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direction ➤ November 2008

FFaith and fate played a huge role in thecompany Robert Charles Albert III andhis father, R.C. Albert Jr., built from theground up—but not in the way mostpeople think.

A deeply religious man, RobertCharles—who prefers to go by “Bobby,”the nickname bequeathed to him by hisfamily—boils the philosophy that drivesthe family business down to one word:“scrapper.” It began the day his fatherstarted an upholstery and furniturerefinishing business in their hometown ofWichita Falls, Texas, back in 1938—despite being in the midst of the GreatDepression.

“He didn’t take anything for granted;he adapted and adjusted as he wentalong,” Bobby Albert recalled. R.C.

Albert shut down the business duringWorld War II while he served in themilitary, and then restarted it in the1950s after his discharge. He addedmoving services to his business in 1960,after customers started asking him to

ship the goods his furniture companymade for them.

By the time Bobby fully joined hisdad’s company—first folding movingpads, then driving trucks and keeping

the company’sfinancial books inorder—movinghad become thefirm’s primarybusiness, resultingin a name change

to Albert Moving.“By then, the Vietnam War was in full

swing and with Sheppard Air Force basejust outside our town, we were verybusy,” Albert said. He worked every sum-mer on the trucks while going to

college—an effort he felt compelled toachieve in three years, not the typicalfour taken by most students.

He didn’t know why, Bobby explained—it’s just that he had this feeling, that he mustcomplete college in three years. Hegraduated in 1973. And that’s when hisfather died of a heart attack.

To say Bobby suffered a heavy personalblow is an understatement. He credits hisfaith for not only keeping him on hisfeet, but also for keeping his family’s busi-ness alive and kicking.

“The toughest thing about it was ourtotal gross revenue was less than

“This industry offers a huge opportunity to make a difference. Not just in terms of customer service, mind

you, but in terms of helping people—both the customersand our own employees.”

—Bobby Albert

Withstanding the tests of business and time

by Sean Kilcarr, Special to Direction with Sandy Lynch, AMSA Senior Vice President, Marketing, Communications and Education

Moving Albert Way

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Bobby Albert, president and CEO with Terry Johnson,warehouse coordinator for Albert Moving’s WichitaFalls local storage facilities.

$100,000—and we were $50,000 in debtas well,” Albert noted. “Back then, thatwas just a huge financial mountain toclimb.” The banks just had handshakedeals with Bobby’s father, but decided togive Bobby a chance—loaning him alittle more to keep the business going, tosee what he could do. In the end, itturned out that’s all the breathing roomhe needed.

DIVERSIFY AND INNOVATEThe way Bobby saw it, as a “scrapper”

style of company, Albert Moving wouldn’t turn its nose up at any decentopportunity to pursue new avenues forrevenue. He focused the firm on findingout what kinds of things customersneeded besides just moving services, andthen figured out a way to provide them.

“First, we grow our business in existingmarkets with existing customers. Then welook to expand our business into compat-ible market niches,” Albert explained.

As a result, Albert Moving gradually expanded into the self-storage business,records management and on-sitedocument shredding, and finally mobilestorage service. Bobby also made surethat the company’s traditional moving offerings didn’t stand still—making surethey constantly evolved and improved todeliver ever better value to the customer.

Yet by the 1980s, something didn’t feelright—and Bobby thought seriouslyabout selling Albert Moving and gettingout of the relocation business entirely.

“The quality of service wasn’t where Iwanted it to be…and I was tired,” he said.“But then I sat back and thought long

and hard about what we were doing for acouple of days, and I came to the conclu-sion that this industry offers a hugeopportunity to make a difference. Notjust in terms of customer service, mindyou, but in terms of helping people—both the customers and our ownemployees.”

That triggered what’s probably been Albert Moving’s biggest innovation—acomplete overhaul of its managementstyle and objectives.

Bobby based his new outlook on leader-ship principles espoused by evangelicalminister John C. Maxwell: make adifference with people by getting yourown people to want to make a difference,and that believing in people before theyhave proved themselves is the key to moti-vating people to reach their potential.

direction ➤ November 2008

November 2008 ➤ direction

“I said to myself, ‘Here is where Iwant to put a stake in the ground andmake a difference,’ because, frankly,that’s just the kind of person I am,” heexplained. “It took us a lot longer to getto where we are today than I thought,but it’s paid off.”

