Principles of Governance

Our three governance tenets.

While our Shared Values give us both purpose and direction, we also seek to operate and move our business forward within guardrails that ensure we are acting with integrity in the thousands of little decisions we make every day. We believe the best way to do that is to weave three key governance tenets into everything that we do: Transparency, Alignment, and Representation.


1

Transparency

In discussions with our board, our leadership, our employees, and beyond, we are open about the decisions we are making and the reasons behind them.

 

We encourage robust, group-oriented discussions around important decisions. We communicate those decisions broadly through forums like our monthly “Be the Light” calls hosted by our CEO to disclose business priorities and trends and quarterly calls with our employees to discuss company financial performance.

 

Metrics matter. We share individual, group, and divisional performance with our people so they always know where they stand. We have found that transparency builds trust and empowers our people to achieve personal, professional, and financial growth.


2

Alignment

Alignment across our compensation systems allows our people to succeed as the company succeeds.

 

Sales and recruiting employees have highly variable compensation that rewards performance rather than tenure, giving our people incentives to solve the needs of our clients by putting consultants to work.

 

Our “LTIs for All” program ensures that from the first day employees begin their journey with us, they can grow their wealth in line with the company’s growth, regardless of role. Management employees have compensation packages that similarly reward them for year-over-year growth of the entire business—not just the segments for which they are responsible—so that they are incentivized to make decisions that benefit the entire company (and avoid decisions that can hurt the whole company). Wherever possible, we push incentives deep into the organization so that everyone is working toward our shared mission.


3

Representation

Diverse perspectives enable better decisions. Inclusion helps us better understand and connect with the many diverse communities we serve and support—in business or otherwise.

 

This also increases employee engagement and trust by demonstrating to all that anyone with high character and grit can succeed while remaining true to who they are. Because we believe it makes our company better, we are taking meaningful steps to increase representation throughout the company, and to capture and include in our decision making the voices and opinions of those that might not otherwise be heard.

 

Our Women’s Leadership Council was created to advance and elevate women in leadership, so they are proportionately represented in the senior executive ranks. Our Diversity Council seeks to expand our hiring pool of talent to capture more people from historically underrepresented groups and to create an inclusive workspace where people can be their most authentic selves. We have prioritized and will continue to prioritize the addition of new directors on our board who can bring diversity of thought, background, and experience to guide us in our strategic decision making.