Much of my early childhood was spent on a farm in Oklahoma in a sort of communal environment. There was my foster father, Daddy Red, his wife, Momma Mae, her brother, Homer, his son, Ronnie, an adopted son, Tuffy, a handy man, Scottie, and me.

Red and Mae also owned a café where farmers met for coffee, and town politics were openly discussed. It was a place where truck drivers and preachers alike dined on chicken-fried steaks and fried okra. This was where I was exposed to a real cross-section of lifestyles.

Everyone who ever knew Daddy Red loved him. He created a wonderful atmosphere for the people in the café and on the farm. He enjoyed his work.
The natural system he set up integrated all the essential elements – farm, café, family and community – together. This environment, no doubt, influenced the way I envision the integration of business elements.

While attending the University of Arkansas in 1971, I had a company called Video-Acts Entertainment. This company was one of the first to use video tape as a sales tool to book bands. By its third year , the company was keeping up to 20 bands a week busy. This led to managing a recording studio for a friend, Ben Jack. The integration of the management, booking and recording of the bands just seemed normal to me.

In 1975, while in Los Angeles at Billboard Magazine’s Talent Forum, I got news that the studio had been struck by lightning and burned to the ground. Fortunately, it was insured, and we converted our part of the settlement to cash, sold the goodwill and moved to California.

Shortly after moving to LA, I became disenchanted with the music business and decided to put my marketing degree to good use and experience the corporate world. So I got a job at Grey Advertising, a large corporate advertising company.

In terms of goal setting, a milestone occurred in my life a few years back, when during our holiday party, the agency presented me with an unexpected gift. The group stood in our living room and recited the agency’s mission in unison, like a classroom would recite the pledge of allegiance – “We’re here at The Phelps Group to do great work for deserving clients, in a healthy working environment to realize our clients’ goals and our potentials.”

That was a defining moment for me. For the first time, it was clear that my goals were the group’s goals. The feeling of camaraderie and alignment for a common cause was rewarding.

It was a feeling I’d wish for every person – to feel that you’re part of building something worthwhile, and that the others in your group are with you in your quest to be the best at what you’re doing.

And for just a moment that night, I flashed back to the days on Daddy Red’s farm, and my first memories of “alignment within an organization.” It felt good.

For those more interested in our specific business: The Phelps Group is 65 associates, conducting integrated marketing communications for great clients like Whole Foods Markets, City of Hope, Tahiti, Panasonic and DirecTV. Founded in 1981, we’re one of the largest and 2nd oldest independent agency in Southern California.

You can find out more at http://www.thephelpsgroup.com.