Brandon Sawalich

And it's not always about the financial reward.

We all understand where that comes into play.

But is it work worth doing?

And the culture is huge in business.

And it's been, you know, big for me in building high performing teams because you have to hire caring attitudes, develop the talent.

You can't develop caring attitudes as easily as you can develop the talent.

You're only going to be as good as the people you surround yourself with.

And at Starkey, you know, it wasn't always perfect because, you know, I had certain jobs, whether it was in inside sales or in customer service or, you know, throughout my 31 years here.

You know, there was, I'll say, dysfunction and the culture wasn't as set because of, you know, a different culture.

I'll say, administration per se at the time.

But the owner and founder of Starkey, who's still here and is my mentor, he's been unwavering in what the values and why, because he grew up in the industry as well.

He's an American success story, started Starkey, 1967, basement of his home.

And

You know, it always starts with caring.

And for those in clinics today, helping people with our products and their hearing, you have to care about the individual.

You have to care that because it's personalized.

It's unique.

It's not one size fits all.

So, you know, at Starkey, you know, I've seen what hasn't worked and I've seen what's worked.

And then so I just grabbed and really just really got a hold of the caring, our dedication, fearless, and then brought the culture to the forefront because you can start to see culture or feel it, but you can't grab it.