Enspira’s Kurt Landon is featured as part of the Golden Gate Business Association (GGBA) Member Spotlight in the SF Bay Times. GGBA is the nation’s first LGBTQ+ Chamber of Commerce.
You can read below or find the full article here on the SF Bay Times website.
Kurt Landon of Enspira
Enspira, a Certified LGBTQ+ Business, is an innovative human resources consultancy. This year Enspira ranked 325 on the 2023 Inc. 5000, Inc.’s annual list of the fastest-growing private companies in America. The prestigious ranking provides a data-driven look at the most successful companies within the economy’s most dynamic segment—its independent, entrepreneurial businesses. The recognition is a testament to Enspira’s unwavering commitment to driving innovation, offering exceptional client service, and maintaining consistent revenue growth. Here, Founder and CEO Kurt Landon shares more about Enspira.
GGBA: What was the vision behind Enspira, and what is its mission now?
Kurt Landon: Enspira is your growth engine. We partner with clients to maximize business results with innovative, inclusive practices and solutions that enable people & organizations to thrive. We celebrate differences and interact with respect, empathy, and care for all people and organizations. We set the example with uncompromising integrity and purposeful transparency, while always striving for psychological safety. Learning, un-learning, and re-learning in service of evolution and transformation is how we do business. We believe collaboration leads to the best work and best-fit, customized solutions.
Together, we’re reimagining and revolutionizing the human-work experience by presenting the best and brightest, and intentionally listening to the human heartbeat of organizations. Through our breakthrough solutions, we seek to put the power of business purpose in the hands of the people.
Our values:
- Be Human First: We celebrate differences and interact with respect, empathy, and care for all people and organizations.
- Compassionate Candor: We set the example with uncompromising integrity and purposeful transparency, while always striving for psychological safety.
- Curious Innovation & Conscious Disruption: Learning, un-learning, and re-learning in service of evolution and transformation is how we do business.
- Better, Together: We believe collaboration leads to the best work and best-fit, customized solutions.
GGBA: Why did you decide to create Enspira?
Kurt Landon: Enspira was started in 2018 under the name Thrive with just one client, and one team member. We focused on the “messy” HR problems that are often difficult and complex to solve. Some of our founding principles are that we meet clients where they are with “fit for purpose” solutions. We don’t let budget constraints get in the way, and we typically work directly with (not in competition with) in-house HR teams (if they exist) so that we can support the success of HR professionals, HR teams, and further advance the field of HR.
Another reason I started the firm was to finally solve some of the long-standing talent/people/culture/HR/human capital issues. Having worked in this field for almost 30 years, I’ve observed that many leaders and organizations “admire the problem” but the problems don’t actually get solved. For example, almost every organization I’ve worked in, for, or with self discloses that they have a suboptimal level of frontline manager capability and effectiveness. At best, these organizations send managers to training, but the quality level of the training is typically average and it’s a point in time “event” that doesn’t typically lead to the desired outcome of actually raising the levels of frontline manager capability and effectiveness.
Furthermore, most organizations are still practicing the Jack Welch leadership development mandate of developing leaders at the top of the organization and then they rely on those senior leaders to develop more junior leaders. This results in two problematic things: 1) those senior leaders don’t typically follow through on developing more junior managers, and 2) by the time the frontline managers get what they need, it’s too long to wait. There are many examples like this and I started Enspira to solve these long-standing issues once and for all and we are proud that we have really “cracked the code” and are emerging as a market leader on many of these topics such as frontline manager capability and effectiveness, DEIB (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging), foundational HR support for early-stage startups, and more.
GGBA: Who are some of your role models?
Kurt Landon: Adam Grant is a human capital thought leader whom I respect and whose content really resonates with me. I’ve also built our advisory board with leaders who have been instrumental in helping us design, grow, and operate our business.
GGBA: Why did you decide to join the GGBA, and how long have you been a member?
Kurt Landon: We joined in March 2021 and did so because we have a large number of Bay Area clients and because we are an LGBTQ+ owned firm. The combination of these two things makes the GGBA the perfect organization for us.
GGBA: Has being a member helped your business so far?
Kurt Landon: As we have only been a member for a relatively short period of time, the honest answer is that we haven’t really gotten involved yet. I’m confident there are many ways we could benefit from our membership, primarily for lead generation/business development purposes. The motivation for us is less about revenue generation and more about being of service and support to other GGBA member organizations. We’re here to help!
GGBA: What advice would you give to someone who is thinking of starting their own business?
Kurt Landon: We have so much advice to share! Some ideas that come to mind: Start with a sound financial plan/budget and business plan. Engage a fractional CFO/finance leader to help establish an inaugural budget. Take the time to listen, learn, do market research, and talk to potential customers before setting your business strategy. Be thoughtful about timing—these are challenging times due to world events, the economy, and more.
https://enspirahr.com/
Golden Gate Business Association Member Spotlight
Published on November 16, 2023
