re just looking for one business? Who’s a great prospect for you? As they’re listening to this, they’re like, would I even call?

When should I call, Andy? What types of businesses do you actually look for to acquire?

There are probably three things that we focus on.

The first is that element of purpose. Does the company understand the reason it exists and the problem it’s solving in the world? So we spent a lot of time in industries like healthcare and education, because the industry itself is very naturally purpose-driven.

In healthcare, we should be helping patients and delivering better outcomes to patients. In education, we should be helping people absorb and learn new skills that help them progress in their life and their career. And finance, it’s a little bit harder to say what’s purpose-driven in that.

So you have to understand really the problem that you’re solving in those worlds and why that matters to the people that you solve it for. So we look for those really purpose-driven organizations. And we also look for a really great culture.

So people who’ve started being intentional about building a great place for people to come to work. Because when an organization changes hands, that’s very disruptive for all the employees and the customers that are part of that ecosystem. And we want to know that that owner has those employees’ best intentions in mind when they’re going through that transaction process.

So if they’ve spent some time investing in creating a good place to come to work, building out a set of perks that really look after their employees and help them connect the jobs that they do with the purpose they’re delivering, that’s another kind of great tick. And then for me, I am looking for companies where I can add some value. And I’ll be honest with you, Michael, I can’t add value to every company.

There are some core skills I can bring to the table, but my background is in customer experience design. So I look for companies in that kind of software and technology ecosystem that care a lot about what the process looks like for customers, and also internally for employees and how we use products and services and technology to really solve those problems.

So I look for kind of technology-driven companies, software companies in the education and healthcare space that are really purpose-driven and care about the cultures in their organization.

Very cool. Very cool. And again, recapping, this could be a business that’s been around three to five years, and the owners, founders are ready to exit and go do something else.

Or it could be something that you’ve built it for a while, and you’re ready to retire, you’re ready to do whatever, you’re ready to do something else. But the lifespan of the business at one level is less important as long as it’s purpose-driven, great culture, and you can add some value to it, right?

Exactly. Yeah.

That’s fascinating. That’s fascinating.

I love this. I mean, I’ve got a whole list of questions, but we don’t have time. This is really interesting.

I love how you just approach things. I love, obviously, the faith-driven background, how you integrate your Christian faith with things, storytelling, culture, values. It’s also important that we don’t hear in business enough of this, right?

Everything’s just like marketing, marketing, go do this and go do that. And it’s almost like we need to pull back, take a refreshing look and go, okay, what am I about? What problems do I really solve?

And what does my next prospect really want? And bring all that together in a story with a great company where people love to come to work because they’re doing meaningful work. And I think people work for that a lot more than a dollar an hour raise, right?

Money’s important, but I think people will work for Atta Boy and love coming to work because you’re right. We work, we spend more time at work with our coworkers than we do with our families, unfortunately. And so, Andy, how does somebody reach out to you or your company and just start investigating, learning more about you?

Where would they go?

Two places for you, Michael. One is our website at treeleafpartners.com. And you can find a bit more about my story and the types of businesses that we look at. And fill in our contact form to get in contact with me.

Alternatively, you can find me on LinkedIn. I’m Andy D. Galpin on LinkedIn. And I talk a lot about culture, storytelling and building small businesses and bringing your faith to work. So if those topics of interest, feel free to kind of follow me on LinkedIn and enjoy some of that content and try putting it into practice as well.

I love it. That would be a phenomenal thing. I’m going to make sure we capture both of those, get those in the show notes for you and hang around with Andy, check him out and just follow him and learn from him because he’s really doing some cool things.

And the way you communicate, Andy, is refreshing. And I think more more of us need that in our lives. And we need to know that it’s OK to be a follower of Christ and in business.

And in fact, a lot of people love that. And so I’m always encouraging fellow believers to just come out of your shell. It’s OK.

And be who we are created to be. And when we serve like Jesus, everything else takes care of itself. So thank you.

Thank you for doing that. Thank you for showing up, man.

You’re welcome.

I appreciate it. Well, I appreciate you being my guest today and just appreciate the value you’ve added to my audience, Andy.

Thank you, Michael.

It’s been a pleasure.