Randy Larson traveled more than 20,000 miles during his ‘500 in Five’ campaign. Courtesy photo.
Although Randy Larson only has served as president of Professional Service Industries since October 2011, his presence is felt throughout the company.
Early on, he set a large goal for the company: Grow from a $200 million business in 2011 to a $500 million business in five years. As motivation for his “500 in Five” plan, Larson drove his own Monaco Signature Series motor coach more than 20,000 miles to all of PSI’s 85 offices to visit his teams.
“This is a big goal for the company, and sometimes, you need a big goal to get the attention of management and staff to take actions to significantly grow and take market share,” Larson said. “Although the goal may be big, it is certainly realistic and achievable. Regardless of the economic and political environment, some firms grow and outperform both the marketplace and its competitors. PSI intends to be this type of firm.”
Larson was Plant City’s mayor from 1996 to 1999. He served on the commission for nine years until 2002. Now as PSI’s president, he splits his time between the Tampa office and its corporate office in Chicago. For Larson, there isn’t much of a difference between running a city and running a business.
“When I was mayor, I always considered the citizens as ‘shareholders’ of the company,” Larson said. “Decisions were always made in the best interest of the shareholders and the company. I was generally not swayed by the ‘volume of the few.’”
The idea to take a tour of PSI’s offices came from discussions with PSI’s CEO and CMO. They wondered how they could get a new president to meet and learn more about PSI.
“It evolved into bus tour and wrapping the bus to be a rolling growth billboard for the company,” Larson said.
The tour started June 4, 2012, in Pensacola, and ended Nov. 14, in Riviera Beach. Larson traveled from coast to coast, visiting offices from California to Massachusetts. At each office, he explained “500 in Five,” discussed growth strategies and how to target clients. He had coffee, asked questions, answered questions and met with management teams and inspectors.
“This was a big deal for PSI and our offices and brought the entire company together as one,” Larson said. “The offices very much looked forward to my visits and were exceptionally receptive to the message of growth and optimism — and to working together as a team to improve and succeed.”
Many offices came up with meals and mementos for Larson to take with him, such as a giant gold hammer. One employee even wrote and sang a song about PSI achieving “500 in Five.”
“Seriously, this ‘500 in Five’ has been the greatest thing ever in the whole 12-plus years that I have been with PSI,” Bob Hart, with construction services at the St. Louis office, said to Larson. “Now, I can really feel a connection between the offices, and seeing the faces and all of the pictures makes us more ‘human’ to each other and not just a voice on the phone or an email across the states.”
Larson made the solo tour in his 45-foot diesel pusher. The hardest part of the trip for him was driving the long stretches between some of the western offices. When he made the trip to California, his first stop from Florida was in El Paso, Texas, which took three days to reach. On the opposite extreme, driving in congested city streets also was challenging, but he managed to parallel park the monster motor coach at least a dozen times.
“I actually found the time to be very therapeutic,” Larson said. “I was by myself quite a bit of the time, a lot of ‘thought’ time. I saw parts of the country that I had only seen previously from 30,000 feet. It was good to see the USA from the ground.”
To Larson, the five-month trip did its job of inspiring the offices and connecting them on the roadmap to success.
“PSI has set the stage for growth and created awareness (for) each and every employee by how they do or don’t do their job impacts growth and success,” Larson said. “PSI executive management is confident in the direction we are headed and that we will meet our goal. The good news is that (more than) 50% of PSI’s offices are currently growing at the rate required to make ‘500 in Five’ a reality. And, we are taking strategic actions to build on this and get everyone growing.”
Contact Amber Jurgensen at ajurgensen@plantcityobserver.com.