Good evening.
We're speaking live at the award presentation of the 2015 Top Workplaces in Columbus.
Tonight with me is Shawn Cunix, the CEO and Founder of Cunix Enterprises.
Congratulations Shawn on winning this prestigious award.
You're company Wireless was selected as one of the top 60 companies in central Ohio.
Tell us how you're feeling right now.
It's a great feeling.
It's been about a year and a half in the making.
It's been a prime objective of our company to get this award and it's just something
that we're all very very proud of.
Thank you.
So Shawn what is the secret to success that won you this award?
Well one of the biggest things we do at Wireless is we've been doing surveys and we do them
3 times a year on average and we really try to listen to what the employees are saying.
Not just all the ones that are currently working there but we do exit interviews as well.
We try to learn what the people were unhappy with that left and did they just go look for
a new opportunity or was there something specifically that made them feel like they need to leave
the organization and another thing I'm very proud of is all the upper management knew
coming down from me, the Founder, that it was a big deal to me to not be the largest
company but be the best and one of the ways to define the best is obviously having your
employees say "hey, this is one of the greatest places to work".
Excellent.
And Shawn, you were recently presented with the Champions of Life Award at the Godaddy
Bowl and tonight this special award given by the Columbus CEO and Channel 10 TV Top
Workplaces in Columbus.
Can you share and give us some advice to other entrepreneurs how you seek to achieve this
personal and business success?
Well another thing through experience that I've learned is if you put the employees and
the customers first and not just look at how much money that you're going to make in the
transaction or in every day business.
Granted we all have to make money and the business has an operating expense line to
cover but it's a big deal if you educate your people.
One of my core values is empowerment.
And empowerment just isn't letting the employees make the decisions.
A big part of empowerment is the education piece and that's educating your employees
why it is you make certain decisions and in a sales organization why it is their particular
goals are what they are and I pride myself on even though there's some young people in
the organization, I like giving them some financial wisdom and education on you know
the operating expense line and why their goals were picked and how much money it takes to
run the business.
Some people in my industry say you're wasting your time by educating these people or giving
them numbers they won't understand them but again one of the things we pride ourselves
on is really breaking it down and you know the other thing I'm very proud of and it gets
harder to do as you get larger....300 some employees now....I still like to have a family
feel in the company.
One of the things that I'm proud that I still will do is every day I wish people a Happy
Birthday or a Happy Anniversary and I send emails to the top performers and then even
some of the ones in the middle or bottom I kind of send emails saying "hey, i know you
can do better" and it's something that I do touch you know I'd say I'm touching somewhere
around 5-10% of the company every week and in some cases it's different people, some
cases it's the same but again they get to see the Founder of the company still reaching
out and showing people that they care about them enough to empower them, educate them
and pat them on the back for the great things they're doing as well as recognize their birthday
or their years of service to the organization.
Well thank you for your time Shawn.
And congratulations once again to you and your fabulous team.
And we're very honored here to speak with Shawn Cunix and thank you for sharing your
example with the business community of central Ohio.