Since it launched some 15 years ago, Point B has been breaking all the rules. Point B is an employee-owned operations management firm that specializes in helping clients execute strategic initiatives and deliver business results. Point B serves clients in Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Portland, San Francisco and Seattle, although its consultants work primarily from home or remote locations. What seemed like a radical concept in 1995 is more and more the way business gets done these days—it's just that Point B has a 15-year head start on perfecting the model.
And, make no mistake about it: Point B has perfected the model. "The Best Firm to Work For award means that Point B's consultants feel cared for and can focus their full creative and intellectual energies on our clients. Winning awards are kind of like seeing good financial results—they are certainly good news, but they're really indicators that you're doing a lot of other things right," says Tim Jenkins, co-founder and co-CEO of Point B. "From the firm's standpoint, it means that we are a living according to our values."
One thing the firm—and Jenkins—is clearly doing right is winning the hearts and minds of its employees. Point B finished first in the Leadership category of the survey, no small feat considering more than 200 consulting firms participated.
"Our most important decision was to put people ahead of profits during the Great Recession," Jenkins says. "Point B exists for the benefit of our people and, when challenged during the worst economic downturn in our history, we made it clear that layoffs were our absolute last resort."
Point B didn't lay off a single employee during the downturn. That'll go a long way to creating employee confidence in firm leadership. "Point B exists for its people; always has and always will," Jenkins says. "Our people saw that our purpose, values and culture tenets were not just talk; that they weren't recruiting spin and didn't just apply in the flush times."
As far as the future, Jenkins says he's not sure we're out of the economic woods just yet. Calling himself "conservative, though not pessimistic," in his outlook, Jenkins says he doesn't see surging growth ahead. "We believe we are in for a period of stagnation, with occasional surges tempered by the continued work-out of the problems in the financial and public sectors." For Jenkins, 2011 will likely be similar to 2010, barring a "black swan" type of event.
"The Great Recession is burned into everyone's memory. Though we have much cause for optimism about the future, our employee-owners know that success will not just be handed to them," Jenkins says. "Our folks have a 'roll-up-your-sleeves' attitude right now; our clients expect it and our goals demand it. Though we are not immune to challenges, our employee-owners know that the purpose and values of the firm are worth fighting for."
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