Brent Brinks
An interview with Brent Brinks President of Buist Electric
“We are blue collar company. I just have a ton of respect for this industry and for the people that work in it.”
Getting to Know Brent Personally
Tell us about your up bringing.
I am a Grand Rapids kid; I grew up in this area on the northwest side. There is a park called Richmond Park, it is just east of West Catholic High School. That is my neighborhood. I had a lot of great West Catholic friends and Union High School friends.
I went to Westside Christian School and had a great experience there, aside from getting cut from the sixth-grade basketball team as the tallest kid in the class (that tells you something about my athletic ability). From there I went to Grand Rapids Christian High School. My dad went to Grand Rapids Christian, my older brother went to Grand Rapids Christian, so I went to Grand Rapids Christian as well. I had a great experience there and met a ton of great people that I am still friends with to this day; very positive, active people. It was there that I really got to understand my personality. I just love people, love relationships, love enjoying life. Grand Rapids Christian was a great environment for me.
After high school I went where a lot of people went, which is Calvin College. When I started at Calvin, I thought I was going to be a psychologist. I wanted to be a psychologist because to me that profession meant I could work with people. I realized that probably was not my cup of tea because being such a positive person and being in a profession where unfortunately you have to work with a lot of people in some of their darkest and hardest times of life, probably was not for me. However, by the time I realized that, I had enough credits that I could get a psychology degree, so I transferred to the business department and got a degree in business as well. My Dad was an electrical contractor, Brinks Electric. My Grandpa started the business, so as a kid we always had two phones in our house. One was for Brinks Electric and one was for our home phone. If the Brinks Electric phone rang, we all knew we had to answer, “Brinks Electric”. The other one, we could answer like normal. The electrical business, I just loved it. I love the fact that my Grandpa started it. I love the fact that my Dad worked in that business and was able to provide for his family through that. I thought at one time that I would like to be in the family business, however through vast experiences working with my Dad and Grandpa, I learned that probably was not the right skill set for me.
I had a friend from high school that was a mechanic at Buist. I was just looking for a job in a business somewhere that I could help out in an administrative role and Buist said they needed someone like that. It was a much smaller company at the time. I got an interview with Larry Buist and the next time I came back, he offered me a job. That was 24 years ago. I love the fact that my kids are the 4th generation of our family benefitting from the electrical trade. I love people. I love the trades. I grew up in a blue-collar family, so I have a special place in my heart for the trades. That is where a lot of the hard work happens. At Buist, we are a blue-collar company, I just have a ton of respect for this industry and for the people that work in it. I am just happy to be a part of that.
What became of dad's company?
Dad is 75 now and he just dissolved it.
Do you have siblings?
I have two brothers. One who is four years older and works in the accounting field for a local concrete construction company, another great company in our community. My younger brother is in wealth management in the Grand Rapids area. My brothers and I all live within five miles of each other in the Caledonia area. My parents moved further West to Marne so all of us boys are close by and Mom and Dad are about 25 minutes northwest of us.
Brent’s family
I had a busy 1997. I started at Buist in February of 1997. I graduated college in May of 1997. Rachel and I got married in July of 1997. I bought our first house in May of 1997. We are celebrating out 24th anniversary in July. Rachel was part of my high school friend group, but we did not date in high school. She grew up on the south end of town and went to one of the Christian schools on the south end that was a feeder to Grand Rapids Christian. We had about 20 of us that paled around all through high school, and she was part of that. But we never had any interest in each other. We were just friends. Then she went to Michigan State her freshman year and I went to Calvin. Towards the end of our freshman year, we started messaging. No such thing as texting or anything else like that exited, not even email, but there was this way on the computer in the DOS system that you could send messages back and forth, so both of us in the basements of our dorms would send these DOS messages back and forth. When she would come back to Grand Rapids from Lansing, we would get together. We started dating, l think it was the summer after our freshman year of college. Fast forward a bit, we had our oldest, Emily, in 2001. Emily is 20. Then we had Alyssa who was born in 2003. She just turned 18. Our youngest Tyler is 14. He will be 15 in August. Emily is almost finished with her Junior year at Davenport. Alyssa will be starting at Hope College this fall. Tyler will be starting at South Christian High School in the fall. They are all much smarter than what their Mom and Dad are, and they are all doing great. Emily has had a long-term boyfriend for four years now, who is essentially part of our family. Every year just keeps getting better. As the kids get older, they develop tighter relationships with a larger group of friends. They become some of our adopted kids in some regard. We just love the excitement of watching the kids grow up and enjoying time with them, spending time with their friends and it is just a great season, so we are relishing it. We are not hoping for it to get done soon and to just enjoy it.
