Bret Keisling shares a clip from Episode 38 of the Owner to Owner podcast with Jesse Tyler and three colleagues in international sales and distribution at 100% ESOP Hypertherm, Tim Sivewright, KC Srinivasan, and Costin Ionescu, who discuss what being employee owners means to them.
The guests appeared in a three-part series on the Owner to Owner podcast called EO on the Road to discuss employee ownership when your job requires you to be out of the office and on the road most of the time. Tune into the whole series and more at OwnerToOwnerPodcast.com:
Ep. 37 EO On The Road Pt. 1: Hypertherm's Senior Distribution Sales Manager Mike Tracy, and Distribution Sales Managers Kelsey Archambault and Jared Rich.
Ep. 38 EO On The Road Pt. 2: Hypertherm's Senior Distribution Sales Manager KC Srinivasan, Distribution Sales Manager Tim Sivewright, and Strategic Account Manager Costin Ionescu.
Ep. 39 EO On The Road Pt. 3: Hypertherm's Senior Distribution Sales Manager Teresa Alvarez Cerdeiro, based in Madrid, and Senior Distribution Sales Manager Felix Ikwuagwu, based in the United Kingdom
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Mini-cast 223 Transcript
[00:00:00] Bret Keisling: Welcome to the ESOP Mini-cast. Thank you so much for listening. My name is Bret Keisling, and as it says on my business cards, I'm a passionate advocate for employee ownership. My friend Jesse Tyler has just concluded a three part series on the Owner to Owner podcast. He brought you eight guests who are all road warriors. They work in sales and distribution internationally and one of the common denominators is that they spend precious little time at company headquarters, and Jesse wondered how being physically isolated, if you will, from your fellow employee owners impacts your view of employee ownership.
[00:00:44] You can find all of Jesse's episodes at www.OwnerToOwnerPodcast.com. The clip I'm about to bring to you features three international guests from Episode 38. First, you'll hear Jesse followed by Tim Sivewright, KC Srinivasan, and Costin Ionescu.
[00:01:02] Here's Jesse Tyler.
[00:01:04] Jesse Tyler: Does being an owner impact how you work? And if so, can you share some insight for our listeners?
[00:01:11] Tim Sivewright: Yeah, it's a great question. I mean, you know, if you look at the question, what does ownership mean to you? I mean, it means everything to me. It means, you know, my contribution means something, you know, I'm not just an employee, and I don't mean to be disrespectful to the term "employee," but, but you really feel like it means something.
[00:01:30] And it also makes you feel like you're contributing to something far more than just profits or selected private investors. You know, you are, it just, there's a deep sense of privilege, and, and a deep sense of, you know, you want to leave the organization you know, when you go on one day, you want to lead it to the next guy coming in, in almost in a better condition than what you found it, because it means that much to you.
[00:01:57] So, you know, I just think that the ESOP model and working for Hypertherm, that drive is far, far more deeper than just looking at sales numbers and performing. And, you know, it goes far more than that. And then with that attitude as a salesperson, by nature, we are target driven. I mean, it's in our DNA. And that certainly doesn't go away, but you feel like you contributed to something far bigger than just the numbers you see in front of you.
[00:02:29] Jesse Tyler: Yeah. That's great. I appreciate, appreciate the insight. And I think it really a recurring theme from, you know, talking over the years to really thousands of people about ownership and speaking at conferences. The -- you've hit on the three of you have very quickly touched on some key themes that come up different ways, different formats, different ways of putting it.
[00:02:49] But, you know, continuous improvement is the ultimate ownership behavior. You want to, you want to leave the place better than you found it and make it better for those around you. A sense of belonging changes, it impacts your identity. It goes beyond, you know, punching in and punching out, and just feeling valued.
[00:03:06] So it, it's neat. You've, you've already brought up those, those themes, talking to people, not just in the US but globally, where those are, those are very common themes that rise to the top. So, I appreciate the three of you sharing that.