And how: the firm is now a $25million a year enterprise—a very far cryfrom its sub-$100,000 annual revenues aquarter century ago. The company alsoemploys 100 people and now operatesfive satellite offices—in Dallas and SanAntonio, Texas; Cleveland, Ohio; WestChester, Pa.; and Phoenix, Ariz.—as it continues to build a nationalpresence.

GROWING WITH VALUESToday, Albert Moving focuses on two

core principles. The first is to delight thecustomer—not just satisfy theirexpectation, but exceed them, and thuswin customers for life. “That’s ourpurpose—that’s why we exist,” saidBobby—still president and CEO of thecompany that bears his family’s name.

The second principle is made up ofthree parts, he noted: people, people andpeople. “It doesn’t come down to whatwe do so much as who we are as acompany,” he explained. “We want to bea company that is value-driven, not aresults-driven company with values. Ourfocus is to find people with similar valuesso we can take care of both external andinternal customers at the same time.Because we believe that our service tothe customer can only be as good as ourservice to each other.”

Bobby further expounded on hiscompany’s faith-based foundation bydeveloping a central motto for the stillfamily-owned firm: G.I.V.E.R.S. Thatstands for …■ Pursuit of Personal Growth■ Living with Integrity■ Add Value to Others■ Strive for Excellence■ Enhance Relationships as we Drive

for Results■ Achieve Significance

To help employees keep not just theseprinciples but also the company’s qualityethic in the forefront, Bobby created a

Many companies like Albert Moving &Storage across many different industriesidentify themselves as faith-basedbusinesses—tightly weaving theirparticular religious beliefs into theircorporate structure. In Albert Moving’scase, those beliefs also motivated thecreation of different kinds of services forits customers as well as its employees,noted Robert Charles “Bobby” Albert III, the company’s president and CEO.

“We operate on biblical principles and as part of that we offer a workplaceministry,” he explained. “We hold a Bible study class every Thursday for those thatwish to attend, and we subscribe to a chaplain service that will visit employees inthe hospital, or assist at weddings and funerals.” The company covers hospital visits by a chaplain, he stressed.

That same service is available to Albert Moving’s customers in more than 700cities nationwide. “Moving is a very stressful time in the lives of our customers—asingle mother, for example, with financial difficulties trying to relocate to get a freshstart,” Albert noted. “We’ll offer to send a chaplain to their home at our expense ifthat is something they want—a way to give them comfort in a difficult time.”

Interestingly enough, it’s a philosophy mirrored by one of the highest politicaloffices in the land—the White House. Both President George W. Bush and Sen.Barack Obama (Ill.) are strong advocates of faith-based organizations.

“The tragedy was that a lot of good folks in America, a lot of good men andwomen who had the desire to help, but didn't have the resources—and becausemany of them belonged to faith-based organizations, they were often barred fromreceiving support from the federal government,” said Bush in a speech this past August. “So I set about to change that.”

One of President Bush’s first executive orders created the Office of Faith-Basedand Community Initiatives, along with offices at 11 federal agencies.

“These offices were tasked with this new mission: to lower the legal andinstitutional barriers that prevented government and faith-based groups fromworking as partners,” he said. “To me, it does not matter if there’s a crescent onyour group’s wall, a rabbi on your group’s board, or Christ in your group’s name. Ifyour organization puts medicine in people’s hands, food in people’s mouths, or aroof over people’s heads, then you’re succeeding. And for the sake of our country,the government ought to support your work.”

It’s an effort Obama said he would continue if elected to the White House this month.“It was a Catholic group called the Campaign for Human Development that helped

fund the work I did many years ago in Chicago to help lift up neighborhoods thatwere devastated by the closure of a local steel plant,” the Democrat noted in aspeech this July.

“As I’ve said many times, I believe that change comes not from the top-down, butfrom the bottom-up, and few are closer to the people than our churches,synagogues, temples and mosques,” he noted. “Now, I know there are some whobristle at the notion that faith has a place in the public square. But the fact is,leaders in both parties have recognized the value of a partnership between theWhite House and faith-based groups. The fact is, the challenges we face today—from saving our planet to ending poverty—are simply too big for government tosolve alone. We need all hands on deck.”

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series of pin-back buttons. He orderedthe first one reading “QIC” in 1992 andnow has seven successors.

“‘QIC’ is important because it standsfor ‘Quality is Contagious,’” heexplained. “Basically, it means that themore good work each of us does, themore others will ‘catch’ that spirit. Thisprovides the basic framework in ourongoing efforts to achieve continuousimprovements for all of our products andservices.”