President of Buist Electric
Tell us a little bit about your role as a leader in the company.
It certainly has evolved over time. When I started here, I was doing administrative type stuff, helping pull policy manuals together, doing HR work and pulling safety functions together. I had asked Larry Buist, it was probably 5 years after I started, why did you hire me? I mean, I did not know anything. I had not even graduated from Calvin yet. I got hired three months before I graduated. I thought I knew more than what I really knew in many ways. Larry said to me, You answered a question I had in the way I wanted you to answer it. So, I asked what question was that? He said, I asked you what you wanted to do, and your answer was, “I really don’t care as long as I am serving people.” He told me I was hired right after that, whether I knew it or not. That was Larry's view on the role of a leader. The job of a leader is to serve others. Coming in as someone who did not know what I wanted to do, just wanting to serve people, what a perfect environment for a wet behind the ears kid like me to come into. If I would have said, I want to make this company a lot of money, I want to increase sales, I would not be here today. That is not what he wanted out of somebody that potentially could be leading here. Buist has been a wonderful home for me.
That has just been able to evolve. I do not talk about myself in the sense that I am a leader. I am just a guy trying to serve people. I do not care about a title. If somebody asked me what I do, I tell them I work for an electrical contractor. What difference does it make? I am here to serve. I am the president, but I really do not care about the title. That is one thing I have had to learn over the course of time, as much as I want to be seen as just anybody, other people view my position differently than what I probably view my position.
Sometimes I comment on things that I don’t think should matter as much, but to others is really matters. I have had to learn to understand that and be more purposeful. That I need to maybe say things that provide more encouragement because it means something to somebody. I will have people say that I need to get out on job sites more and see what the people are doing. My response is I do not want to waste their time, but their response is that it means something when you show up. I always think, why would it mean anything when I show up, who cares? So that is something that I have had to learn. I will never think that I am any better than anybody else, because I am not. Because of the position, maybe people lean on things I say or do more, but that is okay. Their job is just as important as my job.
“I asked you what you wanted to do? My answer was, I really don’t care as long as I’m serving people. ”
How did you go from administrator to President of Buist electric?
Well, it took two decades really. Larry had a leadership team that he had in place when I started, and he allowed me to sit at that table. He really invested in me over time, and I will never take that for granted. I think he knew that there was a hole that needed to be filled in an administrative leadership way and thought maybe I could do that. He did not know I could do that. I am sure he was skeptical, and I am sure I did things early on that made him skeptical. He just always allowed me to be at the table, always. Whether it was dealing with employee issues, dealing with business issues, dealing with job issues, he always let me in. I probably did not really have a whole lot to offer, but I was a bystander in a lot of ways. After some time, Larry went through an evaluation period where he really thought about the succession of the company and having the right people at the table. That original team got boiled down to a smaller team, of which I was included. I played the vice president role for a while and had my slice of the pie that I was responsible for.
When you go from a very small company and get bigger and bigger, I think sometimes it is easy to hold on to the old ways of doing things. The old way for us, was everything filtering through a few people. We had a construction department and a service department. Back in the mid-90’s, we started a structured cabling division. We had people that kind of rose to the surface from project managers in those areas, but no true department managers because everything was expected to come through this single point of contact. It was just an old way of doing things. It was a small business that turned into a bigger business and kept some of those small business attributes. It really started transforming 10+ years ago when we let managers be managers in each of those groups. We started going away from the central hub of decision making and pushed the responsibility out to the departments more, allowing them to make more of the decisions. As much as we knew that needed to happen, I think there was always some apprehension. It was Larry in many ways; he was still the president of the company back then. He had a way of doing things. As much as he would say we have to push more responsibility out and that we do not want to deal with the minutia things in this room, he still did like dealing with those minutia things. We have really pushed away that habit out over the past 10 years. Today, we have a solid group of leaders in each department. We are at the point now where we are looking at who is the next manager. Every department should have an assistant just for succession planning purposes and frankly security. If something were to happen with the lead person, who is there to back them up? That is part of our responsibility as leaders, to plan for succession. Often when people think of succession planning, they think of it at the top, but if you want a strong organization, you better be looking at succession planning at all levels. For us, whether it is planning for new apprentices, who is going out in field leadership or who is coming in and making sure we are grooming the right people in those areas, we plan. It is a never-ending process. If your succession planning stops at a few people at the top, that will not cut it. It is part of it, but not the whole picture by any stretch.
