LenRomano041818.mp3
Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX Studios in Atlanta, Georgia, it's time for Atlanta Business Radio, spotlighting the city's best businesses and the people who lead them.
: All right. Next up on Atlanta Business Radio, we have with us President and CEO with Christian City. Please join me in welcoming to the show, Len Romano. Good morning, sir.
: Good morning. Thanks for having me.
: Well, Len, can you talk a little bit about Christian City? How are you serving folks?
: Yeah, you know, Christian City is probably Atlanta's best kept secret. What it is, it's streets of gold and the tree of life, really. No, just joking. It's not what-
: Wow.
: There we go.
: Christian City is actually a 500-acre campus about 12 minutes south of the airport where we have a thousand senior citizens living there in either independent living, skilled nursing, assisted living. And then, we have homes for children at our Children's Village. And these children are victims of abuse, abandonment, and neglect. So, we house kids who need a place to be and need a family to live with.
: And then, we also have a program that goes throughout the metro area. It's called Safe Place. And Safe Place is a program where we take runaways off the streets 24/7. And, as you know, Atlanta is a big hub for-
: Human trafficking.
: … human trafficking.
: Right, yeah.
: So, we're there to intervene, get them off the street, bring them to our Children's Village, and then figure out what we need to do with them. And then, we're getting ready to start a foster care and adoption agency in the metro area. So, although, we're located, you know, 12 minutes south of the airport, we serve the entire metro area at Christian City.
: Now, I've always been fascinated by the concept of pairing the seniors with the young people. And my father's in an assisted living in Florida. And when you go there, they're just so hungry for interaction. And you have groups of people, especially young people, that are hungry for that adult interaction. How come no one's thought of pairing them together?
: There are examples around the country of that, but it is really important because these kids, in particular, need adult role models. And that's what they get at the Children's Village. They have full-time house parents that become their parents while they're there. And, really, it's less about, you know, the housing and taking kids off the street. It's more about generational poverty and breaking that chain.
: Right.
: And for our senior adults, it's more about isolation, and despair, and getting them out of that. We've got ladies and men there in their 90s who are active, busy, and having fun, and living abundantly as independent living residents on campus. And they love it. So, it's about breaking the chain of generational poverty, providing quality, affordable, and subsidized housing, which is an issue also in Metro Atlanta.
: Now, could you talk about your background a little bit? How did you get to the point where you are today?
: Yeah, it was a very odd way to get here. You know, I had worked for … I was a YMCA career professional for 34 years in DC, Hartford, Philadelphia, St. Louis, Denver, Boston, and Omaha, and always a turnaround expert. And I have an MBA from one of those Boston schools. And then, later in life, I got my master's of divinity.
: And when we were going to graduation week, we attended all these seminars. And the seminar leader said, "Hey, what are you all going to do with these degrees when you go back?" And when it came to my turn, I said, "Well, I'm going to be one of those folks that when a church implodes on itself, and they need someone to help get that church back, that's what I'll do."
: So, I come back to Omaha. And two weeks later, I get a call from an executive search firm here in Atlanta about this place called Christian City. I said, "You know, I'm not ready for that. You know, I'm still, you know, at the height of my career with the YMCA. And it's just not the right time." And they kept calling me, and kept calling me, and something inside said, "Take a look at it."
: So, I came here, you know, not expecting to move forward with it. And once I saw what we're doing on campus, it just said, "You know, it's the right time in my life to do something different and something that's more faith-based."
: So, then, what was the thing that kind of sold you on that?
: You know, the atmosphere on campus that there's a loving environment. And you don't have to be a Christian to be there, and you don't have to be Christian to work there, but what's understood is that when you are there, there's this feeling that you just can't describe it, but it's a loving feeling that everybody has. The staff have it. The people who live there have it. The volunteers have it. And it's just kind of an amazing place. And I had never experienced anything like that.
: Even through all your years in the YMCA?
: Yeah. And, you know, the YMCA does great work around the country and in cities everywhere, but this is just … There was just something special. And maybe there was something that either led me there or maybe it was just pure insanity, but we did it. My wife and I moved here and-
: Because that was a shift in terms of responsibility. You had never done anything to this scope before, right?
