Building Community and Connection in Business with Devan Kline

**SPEAKER_1** (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.

**Tullio Siragusa** (0:17)
Hello, everybody. Welcome to the Bliss Business Podcast, where we explore how empathy, connection, and purpose transform business from the inside out. I'm Tullio, and I'm excited to dive into a conversation that's all about the power of building true community in business. In fact, the Harvard Business Review study shows that companies fostering strong connections see 50 percent higher employee retention and 56 percent greater productivity. But community is not just about culture, it's about creating a shared purpose that resonates beyond profits. Our guest today is Devan Kline. He's the co-founder and visionary of Burn Boot Camp. Devan and his team have turned a fitness concept into a movement that empowers people both inside and outside the gym. His leadership philosophy is rooted in connection, belonging, and creating meaningful impact in every community they serve, and they serve many communities. Devan, welcome to the show.
To get us started, what was the original inspiration behind Burn Boot Camp, and how did the community become such a core pillar of your brand?

**Devan Kline** (1:34)
Well, Tullio, thanks for having me. I'm excited to be here with everybody.
It's a real privilege to be able to talk about the business and what we've created and just spread like you guys do, spread the counterintuitive way to build a company, which the 80s notion of power tie is long gone. And owner, founder led companies like myself, we have a privilege because we get to be the voice box, especially on amazing platforms like Bliss Business Podcast and other podcasts that we're able to go on. And it doesn't just happen overnight or it doesn't happen without intention. So, I believe that every company is a direct reflection or a mere reflection of the founder's attitude, their effort, their beliefs, and it's just kind of a microcosm of that personality kind of manifest into a company. And so, I would say that my company is authentic to the personality of who I am. And I don't try to be anybody that I'm not. I don't try to put on and pretend like we actually try to build a company through positivity and optimism and empathy and community and connection. It's just who I am as a person and that really reflects out in all 400 open Burn Boot Camp locations. And we're in 44 states too, so it used to be like, Devan, how are you really going to scale this whole thing? Where my goal wasn't never to scale it. I think that's the answer is to show up. When we started back in 2012 with $600 in a parking lot after I got released from Minor League Baseball, I showed up then just trying to make one person's life better. And I always tell my people and my system that our goal isn't to get big, our goal is to get better. And if we get bigger by being better, then we're going to be just fine. But not trying to keep the small town community vibe, just being that, right? And so we call it the championship culture where it's this blend of, it's this blend of, like we said, empathy and community and connection and belonging. But that community connection belonging has a definition and it's rooted in excellence, right? That's what the championship culture is all about. It's rooted in excellence of personal and professional standard. Like if you don't come, you come into our organization and you don't hold yourself to a high regard and a high standard, well, this place isn't going to be for you, right? And it's, you know, sometimes we confuse empathy and connection with everybody kind of gets whatever they want all the time. That's not definitely not the case. You know, go study any championship team and you'll see that the individuals that make up that team, you know, have that excellence, they have that accountability in them. They're humble, willing to be held accountable and are shown up wanting to improve themselves and something about the company every day.

**Tullio Siragusa** (4:34)
I love the definition you've given about. That's truly the definition of an entrepreneur, you know, putting out who they are and building a whole movement around it. It's beautiful. But I know that Burn Boot Camp is more than just a fitness brand.
Like you mentioned, it's a community and it's built on trust and transformation. But maybe we could dig into a little bit, like what were some of the key steps you took early on to build that sense of belonging?