GHF Inspired 1

A LOOK INTO THE VISION
inspired
BEHIND GAINESVILLE HEALTH & FITNESS
Health & Fitness
The Gainesville
Journey!
Turning a dream into a reality,on a wing and a prayer
THINK RICH AND NEVER GIVE UP
Fin d Pu ing rp Yo u pg os .5 e r
JOE CIRULLI
Welcome to inspired
Maybe it was
Mighty Mouse
By Joe Cirulli
When it comes to building a company, I dont know if Gainesville Health & Fitness went by the standard route. I do know that most companies started by entrepreneurs begin on a wing and a prayer, and GHF is no exception. Who knows when a plan actually starts or when a thought unfolds and takes on a physical form? I know watching Jack LaLanne exercise on TV when I was 7 years old affected me. Maybe it was his enthusiasm that got me following his workouts. I knew I didnt want to have a double chin, or that fat he kept talking about that grows under your arms. I was positive no 7-year -old wanted that to happen. Or maybe it was my mother always saying that as long as you have your health, you have everything. And being a nurse, I guess she knew. Could it have been watching a group of 16-year-old high school football players weight lifting when I was 8 and being mesmerized by how they pushed each other? Or my friends older brother when I saw him lifting weights wearing jeans and no shirt and thinking he looked like Hercules? Then running home and telling my parents that all I wanted for Christmas was a set of weights. I still remember my ninth Christmas and seeing my 110 pound set of Mighty Mouse weights under the tree. Maybe the stage was being set when I started bringing all my friends down to my cellar to see my gym and teaching them to lift as I encouraged them to work harder. Nine-year-olds needed some pushing. Maybe it was my first trip to a real gym when I was 13 and the fear I felt walking into it. How would I fit in a place full of older guys who trained like Spartans? Could the course have been set when I was a junior in high school and I brought all the football players to the gym and taught them how to lift? Or maybe it was being named captain of the team though I was the youngest guy in my class. Why did the coach do that? He told me it was something about leadership. I believe as I look over the course of my life, many things were
inspired
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Maybe it was Mighty Mouse Joe Cirulli discusses the reasons he started GHF more than 30 years ago. Why We Do What We Do Take an inside look at our vision, mission, core purpose, culture and core values at GHF, and the process we went through to define them. How We Do It Customer service is an important part of the GHF company culture. Take a look at the steps we take to make sure our members have positive experiences.
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Who We Are Find out more about what defines GHF as a company. Think Rich and Never Give Up In this story, reprinted from Inc. magazine, writer Bo Burlingham traces the journey Joe Cirulli took to make GHF what it is today. The GHF Commitment At GHF we have a commitment to the Gainesville community. Check out the ways we put that commitment into practice every day.
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Over the course of my life, many things were being put in place for GHF to become a reality.
being put in place for GHF to become a reality. Why Gainesville, Florida? Im not sure why I fell in love with Gainesville after a visit from my home in upstate New York. All I know is, I did. So, how did things fall into place? I cant say there was a direct course. But somehow a plan was being put in place. (Read more about Joes journey in the article from Inc. magazine on page 16.) I knew the heath club business was where I belonged and I knew Gainesville was the place where I would do it someday, but I still had a few more challenges to go through. A bunch actually. There was only one time I wanted to call it quits, but that only lasted about 10 minutes before I came to my senses. I was once seriously depressed for quite a while, three hours to be exact. Then I realized you cant get anywhere being depressed so I put a plan together instead. GHF officially began in 1978 and started with $1,700. People say weve come a long way. As Ive told them, we had a long way to go, and we believe we still do. Over the years the staff has grown from the original three to almost 500; from one center to three; and from a tiny orthopedic rehab center in 1988 to three today. Ive always known why I do what I do. I have always had an internal drive in me to become better, and for some reason Ive always had something inside of me making me want to help others become better too. When I think of all the things that have impacted mefrom being bullied as a kid (always the youngest in my class), to the challenging years between 19 and 24, to the building of a passion, to surviving multiple injuriesI want to help where I can. In the pages of this magazine, Ill talk about how a small group of people took my passion and made it their own. Ill share with you how we defined who we are and what is behind GHF. My goal is to give our members an understanding of the company that theyve elected to be a part of, and hopefully help some other businesses understand how to move their own company forward.
inspired is a special edition magazine for Gainesville Health and Fitness.

MAIN CENTER 4820 Newberry Road, Gainesville, FL 32607 P: 352-377-4955 FOR WOMEN 2441 NW 43rd Street, Gainesville, FL 32606 P: 352-374-4634 TIOGA TOWN CENTER 12830 SW 1st Lane Suite 100, Tioga, FL 32669 P: 352-692-2180 www.ghfc.com GHF Contacts Joe Cirulli, Owner Jan Matkozich, General Manager Shawn Stewart, Operations Manager Ann Raulerson, Operations Manager, Womens Center Debbie Lee, Director of Marketing Sheila Gardner, Director of Group Exercise Christie Matkozich, Director of Personal Training Brian Russell, Communications Specialist Ryan Beacher, Tioga General Manager Melissa Lynn Forgione, Director of Kids Club Erica Smith, Facilities Director Kyle Miller, Fitness Director Adrian Antigua, Front Desk Manager
PUBLISHED BY: Naylor, LLC 5950 NW First Place, Gainesville, FL 32607 P: 352-332-1252 or Toll-free: 800-369-6220 F: 352-331-3525 www.naylor.com Publisher: Tracy Tompkins Editor: Elsbeth Russell Layout & Design: Julie Weaver 2011 NAYLOR, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. The contents of this publication may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, without the prior consent of the publisher.
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Why we do what we do
Our vision, mission, core purpose, culture and core values are important to the identity of GHF. Heres the process we went through to dene them.
rom 1978 on, GHF grew at a fairly strong pace. Our original 1,500 square foot facility eventually expanded to three clubs and over 106,000 square feet of facilities. I believe having a true understanding of why we do what we do is our biggest competitive advantage and its what has allowed us to continually grow. In the following pages Im going to cover many of the things behind the growth of our company. Ill not only explain what our vision, mission, core purpose, culture and core values are, but the process we went through to define them. Hopefully Ill make it clear that a business does not become successful if its purpose is to make money. As a matter of fact, I believe thats why so many go out of business. The purpose has to be something much greater.
Building a Foundation
As Ive told people all over the world, we cant build a strong company without a sound foundation. When I started in business, I didnt have anyone to go to for advice. I worked for six health clubs that went bankrupt. I learned a lot by watching what not to do. The true answers to moving a business and a life forward, I found in
books and tapes, and I built my business from the knowledge I gained. In one of those books, I read the quote, If you help enough people get what they want out of life, youll get everything you want out of life. It was written by Napoleon Hill and because I believed so much in what he wrote, I accepted it as truth and decided I would always do my best to help other people get what they needed. Whether that is to help people get in better shape and improve their health, or gain a better understanding of how to improve a business, if GHF can help, well help. Its that simple.
In Their Own Words

