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LEADERSHIP – VALUES – EMPLOYEE INVOLVEMENT – COMMUNICATION Over the last 20 years, the business process I helped develop in the Business Exit and Value Growth Planning space, has been very consistent. No jumping from one method to another in search of a silver bullet. To successfully build and manage a sustainable enterprise (or a division) for the long-term, it starts with leadership. Leader should be team first. Taking responsibility for missed team goals and giving credit to the team for fulfilling them. Leaders need to succinctly describe the why. What's the purpose of the organization? What's the mission the team can wholeheartedly embrace and align themselves with. Does it need to be tweaked? Changed? Is it communicated enough? Is it a rallying point? I've had many, many businesses who state they have a mission statement and some even have it posted on walls. Almost no one could state what it was. What are the company's core values? This shouldn't be the Ten Commandments. For a privately held company, values are usually closely aligned to those things that are important to the founder(s). Values that are not just nice to have if you could get them. But values that are a fireable offense if broken. Values help give the team direction in times of uncertainty to ensure the right decision is made. Next, with key management, lay out a 3 to 5 year Strategic Vision Plan and then work backwards, year by year to year one. Identify what's needed to achieve the goal. The strategy and the specific action steps. Again, you need team alignment and involvement to execute the plan via a company/organization roll out. Make sure they know 'what's in it for me' (WIIFM). You can't execute anything without a team that all works together, all headed in the same direction. To ensure the mission, values and strategic plan stays front and center, you need to communicate, communicate, communicate and when you think you've communicated enough, communicate some more. If you get the team environment right, you develop a strong positive culture. And as the great business guru Peter Drucker stated, 'culture eats strategy for breakfast'. CERTAIN PRINCIPLES/PHILOSOPHIES HAVE GUIDED ME Have good Mentors: As a business owner, surrounding myself with knowledgeable people from the beginning. My mentor, Jay Herlihy gave me an advice to form a great Board of Directors and they have stood by me for 17 years guiding and encouraging me along the way Trust and Integrity: I built a relationship with my staff based on trust. They know I count on them to succeed and they in turn count on my integrity. Rely on your Network: As a minority female entrepreneur, break through initially was difficult, but I called on a network of people I worked with in other jobs to help me break through the market. Know your Business: I educated myself early on about every job in my organization, so that I am always a resource to every one of my employees. Good Product: I never put profit above quality care especially as a trained Physical Therapist. Community: I align myself to the right people in the community who build me up and not drag me down including Banking relationships. Perseverance: Being able to stick to it has got me through rough business patches. The COVID pandemic was a true test of my commitment to healthcare provision in the Community. Family is Important: Staying engaged as a wife, mother, daughter/in-law has been my sanity as a business owner. Take Time off: Almost every year I step away on vacation no matter how short to recharge and see things from a new perspective. My life has a Purpose: Lastly my faith has carried me through many trying times as a business owner, with belief that what I do is a calling and there's a purpose for my life. Worcester Business Journal Hall of Fame Chizoma Nosike, President and owner, Acclaim Home Health Care, Inc. Worcester Business Journal Hall of Fame Terry Shepherd Managing partner, S&G LLP

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