So, going back to the original question, how did I go from administration to the President? I just did my job. I worked hard and cared about people, but also luck honestly. I knew the mechanic here. I did not know Larry Buist, I did not know the 90% of Buist Electric that was made up of people that lived in Byron Center or Dorr. Call it luck, call it providence, God put me in the right place. I believe all those things. Right place, right time. I am not a four-point college grad with a master's degree or anything like that. I am not the smartest guy in the world. There are a lot of people smarter, but I will put my care for other people up against anybody. That is what got me to where I am, and it is why people were willing to encourage me and give me responsibility along the way.
What do you think might have been holding you back from becoming a leader?
Experience for one. I am on a constant learning journey. I have worked with some really great leaders inside and outside the walls of Buist. I do not think I will get to the point where I think I am a great leader. Am I good? Ye, I am good here, but I might be a crappy leader in another organization. If it is a bottom-line driven organization that is purely focused on dollars, costs, and revenue, I would be a crappy leader. Here, I can be a good leader because of who I am and what this company is, but I always have a lot more to learn. It took me a while to get to the point where I feel like what I say should matter. I have some people that I put on a pedestal and will I ever be as good of a leader as them, probably not, but I should be listening to them. I am 45 years old; I still feel young. I feel like I am 20 years old and maybe that's part of the problem. I have grown in that probably in the last five years. Where I have been able to talk as passionately as I do about culture and values and how to run a business and how to treat people because I have seen it work over two decades. Over two decades in business, over two decades in this business, I know what works. I know what works here. I know what does not work here, that just took experience, I would guess in 10 years from now, I am going to feel stronger about certain things because I am going to know even more and be more passionate about certain things. I would say that is probably what held me back, maybe not having the confidence I do now. Just not feeling like I had the experience to really dig my feet in and say what I know works, and what does not work.
Why do you think people follow you?
I think because they know I have their best interest in mind. At the end of the day, I care less about myself than what I do about other people. I think that resonates with people. I am passionate about people; I worry about them and I think they appreciate that. There are very few people that question how I am going to decide on something. I think there is some comfort that comes in that too. It also helps them make decisions that align with leadership and values of the company because they know what is expected because of how we have done it in the past. I try to be very fair; I try to be open-minded, and I try not to be a jerk. I do not know if it is any one thing. I do think people know that I genuinely care about them. I think that is probably a big component.
“At the end of the day I care less about myself than what I do about other people.”
Have you ever had an I made it moment?
Never, no. When I cross the pearly gates, is when I will know I made it. There is always more to accomplish. You can always do better personally and professionally. When I say professionally it is not to make more money. It’s to do a better job at serving other people. I remember watching Larry Buist write checks to help other people and organizations and thinking, man I cannot wait until I can do that. I am in a position now where I can write some bigger checks to organizations that serve other people and to the church. I am glad I can do that, and I hope in the future I can write some even bigger checks to others, give more money away and serve people better. So no, I have never had an I made it moment. Maybe I will have that, but I doubt it.
What have you learned about leadership the hard way?
It probably goes back to what I talked about earlier. Not doing some things that people expect of me because of the position I am in. Maybe it is not being as careful with my words because I am a very transparent person. It is sharing things I should not say or being too nonchalant about something.
Is there some scenario that comes to mind?
I go through a process where I ask the people I work with very closely to evaluate me. How do they feel I perform? What value do they see me adding to this organization? I love that process. Things that were shared with me three years ago, I have been able to improve on. One example of this is that my mindset is typically focused on that I have to make the most use of my time. Sometimes I would be on my phone in meetings and my mindset in that was that I had to make the most use of my time. If there was a portion of a meeting where maybe I can tune out a little bit and do some emails or respond to a text, I am going to do that, but the message I sent to the rest of the people in that room is I am disconnected, and I don't care. That came out three years ago. “You're in another place, you’ll take a phone call in the middle of a meeting, you'll step out, you're on your phone, you're responding to things.” Here I am, thinking I am trying to make the best use of my time, but really I am telling people I do not care what they have to say.
