Brian Fielkow

Brian is based in HOUSTON TEXAS. He is a qualified legal counsel but left the practice to enter the corporate world at the tough end of the business street.

His first role was as an executive officer of Waste Management. From there he learned the necessity of having safety as a primary focus of business. When he joined Waste Management he and the CEO worked for a change in culture. Learned how to transform a poorly run operation into success story.

Brian then decided that he wanted to own and run a business. He purchased JET CO DELIVERIES in Houston Texas in 2007. This was the start of the GFC and it hit the world economies like a storm. The trucking and transport industry in Texas and the rest of the USA is a hard market with hard men and tough cultures. It is the same here in New Zealand.

One of the staff members of JET CO quickly formed an opinion that Brian’s softness would spell doom for the business when he had to compete with a very hard competitive culture.

2019 Brian sold the business to GTI Group in Canada but retained his corporate role as an Executive Officer of the group. GTI is into the transport industry, logistics and freight brokering. Brian grew the business of JET CO DELIVERIES to the point that in 2015 he purchased another transport company. He had already increased his truck fleet and purchased and built a new admin building specifically designed to support the culture and values of the business.

In 2015 RiteTrack NZ Ltd brought Brian out to NZ to give a full-day presentation on the subject of safety in leadership. Refer to www.ritetrack.co.nz. You can purchase educational modules that follow Brian’s success practices.

Brian’s success is due to a combination of his experiences as a child watching his parents owning and building a successful retail business in the state of Wisconsin. Being part of a successful change management team at Waste Management provided a solid foundation for his philosophy and practices.

We explore with Brian how passion, values, culture, leadership, empathy, loyalty, the strength of an immunity system, safety and the need for continual pivoting places a business on the RITE TRACK for

1) Total wellbeing of the business

2) A point of difference in a cut-throat competitive market

3) A long term sustainable business model

We discuss

1) How and why safety is an underlying value within a business. Safety should never be a priority as priorities are compromised daily.

2) The culture of a business must support the values of the business. If we have a value of safety the culture needs to support that value. The importance of wellbeing of the culture differentiates the business from the competitors.

3) Where do KPIs sit in a culture of empathy and safety? Does a culture of values underpinning safety improve bottom-line results?

4) The culture of the business requires that loyalty for the business foremost and not loyalty for the business owner. The understanding of creating a legacy

5) What is an immunity system for a business? What does it look like? It is the people that guard the gates of the business fortress walls. It is the people that must be engaged and police the culture of safety. What does this look like? It was the people that carried the COVID 19 into our economy.

6) When safety is the value, the culture of the business will adapt. It is the safety culture that increases the margins. Safety is the hallmark of operational excellence.

7) The need for lean management and having the ability to pivot enables the business to adapt to the market. This is supported by safety as a value within the business.

8) What and who are the parties to a successful pivoting?

9) Disaster Recovery Planning and Business Planning every two years. Do your thinking now as tomorrow may be too late.