: Well, actually, I had. My scopes have always been bigger. You know, I've had nonprofits that were in the area of $60 million in revenues, you know, 18 locations, and pride of different states. This was way different because it's a smaller scope, a smaller focus because the Y does a lot of different things.
: Right.
: So, really, you know, you have a chance, as a CEO, to touch the people that you're serving; whereas, when you're in a bigger organization with, you know, a hundred thousand members and-
: Right. How does it work in the early days? You know, you're the hotshot, the new guy. You got all this pedigree background, and you swooped in down here, you know, in Middle Georgia, and how do-
: And you're going to fix it.
: Yeah. You know, there's a new sheriff in town, but I'm under the impression maybe that's not the tone you took, and maybe … I don't know. Maybe it is. But I'm fascinated by turnaround experts. I'm fascinated by when you bring in the high-caliber talent like that, how you conduct yourself to get the most out of things and set the proper foundation.
: Yeah, you've got to build trust first because whenever you come into an entity, a new entity, there's always, you know, a feeling of, "What is this person going to do?" But, you know, we needed to get into some new directions. I mean, we rebranded. And that took, at least, eight to nine months. And once you rebrand, we found out, there were over 300 little tactics that needed to be modified when you were a brand.
: Yeah.
: It was about building an infrastructure, process and procedures, a new culture, putting the right people in the right places. You know, it's really … It's a big project when you come into a new entity, especially one where the CEO who was there previously did a great job, but he was there for 27 years.
: So, whenever you have … whenever you replace a CEO that's been there for a very long time, you know, there's always some things that, you know, need to move in a new direction. I don't use the word "change." It's always new direction because when you talk about change-
: There's a pro tip right there.
: Yeah.
: Change is scary.
: Nobody wants to change.
: Talk about new direction because change is scary. People don't like the concept change. It really … Change really isn't change. It's a new direction, right? I mean, that's what the essence of change is. You're moving in a new direction. So, I forbid the staff to talk about change.
: Now, can you share a little bit about your leadership style or maybe some of the leaders that influenced you?
: Yeah. You know, I actually have a website, a personal website, LeadershipWithLenRomano.com. And on that website, I've got eight leadership concepts that work that I've used throughout my career. And, by the way, Christian City's website is ChristianCity.org. But, really, it's about, you know, just coming in. And I look at a not-for-profit entity as no different with for-profit entity. Actually, let me ask you, what do you think the difference is between a not-for-profit entity and a for-profit entity?
: Tax status is the only thing that comes to mind.
: Okay, that's one thing. Anything else? There's one big thing that's a big difference. Wow.
: More volunteers?
: Oh my goodness. You guys went to business school. Didn't you go to business school?
: Yeah, license to lose money.
: Yeah, right.
: Well, we're lucky on you.
: All right. That's what I would say, we're going to get license to lose money.
: No, no, no. So, the only difference besides the tax status — and in some cases, there is no difference in tax status when you look at sales tax — but it's who benefits from the entity, from the enterprise. Do stockholders, or owners, or shareholders benefit? That's your for-profit entity. In a not-for-profit entity, personal people don't benefit from any retained earnings, if you have them. Who benefits is the community.
: And that doesn't mean a for-profit entity can't be there to do good in society. So, that's not the difference because for-profit entities can be there to do good for society. But the essential difference is who benefits from any possible retained earnings. That's the difference with a for-profit.
: And it is a bit of a misnomer because, strictly speaking from an accounting standpoint, they can and should be making a profit or surplus-
: Yeah.
: … whatever word you want to put on it. There's no reason that they … I mean, part of your job is to ensure that they, in fact, do run that right.
: Because you have to reinvest in your infrastructure. You've got to fund depreciation. You have to fund staff development. You have to deal with increases in, you know, the external environment costs. So, yeah, you have to generate a profit if you're a not-for-profit entity. Otherwise, you know, you're relying on contributed support all the time. So, in our case-
: We need him to run the government.
: Yeah, really.
: I don't know about that, but-
: We need some more.