It probably revolves around a lot of those practices I did that maybe were not intentional, but they sent the wrong message and I got called out on it. It also would be making some tough decisions. Whether that was how you held somebody accountable, and it backfired because of not doing a good job at providing accountability. I can remember an employee issue that Larry had sat me in on. Larry had gotten some information that the employee was not performing well, and he told me he wanted me to sit in on the meeting. He chewed that employee out and the employee just sat there and listened. Larry and I, we did not talk to the people that worked closely with him to verify the information and to get other people’s feedback. A day or two after that conversation, people started coming forward saying that employee was devastated. They were saying “why did you do that? He is doing great!” We made a mistake there. We treated somebody the way they should not have been treated because of not fully looking into a situation. Larry and I felt awful. That was learning the hard way and unfortunately it was at somebody else's expense. I learned a lot from that.
How did you end up handling that?
Apologizing. I have been in that situation. Larry was a tough guy to work for. Feeling like your being accused for something that you should not be accused of, that was one thing I learned not just through my experiences but other people's experiences. You can totally deflate somebody with your words. Being very careful in making sure that you are well thought out when you use words that can set people back is so important. Sometimes it is well deserved. There are times when people provide accountability to me that was well deserved, and I will provide accountability to other people when it is needed. It is just crucial to know and be sure about the situation because most people do not get over hard conversations like that in a day.
What's got you excited professionally right now?
I am a big culture and values guy. We have a very strong culture here. A lot of it comes from where we started. The fabric of Buist Electric is very strong. As we grow bigger one of the hard things to do is to get a large organization to have people that are aligned around a specific culture, mission, and values. We have a mission statement that includes God, Employees and Customers. About 10 years ago, we added “Others” to that group. Our mission is not just to serve God, Employees and Customers, it is also to serve the community both near and far. Overall, we serve God first, we are a God-fearing company that is led by God fearing people. It does not mean everybody here are God fearing people. Faith is weaved very tightly in this organization. We do not hide it, but we also do not beat people over the head with it. The culture is strong enough that when people come and interview here, whether they align with that part of our mission and values or not, they stay here. I do not think anybody would say that they feel that they are held back because of that. At the end of the day, I think people really see that they benefit from the strong faith fabric that is weaved into this organization.
How could you say a company that is focused on others and not a small group of people in corner offices is a bad thing? We just put so much time and energy and resources into people other than people like me. We have a wonderful group of people, regardless of whether they spend time in church on Sunday, or they do not. They care about the company. They care about other people. That is one of our hiring requirements. You must have a heart for service. There are wonderful, good people that do not believe in God. You have to have a heart for serving other people to work here. Whether you are an apprentice, whether you are a foreman, whether you are in our billing department, whether you are the president of the company, you have to have a heart for serving other people. That is the common theme among our employees.
“You have to have a heart for serving other people to work here. ”
I am excited to reintegrate everybody back into the building. We have a vast majority of our office staff working remotely now. We are in a new building that is just three years old now. This building was built to be community oriented with a lot more community spaces. There is an area called the commons; a common area where people share meals, there is a TV, there are tables where people can sit together and get their coffee. It is not being used as a common area because there is only a few of us here every day. We wanted this building to be warm, we want it to be welcoming, we want to be able to practice hospitality and we cannot do that. So, I am really excited about the opportunity to get people back here. You cannot have the culture we desire for this company via Zoom, via email, via text. We need to be in proximity. We need to practice community with our coworkers in order to have the relationships with them that we desire and in order to serve them the way that we desire.
You learn much more about people's personal needs when you are in proximity to them. I miss that. I miss those conversations about the company that turn into a little bit of learning more about the person. You might learn something that gives you an opportunity to act on something to make their life better. You might hear about a struggle that one of their children have, where you can step in and offer resources where you would not have had that conversation via email, text or Zoom. That is part of the secret sauce to our culture here. We need people back here for us to thrive the way that we have thrived so well.
People that really love the Zoom and the working remotely, they may love it, but there is something they miss because of that. A lot of people do not see what they miss. It is almost like boiling a lobster, it just kind of happens. Before you know it, you are working remotely, and you realize, I do not feel as much a part of the company. I do not feel that I am being served as well. I do not feel like I am able to serve others well. I am very conscious of that. We need to get back here. People may say they really love it and I say to them, When you start celebrating your family Christmas, Thanksgiving, kids’ birthdays, parents’ birthdays, all via Zoom because that's more convenient and being in the same space doesn't matter, then come tell me that working remotely is great, because it is not.
