Good executive leadership with shared vision and complementary skills is part of a winning formula.  That being said, these elements alone will not make a company a “best place to work.” The key ingredient in the formula for building great organizations is the quality and commitment of its workforce.

People are naturally attracted to working with quality professionals because everyone wants to be part of a winning team.  The presence of a core group of committed professionals with proven reputations is a major competitive advantage — they learn from each other, are challenged in a healthy way, set a high bar for excellence, and create a desirable environment for recruiting new talent.

I am a huge football fan and have been lucky enough, in recent years, to witness my favorite franchise (Go Hawks!) establish themselves as one of the top flight organizations in the NFL. Of course, the executive leadership of the Seahawks played a big role in making Seattle a destination city for top talent in the NFL.

Even with great leadership in place, the Seahawks organization would not be as desirable if it didn’t have a core group of talented young players like Russell Wilson, Marshawn Lynch, Richard Sherman and Earl Thomas (just to name a few!). This core group was critical in recruiting other player personnel talent into the organization.

While the skill of this young group of players on the field can be seen by anyone, the Hawks don’t stop there when it comes to promoting their most valuable asset. Through a variety of community involvement initiatives including volunteering and public speaking the team demonstrates its values and culture away from the field, too.

Technology business owners can learn from this approach. While you might lead with creating valuable products or services, don’t forget to also to promote your company culture, your team and their skills within the greater community.

Given the nature of our business as a membership organization, we are constantly interacting with professionals in the community, and I get super excited when anyone from the Washington state tech ecosystem interacts with the WTIA staff.  The WTIA staff is friendly, customer service-oriented, and great ambassadors of the brand. I am proud to be part of the workforce that gets to serve the technology community and be a “best place to work”.