: We need somebody to run it though. Oops. But, you know, I forgot what I was going to say.
: You're sharing things about leadership.
: Yeah. But, you know, I use the analogy of football when you look at leadership because in football, it's really a fascinating game if you watch football. Don't just watch where the ball goes. Watch what happens on the front line or the offensive and the defensive line.
: Those people on the line have to win their one-on-one battles, right? If they don't win their one-on-one battles, the quarterback doesn't have time to throw, the running back doesn't have the lane to run through, and vice versa, you know, if the defense, you know, lets the quarterback through or the running back through. So, everyone's got to win their one-on-one battles.
: I looked at football and organization life as the same way. Every staff person, every person on the line has to win their one-on-one battles. Otherwise, you know, you're not going to be as effective as you possibly can be.
: Now, how do you execute that in business though? How does that translate to the receptionists winning their battle, you know, the person that is changing the sheets in the room? How does that play out in a complex business manner because in football, there's only a handful of positions?
: Well, right. Yeah, you've got 11 people on each side. So, what you do is you walk around, and you observe, and you watch, and you train, and you hire for raw talent, and you hire for attitude because if it's something you can train, hire for talent, and attitude, and raw talent, but it's about being there.
: You know, when I when I first started in my career, you know, my first job at a YMCA when I was in college was at the front desk. And I learned everything there was about working with the public, working at a front desk. So, you get this intuitive knowledge.
: It's like the quarterback in the pocket that feels the rush, doesn't see the rush but feels it, and throws a ball at the right time. That's what you need to develop in your staff. Not only, you know, your top staff but also your line staff that they have that intuitive feel for their job. But, you know, you have to measure. You have to inspect what you expect, right. So, if you don't have that in place, then, you know, yeah, you're going to have problems.
: Now, how do you … From a culture standpoint, how do you kind of create a culture where the individual is empowered to do the right thing whether it's in the manual or not, and to take risks where they may fail?
: Well, you should allow people to take calculated risks, number one. And, again, it comes down to trust. You know, you want to put the right people in the right places, and you have to give them the resources to do their job. So, you can't expect somebody who hasn't been properly prepared or trained to do the position, right? So, you have to put the right people in the right places. You got to give them the right tools to work with.
: And then, it comes down to process and procedure. If you have … If you create process that it doesn't matter who's doing it, it happens the same way every time, that's how you get quality and consistency.
: Right. But when you have a process that works in a lot of businesses where there's not a lot of human beings involved, but in your world, you're dealing with human beings constantly.
: That's right.
: So, processes sound good on paper, but, then, you have each individual that may have their own kind of challenges and their own idiosyncrasies.
: It still comes down to, "Can the person do the job?" And what I tell people, and this is … I want to use the Patriots as an example on this.
: A bad example. Wow.
: Well, some of it depends, but you will hear Belichick, the coach of the Patriots, say, "Do your job." And I'll give you an insight that happened recently. Last year, when the Patriots were going to the AFC championship game, my son who lives in Boston was at a Dunkin Donuts, and Robert Kraft was there behind him. This is the morning of the AFC Championship Game, and here is Robert Kraft, right, you know, owner of the Patriots coming in. And he bought my son and some of his friends the food. And my son asked him a question. He said, "Tell me what what kind of business advice you can give me." He said, "Surround yourself with the right people. Period."
: And I think, you know, when you when you look at the human element, you've got to put the right people in place. And if you don't have the right people, you unfortunately have to get them out. And I know that sounds harsh, but it's best for them. It's best for the organization. And it is about the people. So, you've got to hire right the first time. Nine times out of ten when a staff member doesn't work, it's because the organization made a mistake in the hiring process. It's not the staff member.
: So, you have to get that right.
: The first time.
: Now, we've had somebody in here from Chick-fil-A. And then, this is one of the biggest learnings I've had here. We asked him, "How do you hire so well?" And they said, "The person has that naturally smile. If they don't naturally smile-"
: They don't try to train that. They have to have that mindset. They don't … Yeah.
: Right.
: So, naturally smile like a smiley person, they're almost there.
: That's right.