This place truly is a leadership factory. Each day, my colleagues do something that impresses the hell out of me. Thats a fantastic feeling, knowing that everyone on your team is giving it everything they have each day. Plus, seeing that we have the trust placed in us to do what we think is right makes it easier to perform our tasks in a high-functioning way. -Brian Russell, GHF Communications Specialist
Finding Your Purpose

Most people look at a gym as a collection of rooms full of equipment, but to my staff and me GHF is much more than that. One easy way to find out the value of a company is to pose the following question to the employees: What would the impact be on our customers and the community if next week you found out we would no longer exist? Then look at the reaction from the staff. Whenever I have posed this question, the initial reaction has always been sadness. But the question you may ask is, Is it because they will no longer have a job? Ask them. I have never heard anyone refer to concerns about him or herself. I have always heard them refer to peoples lives that have been changed due their relationship with us. Their concerns were with those members. It has always made me feel good when I see this happen. It tells me its more than a jobits a passion. Years ago when I first asked this question of my management team, I followed it up with another question, Why does GHF exist? The first answer was fairly straightforward: To provide a facility for people to get in shape. Then I asked the follow-up question, Why is that important? The second response was, To help people lead healthier lives. I asked them Why five times until we finally figured it out.
CORE VALUE We dene INTEGRITY as always doing the right thing even when no one is lookingwe do not lie, steal or cheat. As Mark Twain said, When in doubt, tell the truth.
The GHF Book Club

Check out some of the books that have inspired GHFs business practices. Think & Grow Rich - Napoleon Hill The Law of Success - Napoleon Hill The Strangest Secret - Earl Nightengale Start with Why - Simon Sinek Good to Great - Jim Collins How the Mighty Fall - Jim Collins The Great Game of Business - Jack Stack
And this is how we developed our reason for existing, or more aptly put, our Core Purpose: To create an experience that helps people get the most out of life, while inspiring them to become their best. I believe that to become a great company we have to have a larger purpose. For us, fitness is the tool we use to help our members, but we want to create something much larger than a workout. We want you to want to be with us, to be part of a great experience; a place that makes you feel better simply because youre here. We want you to become the best you can be as we work to make ourselves the best we can be. When I first started the process of defining who we were, I came across an article in the Harvard Business Review. It was called Creating Your Companys Vision and written by the well-known author, Jim Collins. When I read his article, I realized a lot of things may be clear in my mind, but may not be clear in everybody elses minds. I decided we needed to get together and start discussing things so that everyone would be part of defining our vision, mission, core values, core purpose and culture. Once I finished the article I remember thinking it would take around eight hours to complete. How wrong could I be? Working on it diligently, it took us six months. Eventually we involved the entire company. At that time we had approximately 200 employees. CORE VALUE We actively search for ways to anticipate and accommodate the needs and wants of our fellow employees, customers, and community. WE WANT TO BE EXTRAORDINARY.
Cultivating Your Culture

CORE VALUE Our greatest power is the freedom to CREATE OUR OWN FUTURE: we decide what we do, what we think and where we go. No one can take this power away from usit is ours alone. We knew it was easy to define culture: Its the way we do things around here. While we believed we knew what our culture was, we had never spelled it out. We realized that it would be important to write it out to give us even greater clarity. To uncover our culture, we assembled a key group from our staff. Individually, we wrote down key words that we believed described our company. We then took turns reading one idea at a time as we went around the room. We wrote each word on a board. We came up with 53 different ideas of what defined our culture. We had to narrow it down to less than 10. That was a challenge, but eventually we got it down to six: 1. A learning and challenging environment that develops leaders. 2. An environment of teamwork.
Charting Your Course

Were much more powerful as a company if everyone is pushing in the same direction. So, how did we do it? The first step was setting up a meeting with eight company leaders who didnt all think alike but respected one anothers opinion. Then we went through a detailed process: First, we had to define the terms. This is what we decided: VISION defines who we are at our highest level; MISSION determines what we need to do to get there; CORE PURPOSE defines why we exist; CULTURE is how we do things; and CORE VALUES are the guidelines that forever determine the rules we play by. All together we wanted to describe the impact we wanted our company to make on our world. We were willing to make the emotional commitment it would take to get us there. So we asked the questions, What is the highest level of performance we can imagine attaining? What is the value of our work to our community? What will the story of our company be 10 years from now? One way to determine the future is to write it. So I asked everyone to imagine its 10 years from today and a national magazine is writing a major story about our company. I asked them to write the lead paragraph for the article, and that it had to capture the readers attention about the special things that have taken place. We went through our stories and wrote down major themes. The vision started coming through. Vision: To become known as one of the best companies for the world. Once the vision was in place we moved toward defining everything else. Mission: To make Gainesville the healthiest community in America one person at a time, one business at a time. Core Purpose: To create an experience that helps people get the most out of life and inspire them to become their best. (If you do this with your company its important to understand that if theres a small gap between where you are and where your staff wants to go, it shows very low energy. If theres a large gap between the two, it shows your company really does have some energy.)
In Their Own Words

Culture is dened as the way we do things around here. Its not something that you create, but rather something that you discover within your organization. To gure out what your culture is, observe the behavior and attitude of your staff when doing business as usual and when handling the exceptions. Your business will be dened by how you handle the exceptions. - Debbie Lee, GHF Marketing Director
CORE VALUE HARDWORKING means we give 100 percent effort to everything we do and we work until the job gets done. The mental fortitude required in the high intensity workout interview sets the tone for this value.
A business that shows appreciation and reward for exceptional performance. 4. A place of continuous improvement. 5. A business that shares knowledge. 6. An uncommon level of commitment to our physical environment. Core values are defined as intrinsic values of a business that wont change, no matter what. Even if they cost us money, we still wouldnt change them. For example, we would never lower the quality of our company to offer a cheaper product even if we could make more money by changing. Why? Because thats not how we want to impact the world. We followed the same process in defining our core values as we did with our culture. We started with 23 and worked on it until we found our four: integrity, hardworking, creators of our own future, and an extraordinary commitment to helping others. Then we moved to the last step of the process: We had the courage to describe all the great things that would happen at GHF over time as we accomplished our goals. Its a fun experience determining your own future. The Envisioned Future included: We will be recognized worldwide as a model company for improving the health of an entire
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community by making Gainesville the healthiest city in America. We will be recognized as the industry leader in customer service. We will gain a reputation for developing leaders. People from all over the world will visit us to learn about best practices. We will develop a center for professional management training where businesses from all over the world send their staff to learn about our systems. We will form strategic alliances with local and national organizations. A best-selling book will be written about our business. We will win a national business award. We will be on the cover of a leading business magazine as one of the best companies in the world.
Now all we had to do was accomplish the list!
In Their Own Words

