For the past year or so I’ve been working with my now former colleague, Barbara McLaughlin and, former center forward for the Boston Celtics Hall of Famer, Dave Cowens, on a book about the ins and outs of running a successful business. Success however, as in business and in life, is not solely defined by dollar signs.
Northeast Delta Dental is most proud of the award we were granted in 2004 and again in 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008 (when we were retired from the competition), which was “25 Best Small Companies to Work for in America.” Quite simply, we value our employees. We strive for a balance between our staff’s work life and home life and our employees appreciate that. It’s little things like the free fresh fruit we distribute daily to bigger components such as generous time-off policies and flexible work schedules that prove to our employees we care and in turn they care about the company, work hard, and perform their best.
In this book, we propose twelve concepts to creating an excellent company culture. We are firm believers that employees who feel happy, empowered, and are rewarded and appreciated will work harder and drive the success of a company. Dave contributes personal stories from his days in the NBA that embody a lesson, which parallels stories from Barbara and me in the workforce. This undoubtedly illuminates the parallels between sports and business and how our careers, although they may have been polar opposites, what we learned was not.
So much of my time at Delta Dental of Massachusetts and Northeast Delta Dental is woven into these chapters, which makes this book so personal to me. I’m excited to for it to be released in October and hope that you can all find yourselves a copy! To learn more, listen to a recent radio interview featuring myself and co-author, Dave Cowens: http://bit.ly/1eCeXRH