Random Thoughts
What do you struggle with most - Time, Team or Money and why?
Time is what you make of it. I try not to bog myself down on things where I do not add value or just time alone does not add value. So, I am purposeful with that. As far as money, we have been blessed exponentially here as a company and as a family. We have resources to do things that we want to do as a company. We do not have debt; we have been very purposeful about operating the business on a cash basis. Not to hoard it, but simply just to provide a safe place for employees to work where we do not have to service a big debt load. I have seen debt have more negative impacts on business than what I care to see. So, money is not a real challenge, no. People are moving targets. They just are. If anything, how a business, how an organization managed the last year in terms of COVID, people are on a pendulum and you have people way on one side and others on the complete opposite side. Our job is not to make all of them happy. Our job is to be who we are while also respecting each other. The biggest challenge is always going to be with people. You can always make more money. You can make more time by hiring somebody else to free up other people's time. But people are people. They have different expectations. They have different desires. They have different thoughts, and we are not a company for everybody. We will tell very talented people, if you are only coming here to make a little bit more money, you are probably better served somewhere else. Not that we do not want their talent here, we do want their talent, but this company is more about just making an extra buck. It is about being part of a bigger purpose. We feel very missional in what we do. So, identifying the right people that are a good fit for this culture, in this organization, is always a challenge. They are out there, but it is not for everybody.
We are an electrical contractor, but people have said we are a church that does electrical work. I do not know whether to take that as an insult or a compliment. I do not care if you are a plumber, an engineering firm, an accounting firm, an electrical contractor, a bank, there is always something missional that you can accomplish in those businesses. If you see your business as solely the product that you produce, you are only accomplishing probably 50% of what you could. We produce construction projects; we provide power and lighting to organizations in their physical properties, but we also provide personal and professional growth to our people. We heavily resource the community, we walk alongside of sick and hurting people. We provide outlets for service to others. That is Kingdom stuff. If you miss that opportunity in your business, you are missing what I would see is probably the biggest opportunity and that is to influence other people. We have to make a profit and we are very profitable here, but that is not our end goal.
What do you want your legacy to be? Do you want your personal legacy to be that you made X number of dollars? I do not think most people would say that is the legacy they want to leave. They want their legacy to be that they made the world better, that they made life better for other people. It is no different for a company. If your sole purpose as a company is to make more money, is that really the legacy that you want to leave for your business? I do not want people to say Buist was great because they made a lot of money. I want them to say that Buist was great because they invested in my life, they invested in my family, they invested in the organizations that I care about, they helped the hurting family when they were in need. That gets me excited. That gets me passionate.
Progress or Perfection?
Progress. Probably goes back to the I made it conversation. If your focus is perfection you're going to miss out on a lot of opportunities to make a lot of progress. The phrase analysis paralysis, you can analyze things 20 times over and get bogged down in those weeds trying to seek perfection. There's a ton more outside of that focus of perfection that can be worked on to get you a lot further ahead. I have high standards for what we put out in writing and in visual. We have to make sure that we dot our i's and cross our t's. We just sent out a survey to employees yesterday. We asked employees to pick their branch, we have a Kalamazoo branch and Byron Center branch and the "C" on Byron Center wasn't capitalized so I made sure they capitalized that "C". Let's make sure we're doing our best with what we produce. Are we ever going to be perfect as people? Are we ever going to be perfect as a company? No. We all want our employees and the community and all those others that we serve to do the best in what we do but I don't remember God ever calling us to be perfect. We just never will be perfect. There's a lot of work to do outside of perfection that will add a lot more value to our community, our people, our business.
Who are your greatest influences?
