Values and Leadership with World Wide Technology

Michael C. Bush (00:00):

So in 2020, World Wide technology was number 96 on the 100 Best list. And I remember you are very happy about that because you know what that list means and have consistently improved year over year. Number 19 in 2023 and 2024 and number 10 this year. So a round of applause. What Jim has done. 87% of the World Wide Technology employees around the globe say, “I want to work here a long time.” 84% say, “I believe management would lay people off only as a last resort,” which is our most important question out of the 60 questions. Can you talk about the values that World Wide Technology since you co-founded it, and also how those values are supporting you in the AI revolution? 

Jim Kavanaugh (00:44):

Sure. First of all, thanks for having me. It's honestly, I was saying in the back to Michael, it's an honor to be here. It's a real privilege. And to get up and talk about things like this that mean a lot to me and mean a lot to Dave Steward, my co-founder and the leadership team at World Wide, I'd first want to say the reason we're on the list is because of our employees. I mean, it's that simple. It's the great employees that we have. But to answer your question, Michael, I would look at and try to frame it up at a high level. There are just things, especially in today's world, that there's more change, more disruption going on than ever. I can't remember as being the CEO and growing World Wide with all our great employees over the last 35 years, anytime that there is in the last 5, 6, 7 years where there is more change, more disruption, more polarization of just ideas and thoughts that are really, really challenging for everyone. 

Jim Kavanaugh (01:55):

So if I look at where we are, there's things that are going to continue to come and I think all of us need to be thinking about individually and collectively as an organization, how do you deal with change? And I mean this very sincerely where you sit back and be prepared to think about how you personally, collectively as an organization, because it can be very emotional, it can be very challenging, but there can also be opportunity with that change. So when I look at where we are at World Wide, the core values that we originally had that when we first started were more of just intangibles that everybody knew when we were 10 people, 20, 30, 40, a hundred people. W got over a hundred people, it was like we probably need to start nailing these down a little and making sure that there's a level of clarity in regards to our mission, our vision, our values, and what we really mean by our values. 

Jim Kavanaugh (02:55):

And then how do we incorporate into the business. And then you look at where we are. We are a technology business, but what we do today is so different than where we were before. So my point would be is that the business has changed significantly over the last 35 years and it has changed significantly over the last five years. You think about digital disruption, you think about the internet, you think about then digitizing business software, mobile applications, social platforms, and now we have AI. So all of these things are changing the way that we work, live, and play and how we run and grow our businesses. But the one thing that I believe that is a constant and should be a constant and should stand the test of time are your values and your behaviors and your culture. And I believe if you have a really strong set of values that you truly all commit to, it's amazing how those values, those behaviors in that culture can help not only navigate through those challenging disruptive times, but it can actually help accelerate the opportunities that are presented with all this change. 

Jim Kavanaugh (04:10):

So some things will change and they're going to continue to change and we need to, I would say, be receptive to that and learn how to embrace that to be better as individuals and as an organization. But there's also things like your values, behaviors and your culture that I think should stand the test of time. And that's something that I see at World Wide that we do not change those values and those behaviors. And they've worked for us when we started up the business and they are living and breathing right now, probably more so than ever. 

Michael C. Bush (04:46):

So if you've got, you do business with a lot of companies,and then you have partnerships with a lot of companies, and you have deep partnerships with a few companies, companies like Cisco and Nvidia, both on our list. When you think about when you're a partner and a true partner, how do you assess? What are you looking for in terms of the values alignment? There's a difference between a partner and a true partner. What kinds of things are you looking for? 

Jim Kavanaugh (05:19):

It's a really interesting question. I don't like to study questions because I don't like to have prepared. So Michael basically gave me the questions in the back, said, “Do you want to look at it?” I'm like, “Well, oh wow, what am I going to say about that? What am I?” When I thought about that and honestly in the back and looking about partners, and I think it's very similar to us as an organization, all the different partners we work with and relationships that I may have the very good fortune. And I do feel very, very fortunate to have relationships with a Chuck Robbins at Cisco with a Jensen Huang, Nvidia, I mean some incredible people that have had great success and are great leaders. And I look at that across the industry, feel very fortunate. To Michael, to your question, all these different companies have different personalities and they have different approaches of how they go to market. 

