The Billion-Dollar Path of People-Centric Leadership with Jay Steinfeld

Timecoded Guide: 

[00:00] Podcast begins - The Billion-Dollar Path of People-Centric Leadership with Jay Steinfeld

[02:22] Origins of Blinds.com & the importance of an entrepreneur’s curiosity

[07:10] Four E’s of Blinds.com: evolve, experiment, express, & enjoy

[12:27] Helping employees become better than they dreamed

[23:50] Company culture & the importance of maintaining culture in acquisition

[29:35] Role of Jay as culture & employee ambassador in Blinds.com at Home Depot

[35:53] Life after Blinds.com at Rice Business School & on company boards

What are the four Es of Blinds.com culture?

The four E’s were (and still are) Jay’s secret sauce, both in his professional career and personal life. For Jay and every employee at Blinds.com, the four E’s are to evolve continuously, experiment without failure, express yourself, and enjoy the ride. These core values guided Jay and his team to build a company where employees enjoyed their work, took pride in themselves, and wanted to stay and grow together.

“As we were becoming better than what we ever believed possible, that was fun. It's fun when you know you're improving and you've got everybody supporting you. The purpose of the company was not to be the best in the world at selling blinds but to help people become better than what they ever believed possible.”

How do you encourage employees to be better than they dream?

Having a people-centric approach was incredibly important to Jay when building his team at Blinds.com, especially within their call center and amongst sales employees. Jay explains that wanting an employee to be better than they dream involves motivating them to speak up and talk about their goals. Employees have so much potential to add perspective and productivity to your company, Jay says, but it’s important to care about their potential and purpose.

“But instead of saying what is the least amount that I can get away with and keep this person, you should say something more like, what is the most I can give to this person? What is the most this company can do, and still be in the long-term best interest of the company?”

How did Blinds.com’s acquisition by Home Depot impact the company culture?

In 2014, Blinds.com was purchased by Home Depot and Jay made it his mission to make sure that the culture and colleagues of Blinds.com stayed true to themselves. As a large corporation, Jay understood that Home Depot had their own culture and values, but that there was still a way for a smaller company within to make an impact. Spending 4 years in an ambassador role, Jay was able to continue his work with the company he built and watch it grow beyond his dreams.

“Home Depot is going to affect us, but we're gonna affect them too. I told the analogy, it's like there's this giant vat with water in it. The water is Home Depot and we're just this one dropper of red dye. That one drop tints the water a little bit and we're being felt. Maybe not seen, but felt.”

What is Jay Steinfeld doing currently to forge the future?

After a successful acquisition by Home Depot and a transition away from Blinds.com, Jay continues to forge the future at Rice Business School, mentoring entrepreneurs and early-stage startups. Part of living out the four E’s for Jay in his personal life means taking advantage of opportunities to be on boards, in classrooms, and with innovators of all ages and backgrounds. No matter what, Jay is motivated to live a people-centric life of importance.

“Rather than just complain about it, I want to be part of the solution. I want to continue to evolve, I want to experiment with all these different things and I'm still speaking up on those boards and it's fun. So, I get all my four E's. Those four E's are not just how to build a business, but how to have a life of consequence, of importance, where you feel like you still matter.”