: So that helps in getting it right. You don't have to be exactly right, but if you know that core quality, then you're almost there. So, is that the same thing you're saying here?
: In the people business, if you don't have happy people, just don't hire him. I mean, they have to be happy people, you know. And here's the thing-
: Isn't the Burger King?
: Well, if you get other fast food restaurants, you can find that pretty quickly.
: Plenty of unhappy people, yeah.
: So, here's the thing, when you interview somebody, what you see, how they dress, how they speak is the best they'll ever be. So, if they're grumpy, they're going to be grumpier. If they say darn, they're going to say something worse. If they're disheveled, that's the best they're going to be. They're going to be worse than that. So, really, it's all about, you know, putting the right people in the right places, but the right kind of mindset, the right attitude.
: So, that hire slow, fire fast.
: Yes, outplace. I call that outplace. Just like this.
: Changing direction and outplace.
: Sometimes, I'll-
: Are you writing all that down?
: No, seriously. So, when someone is a longtime staff member, and they're not the right person to be there, you do need to work with them to outplace them. Hire an outplacement group to work with them because nine times out of ten, it was our fault or was the predecessor's fault for putting them there. So, don't just take them off the knees.
: Don't take it out on them, right.
: Yeah. You spend the money to outplace them, and they'll be better for it.
: Free up their future, too mainly.
Dude, do you remember the old Redskin leader that was a good leader?
: Which is?
George Allen.
: George Allen, yes.
He always had hired best athlete. And he got a guy called … Remember Herb Mul-Key from the University of None?
: Yes, yes.
He didn't go to a university, so his university was always University of None. George Allen's nickname … His guys had so much fun, but his nickname was Ice Cream.
: Yeah, right.
Yeah. But he worked them hard. You've got these old guys to perform.
: Right. That's a philosophy though. You ascribe to that to hire more veteran that people have done a lot or is it better for you to hire kind of the unformed and help them kind of-
: Yeah, go with raw talent, I'm telling you, unless you're in a highly specified environment where you need that. But other than that, you want people to grow. And as they grow and develop, the organizations is going to grow as well.
: And that goes back to your earlier point of have good processes. So, if you invest in good processes and you have a good profile of what a good employee looks like, then you're almost there.
: That's right. I always start with a blank piece of paper on the org structure. What should the org structure be? Whenever I come in a new environment, it's not, you know, "This is the org structure, and that's what it's going to be," but what should it be. And I always start with a blank sheet of paper, and take a look at what outcomes we need to produce. What does that mean for the positions you need to have? Then, what kind of people in those positions?
: All right, I've got to ask because … And here's the foundation for this question. Len Romano is just a really cool name for a speaker, consultant, guru, author. Do you also have this, I don't know, this practice, this consulting practice? Do you do speaking and all that or?
: I want to do that, eventually. But right now, I've got-.
: Eventually?
: You have a day job.
: I have a day job at Christian City to make sure we're doing the right things.
: Have you written a book?
: No, I haven't.
: But there's a book in you.
: There could be.
: No question.
: Well, there's blog about eight principles. You already have that.
: Yeah, you already have it.
: You already have the structure.
: Come in here and talk. We'll have Katie record it. We'll transcribe it. We'll throw it outside. Boom, we're there.
: That sounds good.
: No, but it's certainly a marketable name, right?
: Absolutely.
: And he does it a little bit of a pedigree, it sounds like. Yeah.
: So, now, how can we help you? What can we do to serve Christian City? What do you need more of?
: Our biggest thing is to be known in Atlanta and in the north side because we're not. And we're we're making good strides in that way. Coming up on the 28th of April, we're having our first ever fundraising event outside of the south side at the Porsche Experience Center. It's already sold out, but-
: Cool.
: But the idea is to raise money to support our Children's Village Program. And it takes about three million a year just to run Children's Village. And we're adding the foster care and adoption program in the metro area. And that's another 250,000. So, we have to be raising more than 3 million a year. And that's our goal is to get more known in the north side and in Atlanta, so that people will just know what we do and how they might be able to help.
: Good stuff. And if somebody went to learn more, the website again.
: It is ChristianCity.org is our website.