I would say Larry Buist was a great influence for me. He let me be who I was in a lot of ways, a person that just wanted to serve other people. He gave me the opportunities to do that, and he encouraged me. He provided accountability for me. So from a professional standpoint, he was a great influence. He is not perfect either. I learned some things not to do from him, which are good experiences as well. I have always had a strong respect and love for my Grandfather. My Grandpa Harold Brinks, he started Brinks Electric. He was one person that showed me that hard work was important and not to be wasteful with your money. I have always been accused of being tight with money in some regards. I’m Dutch and so I get the whole Hollander thing. But my Grandpa never drove as nice of a vehicle as what he could have. My Grandpa never had as nice of a house as what he could have. My Dad, his brother and my Grandma and Grandpa lived in a three-bedroom, one bath house on the southeast side of Grand Rapids with a detached garage, and they did great. They thrived in that house. My Grandpa never had insurance because he always made sure he had enough money to replace the things that he needed. He thought, why pay an insurance company. He never cared what people thought of him. He was a self-employed electrician, never made gobs of money, but he was smart with his money. He was smart with his tithing and passed away and left a bounty for my Dad and uncle. You look at the other extreme, where people made a lot more money than what my Grandpa ever made, and they spent a lot more money than my Grandpa ever made and they were always concerned what people thought of them, so they got big houses and cars and motorhomes and fancy jewelry, but at the end of the day that was the legacy they wanted to leave, and they did not leave much for others. My Grandpa was a visual for me that I will never forget. He died in October of 1996 and I miss him to this day. He was just a great influence with the whole, “don’t try to impress people” mentality. It just has always stuck with me. You can do a lot with very little.
“Don’t try to impress people. It just has always stuck with me. You can do a lot with very little.”
If you could recommend one book what would it be?
I keep multiple copies of books I love because I give them away so much. I would recommend People over Profit, The Heart of a Leader and The Soul of a Firm. All of these have a faith perspective weaved into them, but the message is universal; treat people incredibly well and let that be your legacy. Those are some of the books that I really appreciate. Those are the books I would encourage other people to read. Now, if you want the best nonfiction read David Baldacci. I have read all his books and he is a murder mystery kind of guy. He developed characters and had book series revolving around characters. If you read his books, you will be hooked. Some great vacation reading.
Favorite hobby?
I am a sucker for hobbies. I love to hunt. I love to fish. Trap and skeet shooting. We snowmobile a lot in the winter. I love water, anything on the water, boating. I am not one to just sit for the most part. I have learned to be better about it, like reading a book. We just got back from Florida a couple weeks ago and I planned on doing a lot more fishing, so I did not bring a book. The weather was not good. I was tapping my foot a lot because I needed something to do. I love to do things and if it can involve the family, the better. My son Tyler loves to snowmobile, so we snowmobile a lot together. We will be spending more time on the water boating this summer. My daughters and Rachael love the sun, adventure, and the beach. I am excited about this summer to have that as a resource to spend a Iot of time with our kids and their friends. I love being in the position to share what we have with other people. I am looking forward to hobbies that not only I enjoy, but that Rachael, my kids and our friends get to enjoy.
Do you have a bucket list item?
I would love to spend a couple of weeks in Alaska. I love the outdoors. I would want to cruise the exterior and travel the interior. I would love to do a moose hunt or a bear hunt and see the glaciers. I have seen it on TV, and I want to see it in person. I have talked to people that have been there and they just say it is incredible. I can only relate it to the first time that we went out West. We went to Yellowstone, the Tetons, and the Badlands. Until you have seen it in person, you will never fully appreciate it. I want to visit Alaska because I just love the outdoors. I see God's painting in the outdoors just so vividly. It is probably the easiest place for me to appreciate the wonder of God. So, Alaska would be one thing on my bucket list. I want to see my kids get married. I want to see grandkids. I want all those things. Those are all selfish wants, but bucket list stuff is selfish stuff. We do not deserve any of that. If I get there, great. That will be awesome, but I will try to do what I can, what today has in store for it too. I just want my family to be well and to experience joy. That is the meat on the bone. If I get to Alaska great, if I get to Hawaii great, but if I go to Hawaii, I want to fish.
soapbox topic?
Culture. You can ask the handful of people in this office today, you could ask, “What does Brent get stuck on?” It is making sure we are who we say we are. About five years ago, we put our core values to words. I am not going to be here forever; I might not even be here tomorrow. There is going to be another generation that takes over for this company. After that, there is going to be another generation that takes over for that generation in this company. We are who we are as a company. I want future generations to know what we stood for. I believe the reason for our success is because of how unique we are as a company, in that we are so people focused and service focused. We have to make sure that we put people in leadership that believe in that and that they are passionate about it. We put our core values to words, and it talks about service to others, faith, integrity, and continuous improvement. We cannot let that stuff go, otherwise, we become just another company. We cannot be just another company and accomplish what we have at the level we do, we just cannot. I am so sure of that because I have lived it 24 years. I was 21 when I started here, and I just realized that I have spent more than half my life here. I cannot be anymore sure of something than what we do here works for what we are trying to accomplish. So, culture. It’s very important.