Jim Kavanaugh (06:18):

And my view is, and I was thinking about it in the back, we want to have, and we do have a very inclusive collaborative culture that we want to work. And part of our values is to be a team player and to embrace a collaborative effort. So if you think about individual organizations are similar to people, you want people with differing opinions and you want differing perspectives, that's what creates great ideas. But you have to create an organization that allows that to flourish and to build and to create those innovations. So back to the point is all those companies are very different and how we deal with them based on their individual personalities I think is part of the magic that World Wide brings, that we work with them and try to align to the way that they operate and to be inclusive, but also using our values and behaviors as that core foundation. 

Jim Kavanaugh (07:24):

So when I look at that, and I would say the last thing in closing on that, when I was thinking about when you showed me the question in the back, the amount of feedback that I get from our partners in regards to how much they enjoy working with our employees is really amazing. And it really is. It gives me goosebumps and it's inspiring to me to hear that. And it makes me proud. It makes me proud to be in a position I am and to see the way that our employees interact with our partners and our customers and each other. 

Michael C. Bush (08:03):

Yeah. So you're talking about really the values of your partners, the things that you respect, these leaders that you respect, and there's a common trait between those leaders that we just talked about and you which is you're very competitive and I know you were a former U.S. Olympic and Pan-American team player, a great soccer player, a major indoor soccer league player and team player. You use that reference just now in terms of something that you value. And so I wondered if as you think back over your playing days, after having a good game or your academic days, 

Jim Kavanaugh (09:09):

Oh boy, where are we going?

Michael C. Bush (09:13):

Just trying to from the inside out hear about when you were successful, what the night was like for you? What kinds of things were you thinking about after successful academic performance or successful athletic performance? 

Jim Kavanaugh (09:36):

It is an interesting question. I reflect back. I don't think in a lot of cases I was ever satisfied, especially as a player. I always mentioned to Krista in the back, I'm not a great sleeper. I'm working on my sleep habits to be better because we all know now how important that is to your health. But when I get something in my mind, it just keeps going and going. And the same thing when I played soccer. It was like the game would keep running in your head whether you had a good game, especially if you didn't have a good game. It was like continuing to go through. I guess if I went back to sports, I learned so much through sports. One, it is a tough job as you play up and you're younger and you're growing and you're elevating, it's so much fun. But as you get to different levels, professionalism, you are evaluated every day you’re on that field, every minute.

Jim Kavanaugh (10:32):

And now I feel for the players because everything is videoed and everything is scripted. So my point, what I feel like I've learned so much, just grit, determination, work ethic, responsibility that you have, teamwork. But also one of the things was probably most important and to this day I feel especially as a CEO and all of us in our roles at every level, you need to learn how to embrace constructive input. And you don't get better as a player if you think you have all the answers and you know that you played the best. And I do remember playing on the Olympic team at one time and they just started back then were videoing games and stuff and critiquing. I thought I had a great game. And the coach literally pulled up and showed, no, you were ball watching and you weren't paying attention to the guy that was behind you and it was coming behind you. 

Jim Kavanaugh (11:26):

And that constructive input that is like, wow, I need to get better and I need to learn. And I think that is something from sport that I take today that we are never done. We all need to be lifelong learners. And that includes CEOs and it includes all of us, especially with all the change that's going. So I would just say my learnings from that is work ethic, grit, determination, teamwork, and also being willing to take constructive input. And as you know, sometimes CEOs get in different positions, they think they have all the answers and we don't. We don’t. And we need input and we need to continue to hold our self accountable just like everybody here needs to hold themselves accountable. 

Michael C. Bush (12:28):

So how many hours a night do you sleep? 

Jim Kavanaugh (12:31):

Depends. I've got this ring on and it basically tells me and it doesn't, I don't like what it tells me. So I don't think I need a lot of sleep, but I need some quality sleep. So I would say if I get five hours of good sleep, I'm great, but it's not always. They say you need seven or eight, but then if it's poor sleep anyway, this is a self-assessment of I'm like, where are we going? That wasn't on the script.