A while back, a question was posed to me, Why do we do what we do? I
In Their Own Words

Culture is the fever everybody catches when they join our organization. One of my biggest roles as a manager is to protect the culture. You have to quickly attack when something is not part of the culture and consistently reward when it is. The number one aspect of the GHF culture is A learning and challenging environment that develops leaders who are responsible, professional, dedicated, energetic, passionate, fearless, and knowledgeable. We only promote from within the organization in order to keep leaders who are ingrained in the GHF way. We are a leadership factory. Every leader has the responsibility to develop the future leaders of GHF. -Shawn Stewart, GHF Operations Manager
immediately thought back to a time that Christie and I were having lunch when, as we were leaving the restaurant, an older woman tripped and went face rst into the pavement. Instantly, without thinking, Christie and I ran over to help the woman and to make sure she was okay, while others just stood there watching. As I thought about that experience, I realized that what Christie and I did that day to help this random stranger is the same thing that every staff member at GHF would have done in the same situation. So, the reason we do what we do is because every employee at GHF has an extraordinary commitment to helping others. That is just one of the many qualities that make Gainesville Health & Fitness an incredible place to be a part of. We genuinely want to help each and every person that crosses our paths. -Scott Larkin, GHF Personal Trainer
How we do it
Go back to high school. There are certain people who, if you saw them todayand I dont care if high school was 30 years agowill make you feel like you dont really want to spend much time with them. Every day, adjustments are made to our emotional bank accounts. At GHF we strive to make sure were making deposits into those accounts. If you should go back to a high school reunionno matter how long its beenyoull find those friends who made deposits into those accounts. Theyll still be your friends. Not the same with those who drained your account. At GHF, we strive to be like those best friends. Following the theory of Dr. Michael LeBoeuf, who says that every individual stores the effects of each moment of truth, we feel that having a staff that can turn every interaction into a positive experience is critical. According to LeBoeufs theory, a deposit is made when we help an individual feel good about themselves. A withdrawal is made when we fail to fulfill the needs or desires of that same individual. Emotional bank accounts require continual deposits to keep a positive balance. After every interaction a member has with any aspect of our organization, whether in person, by telephone, through literature, or even contact with the physical facility, the individual will either feel better, the same or worse. Our goal is to make every effort to make each moment of truth a deposit in the account of each customer. Are we perfect? No! But our goal is to be perfect.
By Joe Cirulli with intro by Shawn Stewart
The People Factor

We work to make our employees aware that when certain situations arise, they have an opportunity to make something really good out of something that may not be so good. It gives them a great opportunity during those moments of truththose challenging times when someone has a problemto find a way to solve the problem. To make sure were hiring staff members who recognize these moments, weve incorporated questions into our hiring process. We have applicants review moments of truth and ask them to tell us how they would respond in each situation. One example of a situation we might present is to ask the applicant to imagine they are working in a busy pizzeria and the oven suddenly breaks down. A customer who has ordered six pizzas for a party arrives and is ready for her six pizzas. We then have the applicant role play the conversation as the employee at the pizza place. In many cases, there may not be a policy or procedure for certain issues that arise. We need people who think quickly and react quickly when responding to problems. These are the people we search for to be part of our staff. The major thing we have learned over the years is that the purest form of customer service does not start with how an employee treats a customer; it begins with how the company treats its employees.
The Company Treatment

Theres only one of me, and there are hundreds and hundreds of people on our staff who come in contact with the members every day. Ive always thought it was important to try and create an atmosphere where everyone knew they were on equal standing. There are no greater or lesser employees inside our organization. Ive always felt that if we take proper care of our employees and if they know we care about them, they will show that same type of care for the members. If we dont take care of them, why would they think its worthwhile to take care of our members? We know there are other factors involved in someone wanting to become part of our organization. One thing is making it as easy as possible for a person to become a member. Another is creating the programs and facilities that make an individual want to remain a member. We know that if our facilities are not centrally located, our members wont make it in. We know that the distance of travel to our locations needs to be a relatively short drive from home or work for the majority of our members to get the most out of their experience here. Thats why we have three centers, and one membership gives men access to two facilities and women three. We also know that people prefer different types of environments, with our three centers we can give them a choice as to what makes them feel most comfortable, and we can offer different experiences. We know many women do not feel comfortable in a coed environment, which is why we developed a women only facility at Thornebrook Village. In addition, our main center is open 24 hours a day, allowing for members with different schedules to utilize the facilities when its best for them.
In Their Own Words

I had been working as a oor instructor at GHF, and because I worked all the hours that were available to me I knew basically everyone. A few minutes before closing, Hiro, a very dedicated member who I had pushed hard for the last year, asked to speak with me. He had nished his degree at UF and wanted to say good-bye and introduce his father to me, as he was heading back home to Japan. He reminded me that when he rst started with us, his goal was to get as muscular as he could, to transform his body. After wishing each other well he said, I really want to thank you for this, and he proceeded to roll up his sleeve and ex his arm, showing me a bicep with just the slightest rise. He said, My family and friends back home will hardly recognize me. Arnold Schwarzenegger at the peak of his career could not have been more proud. At that moment, I knew I was working in the right business for me. As Hiro said good-bye to others, his father told me, I want to leave you with my thanks for befriending my son and leave you with this quote, If there is more of the world we will nd it. -Jan Matkozich, GHF General Manager
In Their Own Words One Sunday morning a lady came looking to To take away one of the biggest challenges for growing families, GHF offers free babysitting with a great staff and availability all day long. We offer an array of amenities because we know people like variety. But we work on being much more. We work to be the place where our members actually enjoy spending their time; a place where people feel they belong. To help us achieve this, we designed areas where people can meet with friends, eat lunch inside or outside, and have access to free Wi-Fi. We even have computers available if you dont have your own. get set up on the line. She used to be a person who would work out every day. She said she had been a cycling competitor, but was unable to walk due to a car accident. After going through intensive therapy and almost learning to walk again, she decided to work out again. She told me she couldnt believe that she was doing this again. I then asked her why she didnt try a cycling class. She said there was no way for her to be able to keep up. I got her off the line, took her into the aerobics room and set her up on one of the old spin bikes there. I checked back 5 minutes later, and she was crying with happiness. Oscar Koeneke
Creating the Right Programs