Another one exclaims “Enjoy Change,”which Bobby feels is a mindset absolutelycritical in the moving business today. “Withour continued growth into new markets,we’re experiencing incredible amounts ofchange—so let’s ‘enjoy it and welcome it’instead of worry about it,” he said.

For example, for years, much of AlbertMoving’s relocation work came from theDepartment of Defense—a traditionalsource of household goods movingbusiness. Recently, though, the companyhas stepped out to offer a variety of morenon-traditional services, such as crews tohelp load rental trucks and containers forself-packing that can be shipped via less-than-truckload (LTL) carriers.

“The point is not to fear change—rather,we should welcome it and see how we cantap into it to not only revolutionize ourbusiness but also further improve how weserve our customers,” Albert said. “It allgoes back to developing and sustainingthose long-term relationships we want tohave with our customers.”

MOVERS SKILL RODEO TEACHES BESTPRACTICES—AND MAKES LEARNING FUN

The Albert Companies are driven tostrive for excellence through thedevelopment and implementation of bestpractices. To this end, Bobby Albert,president and CEO, and COO JasonTurner decided to create their ownMovers Skill Rodeo.

The Movers Skill Rodeo started in2005 as a friendly competition. Today, ithas become a cornerstone training eventfor the company. Members of thecommunity, customers and members ofthe media are invited to watch thecompetition and stay around for the family-style lunch and awards ceremony.

Employees are divided into teams thatcompete for top awards and recognition.The teams are formed before the actualrodeo, and all engage in friendlycompetition in the days leading up to therodeo. This year’s teams included “ForHire,” “The Motivators,” “The Stooges,”and “PDQ,” (for Pretty Darn Quick).

The cross-functional teams compete ona range of skills challenges. This year, thecompetition included six key areas:paper padding, blanket wrap, packing,driving skills, documentation, and a writ-ten test on terminology and processquestions. Each team spentapproximately 45 minutes at each stationwith a skills coach and judge looking on.After each team is scored, the coachesconduct a debriefing session and answerquestions about the challenge. They alsopoint out strengths and areas forimprovement—all to reinforce thelearning that just took place.

COO Turner said this event is aboutcombining teachable moments with fun,team-building activities. His goal is tobuild best practices into daily operations.“This is a terrific opportunity tohighlight the talent of our team members

who bring their best every day,” headded. “This also gives our office and administrative employees a chance tolook through the lens of the customer tohelp them understand what it means togive a customer an “EEE” experience. Tothose outside the company, that means anExperience that Exceeds Expectations.”

In addition to awards in each area, theoverall “top dog” award is given to theteam with the highest combined scores.

In recent years, the company has addeda new award—the EEE Award— whichis given to the employee who exhibitsthe most team spirit, enthusiasm and hustle throughout the day. It was awardedto driver Steve Steele this year.

Bobby Albert and Jason Turner willshare a “How to Conduct a Mover SkillsRodeo” session at AMSA’s DallasEducation Conference & Expo. Youwon’t want to miss this practical andinformative session. ◆

Sean Kilcarr is senior editor of Fleet

Owner magazine. He can be reached

at skilcarr@fleetowner.com.

Faith-based companies—especially those that provide social services—are gain-ing financial and political support from many quarters in the U.S.:

Economic Development: Since 2002, the Department of Commerce’s EconomicDevelopment Administration (EDA) has increased the number of its partnershipswith faith-based companies by 70 percent. Since 2001, EDA has invested morethan $175 million in 236 projects led by faith-based or other communitynonprofits, which were anticipated to create more than 88,000 jobs and $3.8billion in private investment.

Federal Grants: Last year alone, the federal government provided more than19,000 direct, competitive awards to America’s nonprofit organizations to aid thehomeless, at-risk youth, recovering addicts, returning offenders, people afflicted byHIV/AIDS, and others. These grants totaled more than $15.3 billion and all servedto boost services to people in need. Faith-based organizations were welcomed as acentral part of this work, winning more than 3,200 grants in 2007 totaling morethan $2.2 billion.

Political Support: 35 governors—19 Democrats and 16 Republicans—nowhave faith-based and community initiatives. Additionally, more than 70 mayors ofboth parties have similar programs.

—Source: Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives

BY THE NUMBERS

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direction ➤ November 2008