Jul 5, 2022
Ralf Specht is the author of “Building Corporate Soul”. He developed the Soul System™, a framework that powers culture and success for any business. After two decades with McCann Erickson in various executive roles, he was a founding partner of Spark44, an innovative, industry-first joint venture with Jaguar Land Rover. Under his leadership as CEO, Spark44 grew to a 1,200 people business in 18 countries. His second book “Beyond The Startup” shares the operational innovations that drove Spark44´s growth before it joined forces with Accenture. His driving vision is to make soulless companies a thing of the past.
[00:00 - 09:09] Opening Segment
• Who is Ralf Specht in the field of business culture and leadership?
• Check out Ralf's book, "Building Corporate Soul"
• The corporate soul framework: purpose, shared words, and shared purpose.
[09:10 - 18:00] The 3 Levels of Company Culture
• Shared Purpose, Shared Understanding, and Shared Behavior
• The importance of having a company with soul
• Leaders need to communicate the importance of having a company with soul to employees
[18:00 - 27:12] How to Convince Employees to Join your Startup
• Starting a company from scratch can be an experience of a lifetime, but it can also be challenging.
• How a story and not a sales pitch convinces people to join a company
• Ralf tells the story of his startup journey
[27:12 - 35:45] From Start Up to Large Company
• A small startup can quickly grow exponentially
• As a company grows, it becomes harder to maintain the culture and keep everyone on the same page
• Why You Should Hire Outside
[35:46 - 44:23] Bigger Office, Bigger Challenges
• The text discusses how Ralf's team went from two 50-person offices to seven 50-person offices over a period of one year.
• Ralph established an evaluation system which required team members to have conversations with each other every quarter.
• The evaluation became a way to assess how team members were adhering to the company's values.
• HR was involved in the process of aligning leaders with the company's values, and was also responsible for conducting client reviews.
[44:23 - 47:54] Closing Segment
• Take the 5-minute quiz that helps entrepreneurs reflect on their company culture and how it has affected sales.
Connect with Ralf through www.buildingcorporatesoul.com and LinkedIn.
"You have to start when things are alright because as we all know in business, things might be alright today but they might be very difficult tomorrow." - Ralf Specht
"When building a company with soul, that is what I call spirit. And to me spirit is the intended [company] culture." - Ralf Specht
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