When I joined Campus Advantage almost 6 years ago, I was drawn by the contagious enthusiasm of the founders, who have a true passion for serving students. Of the owners, the majority of us started out as RAs. This aligned perfectly with my vision and values, so I joined Campus Advantage, bringing my RA website and speaking under the umbrella of this brand new organization.
Fast-forward 6 years. Campus Advantage was just named to the Inc 5000 list as the 541st fastest growing privately held company in 2008. We have nearly 1,000 employees and manage over 30,000 beds of student housing. I have had the opportunity to work with students now numbering in the hundreds of thousands, and to train thousands of student leaders.
Back to the title of this post... Running a Values-Led Business. Campus Advantage was founded and is run with a strong set of values and a dual bottom line of putting Students First and being financially successful as well.
Today, as I reflect on the past 6 years, I am determined more than ever to keep the core vision and values of Campus Advantage live and well at every level of our organization, from the student staff to the senior leadership of the company. As we grow, this core sense of purpose becomes increasingly important yet increasingly difficult to maintain, but it deserves every ounce of energy we can pour into maintaining our core ethos and working to make this set of values play out in our every-day business operations.I am currently preparing to conduct a couple of Students First res life conference calls with our site staff. I have to honestly ask the question, "do our team members understand this vision we have of making a difference in the lives of students? Are the folks who are working directly with our residents truly "bought in" to the bigger vision of Campus Advantage?" I plan to pose that question on these calls, and I will never stop asking that question. This is what makes us who we are and what we can become.
These are the folks who are arms and legs of our vision. Without them, we cannot be successful, let alone make a difference in the lives of our residents, which is truly the core of how we desire to do things at Campus Advantage.
"With a clear vision of what we can become, no difficulty is too great. Without it, we rarely step beyond our current boundaries."
How is your vision?
How is the vision of your employees?
Being willing to honestly ask is a good first step.
Find out where the vision has not reached.
Bear the torch and get it there.