Our programming is also part of creating the experience. We developed the programs to help provide solutions for both our current and future members. Here are a few of the programs weve started at GHF over the years. Supervised Circuit Training - A long time ago we had to make a decision as to how our equipment would be placed on the exercise floor. I asked myself this question, What would my parents do if they came into a gym? The answer: Theyd be lost. So we decided to align them in a way that would make it possible for people whove never strength trained before to learn quickly, correctly and safely. The solution was to set up the equipment in a logical order to most effectively work the muscular system. We would need instructors available to motivate the members to get the best results, and teach them how to do it safely. For 30 years weve successfully implemented the circuits in all our clubs. Its possible for a complete novice to join our centers and start receiving the benefits immediately. They never have to worry about not knowing how to exercise. Core Spinal Fitness Program - Most people will suffer back pain at some point in their lives. Our goal was to come up with a solution that would help people reduce or eliminate back pain forever. We know its hard to live your life fully when back pain keeps you down. Cancer Recovery - We have programs designed to help a person keep their endurance up, because we know thats a huge challenge when youre fighting or recovering from cancer. We have programs through the health club and medically referred programs through our rehab centers. The health club programs are free for members of your family for weeks if you need us. Arthritis Aquatic Classes - Though our pool can be used for swimming, the entire area was designed for our members
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Our programming is also part of creating the experience.
suffering from arthritis. Many years ago we saw an issue of Time magazine talking about the coming epidemic of arthritis and made the decision to find a solution. We remodeled the entire area adding in a warm therapy pool as well as a 50-degree cold plunge to go along with our steam, sauna and whirlpool. We put these elements together, along with the therapy classes, and found we can help a lot of people live their lives on their own terms. Group Exercise Classes - Weve learned over the years what kind of classes keeps our members motivated and we review them every quarter. Our Group Exercise Director has been with us over 20 years and keeps all the classes up to date. Theyre fun, challenging and rewarding. Its one experience that keeps our members coming back regularly. They include: Cycling Classes, Zumba, Aqua Classes, Pre and Post Natal Classes, Yoga, Body Pump, Body Flow and on and on. Why so many? We know that we have to give you the variety and challenges necessary to help you become your best. Custom Fit - We know that some people like the one-on-one experience of personal training while others like the idea of training in small groups. Custom Fit allows our members to choose from a variety of classes including Boot Camp, Wedding Ready, Body Ultimate metabolic training, Pilates and others. A member can choose their own time while mixing and matching all the classes. ReQuest Physical Therapy - After I suffered a serious knee injury requiring surgery, I was sent to rehab. It didnt take me too long to realize what was missing. I felt a truly effective rehab had to be modernized, both in the environment and equipment. Within a short period of time GHF became involved in a major medical research study with the University of Floridas College of Medicine. The purpose was to analyze the newest equipment. The results were astonishing, and plans for our center were put into place. Staffed with an inspired team of therapists, the purpose of ReQuest is to move people beyond therapy and into total wellness.
Who We Are
Its important to dene who we are as a company if we want to make the biggest impact.
few years ago I received an e-mail from a friend apologizing for an incident that happened 10 years earlier. We were walking across a street in New York City when a homeless woman fell and hit her head. I had some people get some wet towels from a restaurant close by. I cleaned the blood from her head and helped her up. That was it. No problem. I never thought of it again until I got his e-mail. He told me he was always sorry that he just stood there and didnt help. When I mentioned this to another friend of mine, he posed this question: Why does one person help another person? My response was fairly simple, Because you care about people. He took it a little deeper. No, he said, people help people because they see themselves in others.
He made me realize the importance of having people on our staff that looked at others this way. We need individuals who have an inherent desire to help other people become better. People who have an intense desire to become better themselves. Its important for us to know who we are if we want to make the biggest impact, and I think everyone who is part of an organization has to buy into it. Better yet, if we are crystal clear about it, we can attract people who already believe what we believe. As I heard marketing consultant, Simon Sinek, say, If a person comes to work for you for what you do, they will work for your money. If a person comes to work for you because they believe in why you do what you do, they will work for you with their blood, sweat and tears.
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In Their Own Words

I am most passionate about the hiring of our employees! I took over as the hiring coordinator about ve years ago. I think we have (Ive been told this) the most precise way of nding people who really t our culture. Ann Raulerson, GHF Operations Manager, Womens Center Over the years the goal of these meetings has stayed the same, but the issues have grown bigger as the staff and projects have grown larger. These meetings last two hours and we can fill that entire time with no problem. We always have plenty to talk about. In addition to the Focus and Energy Meetings we also hold two other types of regularly scheduled meetings; the first meeting is our Get Better Team Meeting, where we discuss the future of GHF. We put together a strategic agenda designed around how we can make our company better. They usually last two days and are held offsite. Why? Because its impossible to talk about the future or strategic issues of a company at a meeting where youre dealing with day-to-day issues. Shortterm thinking will always eat up long-term thinking. Thats why its so important to have an entirely different agenda and style of meeting.
Ive been fortunate to find the why people, which is one of the reasons that many of GHF employees have been with company for 15, 20, 25, 30 years and more.
Meet Your Stars

