On this episode I share my interview with Michel Falcon, entrepreneur, keynote speaker and author of People First Culture. To date, Michel has built his career off 3 topics; company culture, employee engagement and customer experience.

On work-life balance;

The first thing that I plan for each week is related to my health.

The second things are the personal things I need to do.

Then comes the work stuff. This helps me to find a balance immediately.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By his own admission Michel is not a great academic learner.

He did however, want to learn how to be success in business and this led him to 1-800 Got Junk. It was during his 5 years here that he learned the importance of company culture, employee engagement and customer experience. In his own words;

These things aren’t just nice to haves. They are absolutely imperative if you want to grow a very genuine business.

As a result of the experience Michel left to set up an advisory firm focused on company culture, employee engagement and customer experience.

Humble beginnings

Michel started out working with very small companies and at times he was struggling to find clients.

Back in 2012 people didn’t always understand what these topics were. Undeterred Michel continued on this path and as awareness started to grow he moved to Toronto in 2016.

During 2016 he joined his current business partners to start a hospitality company. It’s here where Michel has been able to bring his ‘People first’ strategies to life.

We have gone from zero employees and zero revenue to nearly 20 million turnover and nearly 200 employees.

People First Culture

This is about building an organisation that your people and customers admire.

In Michel’s words; most companies fall short even when they set out with the intention of being admired.

People and customers are often looked at separately whereas Michel sees them as 2 peas in a pod. He goes onto explain that he coaches his managers to spend 80% of their time focused on employee experience and 20% of time on the customer experience.

One is the outcome of the other.

Michel sights 3 reasons why a company won’t become people first;

  1. They’ve never been taught how to
  2. The don’t have the right DNA (the DNA to care about a stranger and be a benevolent leader)
  3. The ability to think long term

Michel is on a crusade to bridge the gap between our personal lives and our professional lives.

Find out more

Finally if you would like to start a conversation with Michel, you can find him on;

Twitter

LinkedIn

Instagram

Alternatively, find out more about Michel by reading the latest Ignite blog; A People First Culture

More details can be found on his website.

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Certainly check out all the episodes to date here

Tune in next time to hear my interview with Gavin Bell, Facebook Advertising Consultant, Vlogger and Speaker. Gavin was recommended by the brilliant Gavin Oattes who appeared on the show all the way back on episode 14!