Building Community and Connection in Business with Tom Wood

**SPEAKER_2** (0:03)
The Bliss Business Podcast, the show about empathy, connection, and consciousness in business. Today's episode is brought to you by Zero Company, your paid search, social media, and programmatic ad experts.

**Stephen Sakach** (0:18)
So Tom's our third straight guest from Atlanta. I don't know what's going on here, but Atlanta has been in the house. And Tom, apparently, he plays tennis, and gave us a injuries story about someone, a friend of his, who played the paddle ball and just tore an Achilles. So word of warning, I guess, for Atlanta.
That's right. The paddle ball is fierce there. The pickle ball. Pickle ball. Pickle ball. Sorry, the pickle ball. Yeah, sorry, guys. I don't know what's going on. Why do we have so many Atlanta guests right now? I love it. I love Atlanta. So let's get to it. Welcome back to The Bliss Business Podcast, the show where we explore how empathy, connection, and purpose transform business from the inside out. I'm Stephen, joined as always by Mike, and give you a little stat here. Recent Harvard Business study found that employees who feel a strong sense of belonging are 56 percent more productive, and 50 percent less likely to leave. So today's episode is all about what it really means to build connection in community, not just in our teams, but the people we serve. Mike, introduce our guest today.

**Mike Liwski** (1:29)
I love that, Stephen. Can't wait to talk about this. So we are super excited to have Tom Wood with us today. Tom's the president and the CEO of Floor Coverings International. With over 30 years of experience in building high-performing franchise networks, Tom's been at the forefront really of turning a transactional type of service into what we really love. One that is deeply human and a deep human experience, which is incredible that you can do that, Tom. At the heart of Tom's leadership is a belief that business success begins really with connection with customers, with franchisees and team members alike. From driving growth in the flooring industry to building a culture of mutual support and trust, which are all a key to that.
Tom's created an ecosystem where people really thrive. We can't wait to hear more about it. Welcome to our show.

**Tom Wood** (2:35)
Thank you. It's awesome to be here. I'm really looking forward to this and I appreciate the opportunity.

**Stephen Sakach** (2:41)
Great having you on here, Tom.
You've led Floor Coverings International through some enormous growth. How many franchise locations are we talking about?

**Tom Wood** (2:51)
We have just over 300 franchise locations. We'll finish the year probably with 325 up and operating.

**Stephen Sakach** (2:59)
Wow. What really stands out is you've got this big operation, but you've really made sure you've fostered a sense of personal connection.
Like Mike mentioned, this could be a purely transactional industry if you wanted it to be. That's right. But can you take us back what shaped maybe the approach to customer relationships here and your leadership in general in that regard?

**Tom Wood** (3:24)
Well, if it's okay, I'll go right to the vision and values that we have for the organization. I know you can't read it behind me, but I've got it on that poster there, and it's there strategically so that every single web conversation that we have with somebody, regardless of the content, regardless of the purpose, is there that we can reference. But the fifth core value that we have, the one that's on the very bottom of that poster, is engage in the community and make it fun. That actually is our fifth core value. Now, that core value, that very specific core value, I would say, is at the heart and is the meat really, that holds our organization together, helps us have a uniform, aligned, connected purpose. But also, it's that piece that helps us understand when maybe things aren't going well, where's that wobbly wheel on the team, if you will, or that wobbly element that is causing friction. Then I'll just define for you what engage in the community and make it fun means to us. Work is work. Companies have to make profit. We're tasked to grow. There's all the same business elements here at Floor Coverings International that every other successful organization would have. But what we have really come to believe that makes this fun, if you will, it's the people that you work with, it's being able to rely on them, it's being able to trust them and to enjoy one another in our commonalities and in our differences that really become the fabric of Floor Coverings International. And that fifth core value, engage in the community, is a very specific term of, you have a role and responsibility if you're on the team, to plug in with your peers, to plug in with the people around you, to plug in to the community and connect with them, and find a way to make it enjoyable for you and for them. That's that piece of, we're all different, we all have things that we like to do, and other people have things that they like to do.