[00:03:18] KC we'll, we'll go to you next for ownership. How does it impact how you work in the countries you work in and how you do your job?
[00:03:27] KC Srinivasan: Yeah, Jesse, ownership impacts the way I work. Yes, certainly it has impacted in the way I work. The relationship with the company has changed, being an owner. I will say that I have a stake in the company's success and my own wellbeing is tied up to the company's performance.
[00:03:44] So, this means like, this has led to a sense of pride and motivation to me to work harder and contribute more to the company's success. And ownership also has led to the greater sense of autonomy and decision making authority in me. I would say that I have taken more initiatives and have been more proactive in addressing the problems and identifying the opportunities as I have a vested interest in the success of the company.
[00:04:10] This has led to a more entrepreneurial spirit in me and a stronger drive to innovate in general. Being an owner has led to a greater sense of commitment and responsibility to the company, and has resulted me in being more productive, motivated, engaged in my work, which have a positive impact on the company's overall performance.
[00:04:32] So, this certainly has impacted being an owner in my work.
[00:04:37] Jesse Tyler: That's great.
[00:04:38] KC Srinivasan: Thank you.
[00:04:38] Jesse Tyler: Costin. What are your thoughts on this? Thank you, KC.
[00:04:41] Costin Ionescu: Jesse, I wanted to say it's a good question, but if you don't mind, I actually found a bit of rhetorical question. Yes, of course, there is an impact on our work! I mean, you really think different when you're part of such an organization.
[00:04:53] I don't want to say that you really think like an owner, like when you have your own company and you are the only owner of the company, but it's going in that direction a lot. I mean, it's, and you are not anymore feeling like just an employee.
[00:05:07] Because in many organizations, I mean, traditional ones, people tend to focus on their work only and don't care to see the big picture or the impact of their action at the company level. And I can give some examples, you know, from my career, you know, a salesperson might prefer to offer the highest possible discount just to comfortably secure the sale and personal bonus. You know, even that impacts the business profitability. Or a decision maker at the production level might purchase let's say costly extra capacities just to make sure there will be no bottlenecks in their area. But maybe that unnecessary capital allocation will be at a better return somewhere else. So, there are thousands, millions of examples. You know, when you think about your own piece and not the overall.
[00:05:53] When you work for an ESOP company and, you know, you are exposed -- and that's the great benefit of Hypertherm is that it shows you the entire process, how we make profit and how we share that -- then you really start to see that big picture and just the sense of your, of your work. Then you also start off on thinking about the overall implications, including profitability, of the things you do. You know, you become more strategic. Instead of thinking about closing your next small deal on your list, you might think to work on something that it's, let's say, with a higher impact, more, more strategic.
[00:06:28] Jesse Tyler: That's great. That's great.
[00:06:29] Bret Keisling: With that we'll wrap up today's Mini-cast. You can find Jesse's three parts series EO on the Road, which were episodes 37, 38 and 39 at www.OwnerToOwnerPodcast.com. I hope you'll check them out.
[00:06:44] Thank you so much for listening. This is Bret Keisling. Be well.
[00:06:48] Bitsy McCann: We'd love to hear from you. You can find us on Facebook at EO Podcast Network and on Twitter @ESOPPodcast. This podcast has been produced by Bret Keisling for the EO Podcast Network, original music composed by Max Keisling, branding and marketing by BitsyPlus Design, and I'm Bitsy McCann.
Standard Disclaimer: The views expressed herein are my own and don't represent those of my own firms or the organizations to which I belong. Nothing in the podcast should be construed as guidance or advice of any kind in any field and the fact that I mentioned an organizational website or an advocate or a company on a podcast does not reflect an endorsement, but if you've heard your name or your group's name mentioned on this podcast, I'd love to have you come on and talk about it yourself.
A note on the transcript: This transcript was produced by Descript, an automated transcription service. While it has been reviewed by The EsOp Podcast, we can not guarantee the accuracy of the transcription. Please refer to the original audio when citing sources.