In every organization, there are different types of employees. There are those workhorse employees who just work and work. There are people who are trainees and learning to become the best they can be. Then there are the stars, the leaders of your company. One of the things I learned a long time ago is that the most dangerous people in an organization are the stars. What makes them dangerous? Inside an organization, a star can lead a department in the opposite direction from where everyone else is going. In a different direction from where the owner wants it to go. Why? Simply because, stars are leaders. The most important thing is to keep a company aligned and everyone focused. We do this by having regular meetings where goals are discussed. We have what we call Monday Morning Focus and Energy Meetings. These meetings are designed for everyone to be aware of and to discuss the department projects were working on. But the larger reason is to make sure were all moving in the same direction.
Meetings Matter
Monday Morning Focus and Energy Meetings are operational, short-term meetings held to: Follow up on all projects Review all numbers to goals Discuss variations Regularly gain the power of the team See who needs help from whom Review the competition (monthly) Hold staff accountable for Get Better Team (GBT) action items Move issues to the GBT Keep the Stars Aligned GBT Meetings are scheduled with a dedicated team that is formed to think strategically and create better teamwork throughout the organization. The GBT meets to: Develop new programs Plan out marketing strategies Corporate/medical markets Discuss new services/expansions/equipment Read and review books Analyze the sales process Think innovation Review new competition entering the market and plan the response
The third meeting, our Strategic Objectives Meeting, is where we set up our plans and goals for the coming year. Its designed to help us determine our most important strategic objectives. These are the plans to help us become successful in the coming year. Once the goals are in place, we can then create our budget. I believe its more important to have a powerful team than to have powerful individuals. Im not downplaying the importance of a strong leader running an organization or department, but if you have a powerful team, you have combined wisdom and knowledge. Its vital to a company that when someone is having an issue in their department, everybody can work together to help solve the problem. A powerful team doesnt just talk about ideas, they implement them.
Honor Your Eagles; Rock Stars

At the same time, a team is made up of individuals who according to author Ken Blanchard who wrote the book, One Minute Managercan fall into two categories: eagles and ducks. Blanchard said eagles are the people in your company who look for ways to solve problems. Ducks are the people who just quack all the time, saying things like Thats not my problem or Thats not my job. In 1996, when the first main center opened, there were many problems: The air conditioner kept breaking down, the parking was limited, and every day was just one complaint after the next. It was so bad I would go to bed at midnight, and wake up at 2:30 a.m. to come back to work. I just couldnt sleepI was trying to figure out how to solve the problems. I would come into the club, it was hot as could be, and members just
Eagle Examples
Here are some of the comments members have made about employees through our Eagle Program. We average 600-700 Eagles per month. At the front desk, Lindsay is tops! When the issue of Inc. magazine came out with the article on Joe Cirulli, I couldnt nd one to buy. I asked Lindsay if GHF had extra copies no, she said, but shed try to nd one for me. No luck. She asked her mom in South Florida to look no luck. But she kept on looking. Then, one week, she gave me one that her mom had nally located. What thoughtfulness! What perseverance! What helpfulness! Ann Bryan There was a mix-up between a childs parents as to who was picking him up, and due to that, the child was in the Kids Club for three hours while the attendants were trying to reach his parents. Rather than have the child be hungry and stressed while waiting for his parents, Shannon took him into the lobby and bought him lunch with her own money. She took initiative to make the child feel safe and comforted in a potentially stressful situation. Melissa Lynn
complaining left and right. I knew I was slowly starting to lose my patience. One day, a lady said to me, Do you know how hot it is in here? I said, Yes maam, I do. Youre in here for about an hour and Im here for 20 of them; I know exactly how hot it is. Thats when I knew I was starting to lose my patience. The breaking point was when a member came to the front door complaining about something and I actually pictured myself strangling him. I knew that wasnt something I wanted to teach about customer service, so I decided to leave and go to the beach. I actually slept all night long. I stayed there for three days. On the third day I came up with an idea. I knew we had to come up with a way that our members could find us doing things right, not just everything that was going wrong. Remembering Ken Blanchards analogy, I knew we had a bunch of eagles within the company. The plan was to ask our members to help us find the eagles and tell us about moments when our staff went above and beyond. I was asking the members to be the managements eyes and ears. The members would control the Eagle Program and it would allow us to reward our employees for doing exceptional things based on our members feedback. Studies have shown that Employee of the Month programs dont create better employees or enhance overall employee morale. Most companies have dozens of employees, but there can be only one Employee of the Month. Usually the same employees continually receive the recognition. This is because the supervisor/management team does the voting. The Eagle of the Month program solved these problems. First, every employee that receives an eagle comment from a member will be rewarded. This eliminates the notion that only one employee deserves recognition. Second, our members will do the votingnot our supervisors. This assures that all employees will have the opportunity to be noticed. It allows us to recognize exceptional employees. Altogether, I believe the program keeps everyone engaged and hopefully the net effect is
Interviews Decoded
These sample questions help us determine if applicants share GHFs core values.
Creating Your Own Future

What have you changed about yourself as a result of criticism? What have you been criticized for that you have heard from more than one source? What have you done to improve that area? How will this job help you to reach your long-term goals? What accomplishments have you made that you are most proud of? What was the last goal you set for yourself? What was your action plan to achieve it? Where do you see yourself five years from now?
Time Management
How do you plan a typical day? Week? When was the last time you had to rearrange your schedule for something unexpected?
Dealing with Challenges

Explain a recent challenge or obstacle that you faced. How did you deal with it? Have you ever worked toward a goal and not achieved it? How did this affect you?
Extraordinary Commitment to Helping People

What skills do you think are necessary to work with people? What is the most important? Why? What is the customer looking for in a business? All in all, when you come to work each day, what is the one ingredient of your job that gives you the greatest satisfaction? What most inspires you to do a good job? Describe your ideal job.
Handling of Angry Customers

Tell me about a time you had an interaction with an angry customer? Looking back on it now, would you have done anything differently? If you were going to train me on handling angry customers, what three things would you want me to remember?
Eagle Potential
Give an example of a time you went above and beyond to meet the needs of a customer? Tell me a time when someone you know went above and beyond his or her call of duty? Do you believe it is necessary to go above and beyond for your job?
that every members visit will be a more positive experience. Every month I have the opportunity to take these employees to dinner (usually 15 to 30 at a time) and hear what our members have said about the staff. How responsive have the members been? On average we receive 600 to 700 comments per month. Another story that allows GHF to personify our employees who go above and beyond, is The Rock. Heres the story: Someone is climbing a hill one Sunday afternoon, and after climbing for a while finds himself in a mountainous area, and eventually, on a path. As the day goes on, more people start hiking and get to the mountainous area and onto that same path. Five or six people are walking this path, and they reach a point where they cant go any farther because there is a huge boulder in the way. They cant go on because theres a great drop off to one side, and a mountain on the other. The group starts working together to figure out how to move the boulder, and as they start working, more people come onto the path. Now there arent just five or six, but 20, 40, 60, 120 and 240 people on the path, but no ones moving. Further back in the line, people brought supplies and start sharing their food and drinks. Finally, one of the people at the front of the line goes to the back of the line and asks the people eating and drinking, Do you know why were here? They say, Yes, were having a picnic. Theyre now brought to the front of the line to understand why theyre really there. Thats what can happen in any company as the company gets bigger. We need to bring people up to the front of the line, show them the boulder and say, No, thats why were here. Thats the rock. We have to move that rock. But what does the rock represent to your company? At GHF we knew that to be successful we had to gain members and keep members. We had to do all the things that would make people become a member, and then do all the things that would make them want to stay. Each department has developed a strategic statement and identified the specific objectives they have to meet in order to help the entire company work toward its goals and move our Rock. Then we take it a step further and reward people who according to their supervisors were true Rock All-Stars. Honoring around 75 employees each time, department supervisors give employees the recognition they deserve at a large company dinner. (The word, company, comes from the Italian phrase to break bread together. We definitely do a lot of that.)
Hire for Values

