September 15, 2003
Copy This: Kinko’s CEO Offers Advice on
Changing Corporate Culture
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Napoleon once said that if you want to know what’s going on in
the front lines, go look,” Gary Kusin, president and CEO of
Kinko’s, told students at the fall semester’s first MBA
Executive Speaker Series luncheon. “So I did,” said Kusin,
describing his strategy for turning around Kinko's in 2001. “I
visited branch offices, talking with thousands of people to
uncover what the company’s problems were, because those are the
people that know.”
Kinko’s is the leading document solutions and business services
company in the world, with branches in nine countries, a Mexico
store opening next month and more than 20,000 team members all
over the world.
After joining as president and chief executive officer in 2001,
Kusin dramatically changed the firm, turning it from a company
that was losing money to one that had its best financial year
ever in 2002. Kusin has implemented revolutionary changes since
his start. In perhaps the largest, he switched the company’s
headquarters from Ventura, Calif., where employees would surf
during lunch hour and wear wet suits to work, to the more
centrally-located, culturally conservative Dallas.
“To change a corporate culture, you have to get people out of
their routines,” Kusin said. “One of the easiest ways to do that
is to move the headquarters.”
He also changed the name from Kinko’s Corporate Offices to
Kinko’s Field Support Organization.
“Our business does not happen in corporate offices,” Kusin said.
“It happens out there in our branches, with our customers. We
wanted to let everyone know that we were there to support them.”
Kusin changed Kinko’s by implementing his own fundamental
beliefs in leadership principle, he said. He made the
organization more performance-based.
“Performance matters,” he said. “It’s not about tenure, or who
you know. It’s about how you work.”
He also emphasized team performance instead of individual by changing the name “ co-workers” to “team members.” It dramatically changed the whole attitude, Kusin said. Team members felt much more included and appreciated than co-workers.
Kusin talked about his six leadership principles that guide his business decisions.
- Alignment: “In any company everyone should fight over the right thing to do for the company, but everyone should agree in the end where we need to be.” Everyone needs to understand and stand behind the company’s direction.
- Accountability: Do what you say you’re going to do. If you don’t, you’ll be responsible for it.
- Commitment to continuous improvement: If you’re not moving forward, you’re moving backward.
- Commitment to quality and service: Meet the customers’ needs so well today that they’ll come back tomorrow.
- Honesty and integrity: “Deliver bad news if you have it. The business world has a lot to improve upon in this respect and, as recent events have demonstrated, business can disappear if they have poor integrity.”
- Respect for others: “I promote disagreement, but it can’t get out of control. I’ve seen people lose it. One man ripped his phone out of the wall and threw it across the room. That’s not respectful.”
Kusin also noted another priority of his company—the
environment. Kinko’s has a strong commitment to the environment
and has been honored by the Environmental Protection Agency and
the National Recycling Coalition.
Notable Soundbites
On getting shareholder support for costly environmental
considerations:
“We make so much more money than our competitors that we don’t
have to worry so much about margins. Plus, you end up not paying
for it because you draw more customers in since you’re doing the
right thing.”
On business school alumni networks:
“I loved Harvard so much that I still feel connected to it. It’s
about the pride students can take in the school and the
continued communications between the school and its students and
former students.”
On being a CEO:
“Speaking here today to you? This is my free time. I like doing
this. This is fun. When I have to make the tough decisions,
that’s what I get paid to do. I get paid to stay awake at night
worrying about the company.”
On continuous improvement:
“Don’t be scared of changing what you’re doing. The more it
looks like it’s working, the more I want to play with it.”
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