“We put our core values to words and it talks about service to others, faith, integrity, and continuous improvement. We can’t let that stuff go, otherwise, we become just another company. ”
If somebody wanted to take a step forward toward where you are, what would you have them do?
There is a saying that culture eats strategy for lunch. That means something to me. If you do not have leaders that are passionate about other people, you will never have the culture that we have. If our culture, if what we are accomplishing, if what we are producing, if what we have in our relationships with our coworkers and the community is what you want, it has to be less about you and more about other people. That is where it starts, whether you are a Christian or not. If our culture is not what you want, if you want a culture all about awards and all about profit, all about cost and all about image, you start with something different. If our culture is what you want you have got to go back to, how do you serve other people before you serve yourself. A lot of it is interactions. We were just talking yesterday, we have a monthly meeting with a handful of leaders, and we specifically talk about our folks on the frontlines, our people in the field. It is vitally important that we know who they are, what they want, what gets them excited and how do we get them to where they need to be for themselves and for the company. At the end of that meeting, we were just talking about why people we have hired from competitors come here. They come here because of our culture. We are not offering them a huge increase in their pay base package, but they get awesome benefits on top of their base pay. That is just part of us caring for them and wanting them to be successful. It is part of the secret sauce; it is our culture. I will get an email when one of our apprentices passes their journeyman's exam. This is where I go back to what I say might matter a little bit more, even though I do not think that it should. I send them a text, a, “congratulations, that must be a great weight off your shoulders.” That means something to them. I communicated with them as a person about a success that they had, an accomplishment that they had. Yesterday, we had an employee who had their second baby. I sent him a congratulations text. They appreciate it. It makes them feel like they matter.
We are almost at 400 employees here. It takes a lot of people recognizing people for who they are. An employee who has a friend that was diagnosed with cancer and them being able to call and say, hey, can you help out with a medical bill or GoFundMe or something like that. You have to make it very, very personable for the people. That is part of our culture. Just getting in the weeds with our people and celebrating their successes, walking alongside of their joys and hurts. You do it because it is the right thing to do.
Culture really does eat strategy for lunch. You can strategize about having the culture we have but unless it is part of your fabric, unless it is part of your leadership's fabric, you can strategize all day long, it is not going to make a bit of difference. People are not dumb. They can read your intent. We have great profit margins. We have extremely low turnover. We have highly productive people. The end result is we make good money in what we do. We are able to invest that in other people. They want the end result that we have. If the strategy is all focused on the end result, not necessarily how you got there, then it means nothing.
“Culture eats strategy for lunch. ”
We did a strategic planning with 17 leaders in the field and in the office in December of ‘19. COVID put a real cramp in our ability to accomplish that stuff but we had a meeting in March, kind of a closeout meeting. We had five goals that we took away from that strategic planning and we accomplished 90% of everything that we wanted to do in 2020. We have communicated our progress to all our people along the way. That was strategy, that was us making ourselves better as a company. That is all great, but if you got a bunch of jerks in a room that are selfish, that want what is best for them, you will never have the profit margins that we have along with the impact we have. That will never happen.
People just know who you are and what your end goal is. If it is about you, people will not get behind that. They will work because they need a job, but when they know that you are about them, they will work harder. When they know what they do is going to benefit other people, they will work harder. Not me as other people, but people in the community, people that are hurting. It is part of that missional focus of our company. You do not just do electrical work. Your electrical work produces something well beyond getting power and lights to that company. It is benefiting other people. It is helping other people receive education. It is helping other people in another country have resources to learn how to read, or to get schooling their government does not want them to get, or to pay a utility bill for a family that just lost their job or lost a spouse. It is just so much bigger than that. That takes some sacrifice. That means a president or vice president or whatever you want to call it maybe does not make as much money because you paid your employees more, you gave them better benefits, or you helped send them on a mission trip or help pay for their kids’ education, whatever it is. There has to be a sacrificial piece to your life and your work if you are going to have the culture we have here. I do not say what we have is perfect, our culture is not for everybody. I do not hold it against them. I think they are missing out because we get to experience joy that they do not get to experience. This works for us.
To learn more about Brent Brinks and Buist Electric, check out their website @ https://buistelectric.com/
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