So how do you develop a team of Eagles and Rock All-Stars? It all starts with hiring the right people. The question is, how do you know who the right people are? Determining the companys vision, mission and core values will show you who you need. Now the goal is to go find those people. Why is this so important? A long time ago I realized you cannot teach someone your companys core values. The goal is to find people who have them already. At GHF we have developed a five-step interview based on our core values, which includes: Application Group Interview One-on-One interview Workout Interview Selection The first step, the application, starts out with the first impression our front desk staff gets. Did they have an engaging personality? Were they smiling? Did they introduce themselves? Were they professional? What was their attitude? The next step, a group interview, allows us to put applicants in an unrehearsed situation where you can watch how they interact with other people. We ask applicants to tell us about themselves as we watch to see how attentive the other applicants are. Then we may ask a question like Where did Sally say she was from? Simple things like this can give you a good idea of that applicants listening skills. The one-on-one interview can help us determine whether or not the applicant shares our companys core values. (The sidebar Interviews Decoded provides some sample questions we ask to find out if applicants would be a good fit for GHF.) The workout interview is not about the applicants fitness level, its about their ability to endure a challenging time. During the workout interview, other staff members are watching and evaluating, and give us their impressions on the applicants perseverance. Selecting applicants who share our values means finding people who believe in the same things we do. The process of incorporating these new staff members into the company and teaching them the things we do is a lot simpler when we share these intrinsic attitudes and beliefs.
In Their Own Words

The Eagle Program is a big job, but its probably the most rewarding because I get to read all 500+ nice things that are written about our staff every month. Talk about positive reinforcement! Some of the eagles what youd expect, but others have literally moved me to tears, like the eagle a member wrote about how he can now run a mile after doctors told him hed never walk again. At our bimonthly Eagle Dinners, it lls me with pride to be able to stand up and read all of the wonderful things we have helped members accomplish that month. This, more than anything else, shows me how different we are as a companywe care deeply about each of our members, as if they were family. - Allison Burke, GHF Marketing Coordinator
GHFs Envisioned Future

A large part of reaching our goals at GHF involved describing our Envisioned Future. Id like to give you an update on what has happened over the years. We will be recognized worldwide as a model company for improving the health of an entire community by making Gainesville the healthiest city in America. In 2003 Gainesville became the healthiest community in America reaching the Gold standard. This task took three years to accomplish. The rating has never been met or exceeded by any other city in America. We will be recognized as the industry leader in customer service. Weve been voted the best health club in the world by the European Conference and in the top four in the world from a major consulting organization out of England. We will gain a reputation for developing leaders. Employees from our company have gone on to become business owners and integral parts of Fortune 500 companies, and can be found in important positions around the world. People from all over the world will visit us to learn about best practices. Weve been visited by people from all over the world and presented at conferences all over America as well as Canada, England, Italy, Germany, Russia, New Zealand, Australia, China and Brazil. We will develop a center for professional management training where businesses from all over the world send their staff to learn about our systems. Weve had people from all over the world do internships with us and continue to develop the training programs. We will form strategic alliances with local and national organizations. Weve built a strong local alliance with many businesses and continue to work toward the national organizations. A best-selling book will be written about our business. Someday. We will win a national business award. 2001, GHF named World Fitness Center of the Year by the European Conference; 2003, Platinum Workplace Award from the Wellness Council of America; 2004, John McCarthy Industry Visionary of the Year Award, IHRSA; and many more! We will be on the cover of a leading business magazine as one of the best companies in the world. I could tell you more about this one but well let Bo Burlingham from Inc. magazine tell you the story from his perspective in the next few pages.
In Their Own Words

