The first Journey cohort has graduated and they’ve become a close-knit group of friends. As they reflect on the last three years together, they share how great they feel about what they’ve learned and how they’ll maintain and institutionalize it at their respective companies. Our 2016 Journeyers are now designated Small Giants, a distinction that is displayed proudly on their company websites, social media, and their personal communications.
There are eight Journey cohorts in progress, and demand is high to join future cohorts. Even better, Journeyers across cohorts are more engaged with and excited about the Community than ever. They are distinguished in our Community database as either Journeyers or designated Small Giants and they serve as mentors or masters for other members. As they progress through the Journey, they become our best brand ambassadors: they promote our offerings, support our members by hosting company visits, serve as mentors for other Journey cohorts, and share valuable content at the Summit.
Our Virtual Peer Groups are a hit! We have ten thriving U.S. groups facilitated by Paul and other established leaders in the Community, including graduated Journeyers. We also have three international groups that are facilitated by trusted leaders abroad. Our Virtual Group members are high quality – they are reliable, engaged, and aligned with the principles and values of the Small Giants philosophy. The content of our Virtual Groups is robust, but the driving purpose remains to develop deep, lasting relationships with one another.
Once someone becomes a Virtual Group member, they tend to stick around as a Virtual Group member for years. Some eventually move on to facilitate a Virtual Peer Group, others go on to join the Journey. As a team, we’re starting to consider how we can segment our Virtual Peer Groups into meaningful groups: whether it be by industry, revenue, stage of leadership, or other specific areas of focus. It’s a way for us to deepen group member engagement and grow the offering with purpose.
Our partnership with Forbes has grown in powerful ways. We’ve just published our fifth annual list of Forbes Best Small Giants, and this year’s announcement made the biggest splash yet. There is enormous PR around the annual celebration in New York for honorees past and present and it’s driving quality leads to our brand. The list has become more than just an article – it’s a year-round conversation that creates meaningful buzz for the Community.
Over the past three years, we’ve created amazing Summit experiences. We now host over 200 attendees, maxing out at a capacity of 250 to protect the spirit of the event. The Summit format is tried and true, consisting of Long Story Shorts, breakout sessions, interactive workshops, and panels, but our content is now much more centered around the six qualities of a Small Giant. We’ve really taken our content to the next level – we’ve built an incredible database of contributors and the Summit is a platform for their stories to be shared.
We have found innovative and meaningful ways to connect people and grow relationships at the Summit. Our meetups beforehand are intentionally designed to provide new information about the Community while fostering relationship building and fun. The Day of Mojo has now become a preview of the Journey experience. The Summit is supported and sponsored by true partnerships with organizations and individuals who are aligned with what we do. The Summit is now one of our greatest recruiting tools – about a third of Summit attendees are motivated to stay involved and sign up for one of our offerings after the Summit ends.
We now have an awesome Community database that is entirely member-focused and user-friendly. Our leaders use this database to foster connections, support one another, and share resources throughout the year. We also use this data for highly-targeted marketing communications, to understand our sales pipeline, and to form partnerships with sponsors. Our website is now entirely member-focused, too. When you log onto our site, the menu is organized into pathways for those new to the Community, those already involved, and other personalities. Anyone who visits the site immediately understands who we are and what we do. There are engaging quotes and creative testimonials that paint a vivid picture of what it is like to be involved with the Small Giants Community. When someone Googles “purpose-driven companies” or “organizations for companies with great cultures,” we are one of the first to come up.
The content on our blog is high quality and stronger than ever. Our articles are organized around the six qualities of a Small Giant, and people seek it out to gain practical tips and nuggets of wisdom. We’re also providing a platform for leaders within the Community to become thought leaders. Our guest contributors are experts in the Community and they consistently share their pieces with their own networks, helping us gain a greater following. When someone Googles “how to write a vision statement,” our blog comes up. People outside of the Community are reading our materials and looking to us as experts on how to run a purpose-driven company.
Our Online Fishbowls continue to be a meaningful touch point with our members and a valuable offering that delivers great insights and tangible best practices. We’ve tapped into new technologies that have made the conversations more interactive, and we share a video of each Fishbowl with the larger Community after each session has ended.
We’ve accomplished so much in these past three years – and that includes becoming a profitable business! We’re now a self-sustaining organization and we’re able to re-invest in our growth. As we scale our offerings and expand, we’re careful to grow with purpose. Our hard work is driven by our core purpose: to identify, connect, and develop purpose-driven business leaders. Three years later, we’re proud to say that more than ever, we’re fulfilling that purpose.