Simon T Bailey’s Blog

I recently was invited to speak at an annual leadership meeting for the top 400 leaders of MDU Resources (Montana-Dakota Utilities) in Bismark, ND. I was intrigued to visit a place I had never been to before, and curious to see another part of the United States. Well, I was blown away as I listened to President/CEO Terry Hilstead share that within the last ten years their company had grown from 2,000 employees to 13,000 employees and from $600 million in annual revenue to $4.2 billion. I had a chance to sit with him and his wife at the closing dinner. I discovered that he and his team built this incredible company through 126 mergers and acquisitions and by maintaining a decentralized management style built on trust. This has enabled them to operate successfully in 44 states and grow steadily and aggressively. However, my favorite insight from Terry was that in the prior year they had given their employees over $50 million dollars in bonuses, incentives and benefits. Brilliant! Simply Brilliant. There are three big takeaways from my time in with them:

1. Trust leaders to do their jobs and get the heck out of their way.
2. Love is not what is says. Love it what it does. If you appreciate your people, then grease their palm with a few benjamins that can help them with the escalating gas prices.
3. Maintain a rentless focus on the customer experience.

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