Graduate Stories – 2003

Ken Campel & Michael Pinholster are managing partners in Tidewatch Partners, LLC.

Passion is very much a part of our business, and it’s something Saltwater helps bring to the surface.

The Saltwater Institute has allowed us to see that Tidewatch Partners can be a reflection of who we are. And while The Seven Intentions® of Values-Centered Leadership program was not necessarily organized around assisting partnership companies like ours, because of the course we now have a very different orientation to business, partnership and performance. We’re in an industry where the value we provide is being creative under pressure, and there’s a resulting tension between doing good work and the demands of the business place. It’s hard for us to overestimate the value of the program in dealing with that particular tension.

When we took the course we were at an intersection: We could stay where we were and do okay, or go where our clients and employees wanted us to go. We recognized the professional values and virtues that mark success. But those perhaps occupied different spaces for us than things like respect for the environment and giving back to the community. The Seven Intentions® helped us understand that’s a false distinction. There’s no necessary space between the two; they are integrated. As a result, we find ourselves working for companies that embody the sort of “capital V” values it didn’t seem initially we would have an opportunity to work with—companies dedicated to the connection between those two spheres of value.

Passion is very much a part of our business, and it’s something Saltwater helps bring to the surface. Our passion for what we do is so powerful and palpable; it is something clients comment on often. We feel that The Seven Intentions® provide you with the opportunity to be more passionate about who you are, and more excited about what you bring to each day, not just at presentation time. They also give a language and structure to the process, and help employees see the role of art and creativity in work. We’re looking forward to the time when all our employees have gone through Saltwater, so they can dig deep and bring those passions to work, which will help them grow. We want to see them exploit their gifts and bring them to bear honestly and more effectively in the work they do.

The value of The Seven Intentions® lies in reminding us to ensure that work is something fulfilling—that you become something from work, rather than merely being something you do. We can’t afford to have employees who just get paid a salary. We don’t hire doers. We hire thinkers. Yes, you need to have the skills foundation, but more of who you are needs to be in your work, and that’s why we’re putting everyone through Saltwater’s program. First, that’s what makes the difference for the clients. Second, if your work simply becomes a task for which you’re paid, you only develop who you are outside of work, and our relationship here is merely contractual.

Carving out the time to take a Saltwater program was tough. If we didn’t do it, however, we’d still be struggling through some of the serious business decisions we’ve made. Since then it’s been impossible not to have the course touch every part of our lives.

One of the challenges is the balance of growing this relatively young company and its impact on our personal life. The course refreshed the need to examine balance. Before we were a little bit sloppy outside of business, so for us The Seven Intentions® are helping prioritize our lives outside of work as well.

In terms of who would benefit the most from The Seven Intentions®, we feel it would work best for someone who’s serious about being honest with themselves, about becoming a better person and a more effective leader. We know that for us, it’s like we’ve unearthed something, like flowers have popped open and bees are being drawn to them. Just recently we got a call from a magazine that wants to talk with us about values in corporate America. For us these successes really grow out of the value of The Seven Intentions®.