Jeff Gorman – [President]
People who know me well will be quick to agree I fall victim to being a creature of habit in many ways. When I find things I enjoy, I tend to stay with those things. For example, not only do I generally eat at the same small set of restaurants, I tend to order the same food at a restaurant each time I visit. I appreciate the advice from friends regarding mixing things up for some variety, but I fall victim to the comfort of taking away one more decision to make after a day full of decisions, and I enjoy knowing I will like what I am ordering. One restaurant I frequently visit, however, brings out a different approach. They have a couple ‘daily specials’, and they really promote those offerings as something which will bring people in; not things from the menu which are on special, but completely unique offerings which are only available on that day. They rarely repeat, and they are not even always available after the peak dinner hours because of their popularity. 
Sometimes the special items feature ingredients from local suppliers as their unique thread. Sometimes the special items are themed around the time of year or a different ethnicity than the normal fare of the restaurant. This ‘one day only’ trait makes the restaurant different for me; I always order from the ‘specials’ menu, and I’ve always enjoyed it. The restaurant uses the specials menu to be even better at who they are – a locally owned restaurant offering friendly service in a relaxed atmosphere with some unique menu choices that change every day.
Knowing what is unique about your business and finding ways to exhibit the difference are important traits in a digital economy where consumers and employees have more choices than at any other time in history. At Keller Schroeder, we feel strongly regarding the uniqueness of being an employee-owned business and our culture of ownership. Our focus on employee-ownership makes us better at our mission of being a technology company in the performance improvement business and aligns perfectly with our purpose of making positive, personal impacts on our employees, our clients, and our communities. All of our core staff employees are owners in the business, and because of our focus on sharing accountability, knowledge, and growth among those owners, we are different from most businesses. Every employee has direct benefit from the growth of our company, so we value long-term relationships differently, our employees are empowered differently, and we share knowledge differently. Application development, infrastructure solutions, staffing solutions, and data strategy are not inherently unique offerings where our clients have no option but to work with us. The responsibility lies on us to be a business partner our clients choose to work with, where they value our positive impacts more than what other providers can offer. Our ‘special’ is offering the ability for our clients to engage in those areas with knowledgeable employee-owners who work differently because of their ownership. If you are a current client, we continue to thank you for your partnership; if you are not a client and you would like to discern if working with an employee-owned company is really a ‘special’ experience, we would love to hear from you to discuss how we might be able to make a positive, personal impact on you and your business.
Jeff Gorman
people might wonder why we feel as compelled to consistently focus on making positive impacts in the community.
Cathy Graper will become the Vice President of our Application Solutions Group effective January 1, 2018. Cathy has been with Keller Schroeder for twenty-two years and is a seasoned Business Unit Director reporting directly to Dan. She has a deep and diverse background in Information Technology, starting with her B.S. in Computer Science from Indiana State University and progressing through a variety of roles making positive impacts on clients of all sizes in multiple industries. She has had great success as a developer, analyst and project manager during her tenure with Keller Schroeder and has a deep understanding of our Application group and Keller Schroeder as a whole. Her ability to create ‘
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Dear Colleagues and Friends,
I was asked recently to speak to a group of college students about lessons learned from my 35 years in the marketplace. As you can imagine, narrowing 35 years of experience down to a 30-minute talk was fairly challenging, but one of the topics I chose for these students – and a factor that has contributed significantly to our success at Keller Schroeder – is what I refer to as ownership thinking.
Ownership thinking is about choosing to believe – and it is a choice – that you have the most to do with your path and your destination – not your circumstances, and not the actions of others. Psychologists refer to it as a strong “internal locus of control”. Students who practice ownership thinking will blame themselves, not their teacher, for a poor outcome on an exam. Leaders who practice ownership thinking will focus on shaping the future and influencing outcomes rather than reporting on the past or justifying underperformance. Conversely, individuals who tend toward an “external locus of control” are quick to blame others or environmental factors for their misfortunes.