Today more than ever a leader needs their team to care and tend to the bottom line. We’ve got that—Wow!

Here’s our “wow” for this week: This Wow! goes to —- who decided that he and a friend could build an application we needed, and do so on their own time.

This way we could get exactly what we wanted, and without a subscription cost. —- was watching out for opportunities that would help us, and for the impact on our bottom-line. This is exactly what one means when they strive to have their team “thinking and acting like owners.” That we have this in our team deserves a resounding, Wow!

Why is this “wow!”? We hire highly skilled employees who work remotely. We are a virtual company for many reasons including that the skills and dedication we have in this team have not been found in the city the CEO lives. And it just so happens that all non-executive employees today live outside of the U.S., including Canada, Romania, India and Singapore. They do not face the same job market and could easily find employment elsewhere. Therefore, they are choosing to work for our companies, Abrige & C-Secure Systems, even through these rough times. They know that continued success is in front of us.

Why is this important? Often an employer satisfies the “What’s in it For Me?” (WIIFM) for employees primarily via monetary compensation. Then, if productivity of the employee or revenue of the company is not as expected then the decision is to demote or let someone go; there is no negotiating some re-matching of pay with past performance. (Yes, I realize some employees, such as in CA, are accepting .75 or .50 work, but that is not what I mean by matching pay for performance). Here we are doing that type of matching, successfully, in every role at every level (yes including me, the CEO)…and it is working.

Now, I would be foolish and not a strong leader to expect anyone to work for free. I don’t. But what I do expect is that those working for our companies will care about how their actions affect our opportunities and bottom line. I expect them to consider not only the WIIFM for themselves but also the WIIFM for the organization, as it is embodied by our Strategy. Doing so positions us to better negotiate rough waters when we travel off course—or are pushed off unexpectedly. A shared vision and clear expectations are especially important when the current course is entirely wiped out and a new course must be determined.

Will our employees benefit from our nimble structure? Absolutely! Because our overhead stays so very low we are able to remain highly competitive while sharing more with employees when the cash comes in.

To get to this point, a leader must exhibit actions that match words, always. Do not break trust. Just because you are the leader in no way means that you do not need to prove that you are in the right role and suitable to lead. Look around and see what has happened when leaders are not trustworthy.

Our small company—a U.S. corporation—is showing that we can be trusted, at every level and that we have “adding value” at our very core. —- is a great example of who we are.

Congrats —-! Wow! You are focused on adding value to our companies, customers and clients.