Leaders in the Limelight: Christopher Goodsell

My name: Christopher Goodsell

My company: ILX.Interactive Learning Experience

My title: CEO

My location: Roswell,Georgia

Best business advice I ever received: Ihave two! The first is general life advice that I apply to business every day.It is: “Help people get what or where they want, and they’ll help you get what and where you want.”

The secondis: “You know nothing, and you’re full of it.” I can explain this in moredetail. We’re always listening for desired outcomes. In life people say things like,“I want more money,” but that’s not actually their desired outcome. What theyreally want is what they perceive more money will get them, such as freedom orsecurity.

In business we are always searching for the exactoutcome we are looking to produce. If we’re teachingsoft skills like customer service, for example, what’s the realresult that we are looking for? Happy customers? Sure, but that’s not really it.What do happy customers do? They provide repeat business, referrals, and wordof mouth. We are actually training customer service reps to create advocatesthat will actively share their great experiences. That’s a small butsignificant difference.

The “we know nothing” part applies to everything wedo. It’s so easy to fall back on what we have done in the past. Pastexperiences and projects are great, but they also dramatically limit what ispossible. The question we ask ourselvesall the time is: “If we were to start this today knowing nothing, thenwhat would be the best possible way to create the desired outcome?”

Here is an example: A rentalcompany recently had issues with large screen TVs getting damaged duringdelivery. They were about to train their delivery people on how to deliverthe TVs without damaging them. Instead, one of the drivers suggested that they simplyoffer a bonus for TVs that were delivered undamaged. The problem was resolved immediately,without any need for training. It was an elegant and innovative solution.

Most daring personal career move: Startingmy own company at 21 years of age. I got a job as a junior graphic designerstraight out of school. I worked at the company for six months and then leftwith two of the directors to start our own design agency, with me as the headof design. It was a very scary and gutsymove. I was perhaps too young and naive to realize at the time just how big a move it was. Anyway, itworked out. Four years later, I actually returned to the other company to runit!  

What I’m most proud of:Something of great importance to me is that Ipersonally, and we as a company, regularly give back. Withthat in mind, we started the Starfish Fund. There’s a story about a guy throwing stranded starfish backinto the ocean, one by one. There are hundreds of them and he cannot possiblyhelp them all, but he can help one at a time.

So every month at ILX we take apercentage of the profit and contribute it to a local cause. We have paidmedical bills, bought supplies for elderly people, and sponsored homeless peopleand families. The cause is always something very apparent and close to home.Like the starfish, we cannot help everyone but we can make a difference for some. We LOVE doing that.

Current workplace challenge: Finding“ligers.” A liger is the perfect blend of a lion and a tiger, butbigger and better than either of them individually. We are always looking forgreat ligers to join our team, but we’re uniquely creative and very hands-on. Wetend to hire people who have a broad range of experience and ability, and whoexcel at all of it. They can be difficult to find.

In the past we have used instructionaldesigners, graphic designers, and developers to produce eLearning. We don’t dothat anymore. Now all of our instructional designers are highly technical; theycan all developin Storyline, Lectora, or Camtasia, and they are allbrilliant graphically. We pride ourselves on integrating visual communicationand strong graphic design principles in everything we do to engage learners onall levels. Our clients report an average of 40 percent increase in courseparticipation and engagement, as well as a sharp uptick in successfulcompletion and retention over time. We don’t compromise, and we focus onexcellence at every stage. It can be difficult to find people who can trulyplay at this level.