Michael C. Bush (13:06):

I care for you Jim. I care for you. 

Jim Kavanaugh (13:10):

Thank you. 

Michael C. Bush (13:10):

So you got leaders that you develop in 12 countries, over 10,000 employees. And when you think about the values and how people are getting treated all around the world, data says you're doing a good job of that. During your 20 hours of work apparently, what are you thinking about? What are you worried about? Even in times like this in terms of thinking about that one out of the 10,000 on a global basis with cultural differences around the world and so on. I know we've talked a lot over time and about caring for every single person, but what's on your mind? 

Jim Kavanaugh (13:59):

Yeah, I would say at a high level, and Sara Goellner who is an executive VP at World Wide Chief of Staff and runs marketing and does a ton of stuff for World Wide, and we talked about it when she took the position several years ago, I said the one thing that we'll look at it, I said there's a balance of two things at a very high level from my perspective and a CEO level, we need to continue to balance. One is to create a high performance organization is one to really focus on the business and making sure that we're making the right business decisions. We're executing across the entire organization. Our vision is right. And we get that really going and we show that kind of flywheel effect on it. Every bit as important as our culture and our values and our employees and employee engagement. 

Jim Kavanaugh (14:56):

So you take those two pieces and those are the things that's kind of the yin and the yang that I'm always looking at is how are we making sure that we're developing both of those on the most sound practices that are very foundational and able to scale throughout the organization and the company. And when you bring those together, you can create an incredibly powerful force. And I look at, it's kind of like along with our mission is to be a profitable growth company that's a great place to work. Profitability, even we were very young, I remember when someone asked me, why do we need to keep making money? What are you do? And I'm like, profitability is not there to line the owner's pockets and executives that isn’t, but it is an economic indicator and marker to see, are you improving? And also that profitability you'd need to drive to reinvest in your business, to reinvest in your people, to reinvest in innovation facilities growth globally. 

Jim Kavanaugh (16:02):

And you'll look at growth specifically. Why do we need to focus on growing? And it's like an individual, if you're not advancing and growing, you're probably sliding back. So you need to push to have that growth mindset. And you think about it, if you're growing, you're creating opportunity for your very energized and overachieving employees. They have a place to go, they're excited to be engaged, they see opportunity for themself and then to be a great place to work. And we look at, it's like the three legs of the stool that you need to have that great place to work. And as I talked about earlier on in regards to all the disruption and changes and polarization of ideas and things going on in the world today, being a great place to work and truly creating an environment where your employees trust you, and you need to earn their trust, and there's a level of transparency, you bring those things together and that's what I focus on. 

Jim Kavanaugh (17:03):

And it's trying to make sure that those things are balanced so those three legs of the stool can stand and they can really enable the organization to grow. And one additional comment I would make on that, Michael, is that we just recently made the largest acquisition in the history of World Wide. We bought a company with the name of Softchoice and couldn't be more excited about that, just closed a couple of weeks ago, Canadian-based IT systems integrator software company that is very complimentary to World Wide and all the things that I talked about from a business perspective, very synergistic and complimentary. But as important or even more important, the reason we made the acquisition was because of the people and because of the culture and felt that the people and the culture fit so well with what we're doing. And it's never easy when you have change and you're the one in the middle of that. But I believe these two cultures coming together make us even stronger as an organization. And that was a really, really important part of the decision process for me and the executive team as we move forward. So culture and people are really, really important. 

Michael C. Bush (18:22):

Anybody out there from Canada? Yeah. Yeah. So we love our neighbor. 

Jim Kavanaugh (18:28):

Yes. 

Michael C. Bush (18:28):

Okay. 

Jim Kavanaugh (18:28):

Yes we do.

Michael C. Bush (18:29):

We love our neighbor. Just want to go down for the record on that one. 

Jim Kavanaugh (18:34):

Cheers.