Each Monday morning at GHF the work week begins with a two-hour meeting where the department heads and leaders of the organization sit around a table and review, revise and alter, if necessary, the strategic objectives of the company. Where are we today? What trends do we see? What opportunities exist in the marketplace? Where do we t in? If we are falling short in our goals, why? What changes do we make to accomplish that which we feel is important? Its here where a group that totals more than 150 years of experience can offer input, hear all sides of an issue. What better work environment could you ask for? Marty Huegel, ReQuest Physical Therapist / Director
16 |inspir ed | G a i ne s vi lle He a llth & Fitne ss s||gg h c. co m | ins p ire d | G l l e H e a t h & Fi t ne h f fc. co m
Editors note: This article is reprinted from the August 2008 issue of Inc. magazine.
Think Rich
Flat broke at the age of 21, Joe Cirulli made a list of 10 things he wanted to accomplish in life. One by one, he pulled them off and built a health and tness empire. (Maybe theres something to the power of positive thinking, after all)
Never Give Up
By Bo Burlingham
Its a warm Thursday evening in Gainesville, Florida, and the Gainesville Health & Fitness Center on Newberry Road is ablaze with activity. Downstairs, about 70 members stare at television screens as they run, walk, climb, and pedal furiously in the cardio area. Over at the indoor basketball court, a group of sweat-drenched players is leaving, and another group is taking its place. In the pool area, an instructor is counseling half a dozen arthritis sufferers who have shown up for aquatics exercise therapy, while a guy with a military haircut endures the 50-degree water of the cold plunge pool and some of the older members hang out around the whirlpool and sauna. At 66,000 square feet, this is the largest of the three health clubs and four rehabilitation centers that compose Joe Cirullis local fitness empire. An intense, compact, clean-cut fellow, Cirulli has been lifting weights ever since he got his first set at the age of 9. For 46 years, he has worked out five or six days a week, every week, usually at 5 in the morning. Nevertheless, you probably wouldnt mistake him for Charles Atlas, dressed as he is in the uniform of GHF managersa cobalt-blue shirt, tie, dress pants, and spit-polished shoes. We all dress up, he says. When I started working in health clubs, the girls were all in leotards, and the guys in tank tops, and I could see that some of the customers were intimidated by that. So we dress up and take them off guard. Just then, he happens to catch the eye of a man who could, in fact, be mistaken for Charles Atlas. Hes blond, middle-aged, and muscular, wearing a tank top over his ripped torso. He gives Cirulli a big hug. They chat for a minute, and then Cirulli moves on. Thats Michael, Cirulli says. He died here. He died here? Yeah, I was at Starbucks one evening and decided to come back to the
&
club. When I walked in, he was lying there with two doctors, club members, standing over him. He was blue, and he didnt have a pulse. The doctors were trying to do mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. They didnt know Id bought an AED [automated external defibrillator] for each of the clubs. I went and got it, and they put it on his chest and gave him a jolt. Nothing happened. They increased the voltage and tried again. Nothing happened. They increased it again. Nothing happened. They tried one more time, and he sucked in air. I mean, you literally could see him come back to life. He started burping. One of the doctors asked him, Do you know where we are? He said, Yes. At church. The doctor said, No, you were working out. You werent breathing. Im standing there thinking, Oh, man, what a great investment that was! Turned out hed done a big workout after not working out for a while. When he stood up too quickly, he got dizzy, passed out, hit his head, and swallowed his tongue. He suffocated. Four years ago. He was 46. He has a wife and two girls. So he always gives me a big hug when he sees me. Cirulli may have one of the four best fitness businesses in the world (according to a British industry expert) and the best in the United States (according to an American one), but his company has as much to do with saving lives as with pumping iron and going to spin class. Indeed, he and his colleagues at GHF decided in 1999 that their mission should be to make Gainesville the healthiest community in America. Four years later, it became the first and only city ever to receive the Gold Well City award from the Wellness Councils of America. Previously, the best that any city had done was bronze. The accomplishment led GHF to modify its mission. Now the goal is to keep Gainesville the healthiest city in Americaone person, one business, one child at a time.
Those arent just words. The company offers programs aimed not just at promoting fitness but also at alleviating a variety of chronic ailments and helping to solve long-term medical problems. It has pioneered the use of specially designed exercise machines to relieve neck and lower back pain. It has been a leader in using hydrotherapy to treat arthritis. It has tackled childhood obesity, and thus the prospect of a diabetes epidemic, by holding events at schools, developing weight-loss programs for overweight teens, and offering high school students free use of its facilities in the summer from 6 in the morning until 4 in the afternoon, as long as their parents approve. Twice a year, it holds a Family Fun Fitness Day to encourage everyone in the community to be more active. Granted, some people might say that all that is simply effective marketing. Cirulli, for his part, makes no bones about his desire to attract and retain as many members as possible. Indeed, GHF signs up around 10,000 new members a year and has a retention rate of 77 percent, well above the industry average of about 60 percent. That ability to attract and retain members translates into sales of $16.7 million a year, with one of the healthiest pretax margins in the industry. Perhaps even more remarkable than GHFs financial performance is its commitment to serving people who have never beenand probably never will beclub members. The campaign to win the Gold Well City award grew out of that commitment. We believe we can have an impact on our community, and in our minds we have an obligation to do it, says Debbie Lee, GHFs marketing director and the point person in the campaign. The impact has been huge. The Well City campaign alone brought together people from throughout the community, including people from hospitals, businesses, government organizations, The Gainesville Sun, the University of Florida, and the local community college. Obviously, many factors are driving the burgeoning trend
toward workplace wellness, not least the explosion of health care costs and the demonstrable effectiveness of wellness programs in holding them down. And yet what has happened in Gainesville is also part of another storya story about how one mans obsession with self-improvement can imbue a company and then spread from that company to an entire community, and from that community to other communities far and wide. The employee handbook of Gainesville Health & Fitness is a 53-page document, prosaically entitled Customer Service Manual that spells out in minute detail things such as the rules for interacting with customers and a description of what Cirulli and his team want to see happen in the next 10 years. A particularly revealing passage can be found on page seven, under Core Values, one of which is Creating Our Own Future. It reads, in part, Our greatest power is the freedom to choose; we decide what we do, what we think, and where we go....We can do what we want to do; we can be who we want to be. We develop our own future by applying persistence to the possibilities. Our future is all around us. If we seek, we will find it. If the door is closed, we must knock and keep knocking until it opens. We never give up.... Anyone familiar with the companys origins can understand where such convictions come from. By all rights, Gainesville Health & Fitness should not exist today. In January 1978, when Cirulli assumed the debts of the Gainesville Executive Health Spa and changed its name, neither he nor anyone else had any reason to believe the club would survive. He was barely 24 years old, and the five fitness businesses he had previously worked for had all gone bankrupt, leaving their creditorsincluding their paid-up membersin the lurch. Bankers had been burned so often that the mere mention of the words health club filled them with fear
