Feb 16, 2023
Dash Solutions CEO Stephen Faust has been in the payment solutions provider business for more than 20 years. Since becoming CEO in June 2011, Stephen has held many roles and learned many invaluable lessons from the family-owned company.
His conversation with Edison Partners Managing Partner and Host Chris Sugden revealed three key topics: the importance of maintaining your ego, leveraging your employees as recruiters and fans of your brand, and the role of mentorship for people, leaders and the organization at large.
Stay Humble to Avoid Getting Complacent
Entrepreneurs and early-stage companies listen up. Stephen’s message is clear: Remaining humble despite your success is what will keep your company strong for years to come.
“It's been a great learning experience for me. I'm doing a lot of things for the first time. I try to lean on other people smarter than me that have been there and done that and get good feedback and just try to make smart, educated decisions on what's next for the company.”
As you and your company grow, it can be hard to remain humble and on-your-toes. Easier said than done. But the payoff is great, as Stephen alluded. Humility is what will allow your company to withstand economic downturns, slow sales cycles, and decades in business.
Your Employees Are Your Best Recruiters
Stephen emphasizes the importance of hiring the right people who will represent your company’s culture and values, no matter their background.
If you treat your employees well and they benefit from your intentionally-designed employee experience, they’ll be your biggest fans. Stephen states that recruitment has never been so easy! “We get so many proactive resumes into our company. Our greatest recruiter has been our employees because they say, ‘You gotta come work over here. This is just fantastic.’”
Mentorship Is Underrated
Stephen stresses the importance of mentorship and the tangible success it brings. Although Dash Solutions does not have a formal, structured mentorship program, they’ve leveraged mentorship in a few different ways. Namely, Stephen’s relationship with their board.
“We went from a strategy where the board meetings were more just updates, high fives, we hit our plan numbers, let's move on. To pushing us and asking good questions to say, ‘How are you looking ahead? What are those three big bets that you wanna make next year that can transform the company? How are you investing in that with people and resources?’ And challenging us to think differently. That's been a very positive change cause it gets us thinking more about the business than just operating the day to day.”
You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with. So surround yourself, your employees and your leaders with no one but the best.
Learn more about Dash Solutions and CEO Stephen Faust in our latest episode of Electrifying Growth!
