Leadership requires knowledge and risk-taking

As a leader, Dr. Marc Nickell, co-founder, has always been motivated by higher goals. He wanted to accomplish something he believed in every day that could change lives. Marc wanted to help firms find exceptional virtual staff, so he established Rocket Station, which not only improves their clients' lives but also changes people's lives worldwide. Building SOPs and educating virtual teammates creates amazing value for their clients and allows them to develop and scale at their own pace.

Marc's father influenced him personally, academically, and professionally. Marc saw him make sacrifices for his family and uphold his ideals. He taught him much of his daily ideology. He was an entrepreneur at a time when leaving a steady job was almost unheard of. He took calculated risks knowing he had a large family to support, but never wanted to let life pass him by. Marc asserts that paying his dues while pursuing his passion has led to his success.

Marc has always wanted to lead organizations and is both an academic and a businessman; thus, research is vital to him. Due to this, he has always been conscious of his "bosses" and "leaders." He spent years observing and analyzing leaders. Additionally, he continued his own academic journey to obtain a PhD to research various leadership constructs. Through anecdotes and study, he learned what makes a strong leader. In his perspective, this understanding is used to carefully implement a leadership style that helps grow and develop other leaders to establish an organization-wide culture of support.

Leaders must realize it's never about them. To be effective, they must set aside their egos and focus on the needs of their people, their clients, and their company. People often associate leadership with motivational speeches and enthusiastic personalities, but this is rarely the case. There are basic tenants of leadership, but it comes in all shapes and sizes. Dr. Nickell recommends reading about the perception of credibility (which includes competence, character, and caring) and autonomous motivation for a basic yet powerful leadership philosophy. Once you understand these two constructs, you can create a simple action plan to execute confidently. Eventually, a great leadership philosophy will permeate throughout an organization. Marc suggests being patient, consistent, and curious.

Dr. Nickell follows Aristotle's communication methods. What Aristotle coined as "ethos" is now widely known as "credibility." To be a great communicator, one must understand their perceived credibility. The perception of credibility is the most powerful form of persuasion. Communication requires knowing how you're regarded in all three domains (competence, character, and caring) and requires clarity. "If the message isn't clear, it's open to interpretation and misinterpretation," he adds.

When it comes to decision making, Marc is of the opinion that making decisions isn't always easy, but most of the time fairly clear. He has a few decision-making pillars. Having clarity on the company's direction and upholding his basic principles helps him make tough decisions. When values and/or vision are unclear, it becomes confusing and more difficult.

There are a number of goals that Marc is extremely proud to have reached as an organization. The one that he is probably most proud of is being certified in back-to-back years as a great place to work. The reason he is so proud of this accomplishment is that it was conducted through a third party and comes directly from the feedback of the thousands of Rocket Station teammates.

They have no control over the surveys, so when the results say that their teammates are inspired, motivated, and happy to come to work every day, it only inspires him to continue to work harder serving them.

Marc feels Rocket Station's people and culture are its greatest strengths. They do anything for their teammates. His staff must serve and support one another, according to him. Their success stems from their culture of service, the culture of support and development that supports high aspirations is crucial to their foundation. They put the needs of their teams first in everything they do. Bringing value to clients and positively impacting thousands of lives pushes him every day.

"The perception of outsourcing has always been one of low quality, high turnover, and an almost robotic type of relationship," says Marc. Their goal is to change that perception and experience, and their vision is to implement an end-to-end platform that creates an intuitive and seamless experience for businesses to leverage a world-class workforce regardless of geographic footprint. They not only strive to provide the best service in the industry, but they also aim to change the perception of outsourcing through long-term relationships and make it easier, more personal, and more efficient than ever before to hire virtually.