Creating a Company Focused on Excellence
Excellence Is Never an Accident
If you don’t build something intentionally, day by day, you can’t expect long-term success to magically show up. We didn’t get here by accident.
When I started IST almost 29 years ago with two employees in Atlanta, I didn’t have venture capital. I didn’t have debt. I didn’t have some grand corporate machine behind me. What I had was belief… a lot of drive… and a deep conviction that if we built this company the right way, it would last.
Today, many members of my executive team have been with me for 25 to 27 years. A large portion of our management team has been here more than 20 years. That doesn’t happen by luck. So how do we do that? For me, excellence has always rested on three pillars: Structure, Specificity, and Culture.
Structure: Be Great Every Day
Early on, I realized something very simple. It does us no good to be great on Monday and average on Tuesday. If we were going to build a company obsessed with excellence, we had to deliver that excellence consistently. Not occasionally. Not when we felt like it. Every single day.
So in the early years, when we had just eight managers sitting around a boardroom table, I said, “We’re writing SOPs.” They laughed. They thought it was overkill. But I wasn’t building for eight employees. I was building for 80… 800… 8,000. That’s where our digital SOP database began. Today it’s web-based, constantly evolving, and accessible to our teams across the country. Our clients demand consistency. Our employees deserve clarity. Structure gives both.
At the same time, no two client sites are identical. So alongside company-wide standards, we created Site-Specific SOPs tailored to individual clients. That balance of consistency and flexibility is critical. And we’ve always said something at IST that makes people smile: “If it isn’t broken, break it.” There is always a better way to do things. Always. Structure keeps us steady. It gives our people the roadmap so they can confidently exceed expectations instead of guessing at them.
Culture: It Always Starts at the Top
Structure keeps you consistent. Culture moves you forward. Many years ago, my sons were competitive gymnasts. That journey eventually led both of them to the Naval Academy and to the Navy gymnastics team. My oldest even served as captain. After he graduated, he was assigned to the USS Benfold. At one time, that ship had the reputation of being the worst-performing ship in the fleet. Then Captain Abrashoff took command. In a short period of time, he transformed it into the best operating ship in the Navy. My son called me and said, “Dad, you have to read this book.” The book was It’s Your Ship.
The central idea was simple: empower your people. Let them think. Let them speak. Let them take ownership. That book has been IST’s unofficial company book for decades. When employees read it and write an essay about how it connects to our mission, we reward them. But more importantly, we reinforce the mindset. Empowerment doesn’t happen by accident. It flows from culture. And culture always starts at the top.
If a company’s culture is strong, you can usually trace it to leadership. If it’s weak, same thing. So I take that responsibility very seriously. I still call clients. I still send emails. But I also know the people closest to the customer know more than I ever will about what truly makes that client feel served. My job is to serve them so they can serve others.
Specificity: Aim Higher Than You Think You Can
Without a clear vision, people rarely reach their full potential. I learned that lesson personally. Years ago, when I was 28 and my jewelry business was failing, I met a man named Ike Reighard at church in Atlanta. I walked up to him after a service and basically said, “I’m not sure what I’m doing here.” He looked at me and said, “You’re going to do just fine. Another time. Another business.” He believed in me before I believed in myself. Everyone needs someone like that. Someone who sees more in you than you currently see in yourself.
As a CEO, every year I have the opportunity to cast a vision for where we’re going. Recently, I shared a 25-year growth plan for IST. It’s ambitious. It stretches us. It pushes us. But I’ve always believed this: If you shoot for the stars and land on the moon, you still landed on the moon. If you only aim for the moon, you might not get there. Specific goals create confidence. Public goals create accountability. Big goals create momentum.
Building from the Inside Out
Excellence isn’t a slogan. It’s a system. It’s structured processes that create consistency. It’s culture that empowers people. It’s specific goals that stretch us beyond what feels comfortable. And underneath all of that… it’s people.
Technology will continue to evolve. AI will continue to change the landscape. But without people who care, none of it matters. As we move into our 29th year on April 1st, I can honestly say I’ve never been more energized. We’ve grown from two employees to nearly 1,800. And we’re just getting started. To our leadership team… our managers… our frontline teammates… thank you for building this from the inside out.