Michael C. Bush (18:35):

Alright. And look forward to seeing two great companies coming together and I think it's going to be a fantastic story. So any final words of advice Jim? From one thing, I'm always struck by your humility. I've told you this because of all that you do that you don't want me to talk about. Because when you're running a private company and you do things in your community, that's your money. It's different than when it's a public company. It's kind of the public's money, okay? Big difference. But through and through you are that person. You also always wear blue. So that definitely works, but just a tremendous person that I know how your people feel about you. But just to wrap up, let people know what you do every Monday at 7:00 AM 

Jim Kavanaugh (19:26):

This is a big motivator for this. Thank you for the comments, Michael. It's been probably over 30 years now, but I have a meeting at seven o'clock central time, St. Louis time, that's where corporate headquarters and also a big congrats to Penny Pennington with Edward Jones. I literally in my office basically look out of my office and I see Edward Jones and what Edward Jones has done has been amazing.

Jim Kavanaugh (19:55):

To your point of reinvesting back in the community growing domestically North America. And they've just been a great success story and she's a great person. So hats off to Penny and her team. And when I look at part of I think driving success for an organization is the discipline and rigor and trying to figure out what is the best process to make sure that your leadership team is in the know and collaborating and challenging each other. So every Monday morning, seven o'clock central time of a meeting, now, it's probably longer than a lot of people would want, but we have an hour of AI backed on the end of, so it's a two and a half hour meeting. And believe it or not, if you look at it, that meeting goes by very, very quickly. And you could sit there and say, God, you don't need to. 

Jim Kavanaugh (20:46):

There's that much change every week. I'm like, it's amazing how much I learn every week and we go through our financials, week to date, month to date, year to date, we go through any operational issues that we're having and performance things, whether it's in our supply chain facilities around the globe. We go through services, we go through any sales issues that we have, we'll go through also very focused, all the people that we hired that week and people that have left or were asked to leave and we go through and if there's any trends or any issues that we need to be thinking about. So think about, we're looking at the business and financially and operationally, how are we performing? And we're looking at the culture and the people and how are we doing? And then the hour at the end is focused on how we're implementing AI internally to drive innovation and scale and differentiation for us and how we're using AI because of the business we're in of technology innovation to help drive and help customers build out and implement their own AI platforms and outcomes internally. 

Jim Kavanaugh (21:55):

So that Monday morning, honestly to this day doing this over 30 plus years, as we built that rigor, and I'll go back and to the point of our CFO who Tom Strunk's been with us for over 30 years. And yeah, Michael you know Tom very well. I remember 30 some odd years ago, Tom was like, Jim, we don't need to have this meeting on Monday. I can just send you the spreadsheet and you can look at the numbers and if you have any questions, give me a call. And I said, this is one of 'em, like I need to take input. I said, thank you very much Tom. I'll see you at seven o'clock. And I'm like, so there are decisions that CEOs need to make and things, but I find that meeting is incredibly informative and it creates the opportunity if we do see things that may be cultural trends that we don't like or we do like, we talk about those things and we collaborate and we drill down. 

Jim Kavanaugh (22:48):

And the other one I would just touch on, Michael, is that I appreciate your comments on the humility. To me, I would just say very, very sincerely, I did not get here. This was not my doing, it was my doing with a great team of people. When I reflect back on people that have been there grinding through this, Joe Koenig, Tom Strunk, so many members of our executive team have been with the company for 25 plus 30 plus years, grinding through it and growing and learning. And we've all been pushing each other to help learn and get better. So when I go and I look at the success of World Wide, it is not me. It is the collective organization. And it's a bunch of great people that I have an incredible debt of gratitude to and just honored to work with. And we even talking in the back, and I know I'm rambling on a bit, but there's no reason we shouldn't have fun also. I mean, we work really, really hard. We all work hard. There's so much change coming at us, but try to have some fun too. I mean, and I point that at myself too, when you're really in the grind of doing things. But at the end of the day, life's too short. We need to have fun while we're all really working hard to be the best we can be. 

Michael C. Bush (24:17):

Alright, well you need to get that sleep. We need you here a long time. A warm thank you for Jim Kavanaugh.