At HBM, our commitment to talent development is an important part of our culture and our business strategy. Across our organizations we aim to recruit, hire, retain and develop high level talent, and our goal is to continually provide opportunities for our team members to grow. We recently held our second Talent Summit at the Hyatt Regency St. Louis at the Arch, where we brought over 90 high-performance employees from across our businesses together to focus on building relationships, sharing insights and increasing awareness of successes and shared challenges across the enterprise.
The event began with opening remarks from President and CEO of HBM, Andy Fincher, who shared his vision for building upon HBM’s 100+ year legacy and growing the business. He also discussed what Elevate – the theme of this year’s Summit – means to him. He challenged attendees to:
- Elevate expectations for results, themselves and our organizations
- Elevate focus to deliver maximum value
- Elevate execution to deliver on promises
Next up, we hosted a CEO panel, where CEOs from our portfolio companies discussed their personal and professional journeys and what influences shaped them into the leaders they are today.
The afternoon consisted of roundtable work sessions that offered insights on leadership attributes using a series of assessments. These assessment data points provided awareness for attendees’ of their leadership style and how to leverage each of these qualities for success in their current and future roles. The first day ended with a cocktail reception and dinner so that leaders across the businesses could network and share business challenges and solutions.
Our second day began with a presentation by Matt Havens, a professional speaker on generational issues in the workplace. His presentation Stop Acting Your Age! An Entertaining Keynote to Help you Avoid Generational Warfare offered an engaging look at the four distinct generations in today’s workplace and how to work through the issues that arise within diverse groups.
Following Matt’s speech, participants were given the opportunity to show off their teamwork and problem-solving skills with the Marshmallow Challenge. Teams were given a yard of tape, a yard of string, 20 pieces of spaghetti and a marshmallow and were challenged to build the tallest tower. The winning team was comprised of Blake Dell (MLC) Chris LaBenne (Schafer), Pat Nichols (MLC), Joe Sonderman (Aerofil) and Tosha Weir (Tru-Flex), who earned bragging rights over their formidable competitors.
Next, Peter Boumgarden, professor of strategy and organization at Washington University discussed the future of work and how to lead through organizational change. The day concluded with on-site tours at Mississippi Lime and Aerofil, which allowed visitors to gain insights in the day-to-day operations of their sister companies.
The event can be summed up nicely by a leadership quote from Andy Fincher’s mentor, Joe Heil, which he shared in opening the Summit: “The strength of a company lies in its people.” After spending two days with the top talent across our businesses, we’re excited to see how their expertise and leadership skills elevate our organizations!