and loathing. Real estate owners felt pretty much the same way. Cirulli thus had the worst of both worlds, since his club occupied 1,500 square feet above his landlords business, which just happened to be a bank. On top of that, he had no money, no friends or family with money, and no experience running his own business. Yet Cirulli believed he could pull it off. If you ask him why, he might tell you about an experience he had had four years earlier, at the age of 20, when he was working as an instructor at his second health club in Gainesville and was given an opportunity to try his hand at sales. He signed up eight members on his first day. Normally it takes months to do that, the vice president of the fitness company told him over dinner that evening. You dont seem too excited. It wasnt that hard, Cirulli replied. Or he might tell you about reading a book shortly thereafter and finding it a life-changing experience. It was one of the classics of the self-help canon, The Power of Positive Thinking, by Norman Vincent Peale. The book persuaded him to set a goal: to become the top salesperson of the fitness companys 10 clubs. He achieved it in three months. Then again, he might tell you about coming back to Gainesville from his hometown of Elmira, New York, after Christmas to discover that the fitness company had folded, his last paycheck had bounced, and he could make the payment due on his new maroon MGB only by getting back the $95 deposit on his apartment, which left him homeless and broke. He spent the next few months sleeping in health clubs and his MGB. At one point, he went to buy a Diet Coke at McDonalds and discovered he had just 12 cents to his name. Finally, he landed a job at a new Gainesville health cluband read another book, Think and Grow Rich, by Napoleon Hill. From Hill, Cirulli learned that the secret of success lies in knowing what you want. He proceeded to take out a legal pad and write down 10 goals, which he was supposed to read aloud every night before going to bed and every morning when he awoke. He did so for the next few years. The goals were: 1. Own a health club in Gainesville; 2. Make it respected in the community; 3. Earn $100,000 by the age of 25; 4. Own a Mercedes-Benz like the one driven by the Six Million Dollar Man; 5. Own a home in the mountains and one by the ocean and build another for his parents; 6. Become a black belt; 7. Become a pilot and own a plane; 8. Travel all over the United States; 9. Travel all over the world; and 10. Save $1 million. So he believed it was destiny, not calamity, that beckoned when the owner of the Executive Health Spa confessed that he was an alcoholic, in the middle of a divorce, and about to declare bankruptcy. The following day, the bank announced that the club would be evicted in 30 days. To achieve his first goal, Cirulli would have to raise money, find a new place, persuade the landlord to lease it to him, get the necessary permits, build the space out, move the equipment, and somehow keep the club running and the members happythe entire time. How he did it reads like The Perils of Pauline. First, he persuades the banker to give him 60 days rather than 30. Its not enough. He finds a location, but banks wont lend to a health club. He finally wangles a personal loan, only to learn that the
location has fallen through. The banker who is the landlord of the old club demands he return the keys. Cirulli begs. The banker relents but demands a signed lease and a rent check by 9 a.m. Monday. Cirulli miraculously finds space in a brand-new mall. He has $1,700 and three weeks to get the place readyplumbing, electricity, new walls, showers, lockers, the whole bit. The club is still under construction when he moves in the equipment in June, whereupon a building inspector threatens to shut Cirulli down if he sees anyone using it. The club opens anyway. The building inspector never returns. Gainesville Health & Fitness gets its certificate of occupancy six months later, and Joe Cirulli achieves goal No. 1. The other nine goals took a little more time, but he achieved all of them within 12 yearsbefore his 33rd birthday. He drew two lessons from the experience. First, you can accomplish just about anything if you put your mind to it, are willing to work hard, and refuse to give up no matter what adversity you encounter. Second, books can change your life. There is no limit to what you can learn or how much better you can become, as long as you keep reading, listening, and searching for wisdom. By then, moreover, he was well on his way to building a company molded around those beliefs and filled with people who shared them. If owning a business was, in fact, Cirullis destiny, it had kept itself well hidden prior to his arrival in Gainesville. As a child, he seemed destined only for a rough time. Linda Cirulli-Burton remembers her younger brother getting beaten up by the older boys at school. That spurred Joe to start lifting weightsfirst in his cellar, then at the local YMCA. Soon, he was so strong that no one dared pick on him. The Cirulli family lived on the hard-knocks side of Elmira. Joe was the third of seven children and the oldest boy. His father, Armand, was a 22-year Navy man who became a postman after his discharge. His mother, Frances, was a nurse. Making ends meet was a struggle. Cirulli remembers his parents bringing him a fancy chicken sandwich from Morettis restaurant once when he was in the hospital after breaking his leg. Enjoy it, his mother said, because youll never have one again. In 1971, Cirulli graduated from high school and entered Corning Community College. After two years there, he still wasnt sure what he wanted to do with his life. He decided to take a year off from school and travel around the country with a friend. When the friend backed out, he changed his itinerary and went to Gainesville, where his girlfriend was attending a community college. I arrived at 3 a.m. on October 27, 1973, he recalls. Later that morning, he worked out at a local health club. Before leaving, he asked the manager if he could work as an instructor without pay for the next month in exchange for use of the facilities. The manager agreed. Cirulli extended his stay for another 30 days and began earning $1.90 an hour. By the time Cirulli finally headed home for Christmas, Gainesville was in his blood. After the holiday, he intended to work with masons he knew in Elmira and save money for college, but the frozen ground gave him a good reason to revise his plans. He returned to Gainesville, thinking he would stay for three months and then go back to his job with the masons
in the spring. He didnt make it. His success selling health club memberships obviated any need to earn money through masonry. Maybe that was when destiny took over. In any case, he had his own fitness center within four years. Cirulli immediately went to work expanding it. He began with 2,500 square feet in a wing of the mall that had 11,000 square feet of space altogether. The rest was occupied by retailers of one sort or another. One by one, they moved out, and Gainesville Health & Fitness moved in, eventually taking over the whole wing. At the same time, he was proving that a health club could actually be profitable if you behaved as if you really cared about your members, as opposed to treating them like a necessary inconvenience. He invited members of the failed clubs he had worked for to join Gainesville Health & Fitness and agreed to honor whatever terms were in their original contracts. Beyond that, he promised that he wouldnt raise fees as long as they remained members. Still, Cirulli faced an uphill battle persuading the citizens of Gainesville to join, given the industrys reputation in town. So he turned his attention to the students of the University of Florida, which at the time did not have a fitness center. The majority of them, he realized, could not afford the initial payments that new members were traditionally required to make when they signed up. But Cirulli figured that most students were honest and would pay monthly even if there was no up-front fee. He set up a fee structure for students and began marketing to them. Within a few years, students made up 98 percent of GHFs membership. By then, Cirulli was beginning to develop a reputation in the industry. Joe was already a legend in Florida when I started my business in 1982, says Geoffrey Dyer, founder of Lifestyle Family Fitness, a 57-club chain based in St. Petersburg, Florida. I didnt sleep for two nights when I heard he might be coming to Lakeland, where I was located. I called him up, and he said, Dont worry. Were not coming. Were just talking. Cirulli was indeed staying in Gainesville, but he had by no means stopped expanding. He opened a club for women in 1984. Two years later, after learning that a Wisconsin health club chain was coming to town and taking aim at his membership, he moved the original center to a new location and doubled its size. A couple of years later, after the University of Florida announced plans to build its own fitness center, he got into physical therapy and began marketing aggressively to the Gainesville public. In 1996, after the university built a second, even larger fitness center, he opened his giant flagship center. This time, he bought the building, because he realized he could control the market only if he owned, rather than leased, his facility. As the business grew, so did Cirullis renown. Articles about Gainesville Health & Fitness started appearing in industry publications, and people from other clubs began making the trek to Gainesville to see what Cirulli was up to. He welcomed them all. He was willing to let anyone come down, recalls Frank Napolitano, formerly an executive with industry giant Town Sports International and now the CEO of GlobalFit, a provider of health club benefits to employees of large corporations. Hed give you his training manual, share his best practices. Even if he wasnt there, visitors couldnt help being impressed by how cheery and helpful the staff was and by the cleanliness of the club.
What impressed people most, however, were Cirullis results. Year in, year out, hed turn in these incredible sales numbers, says Napolitano. And here you were, spending tens of millions of dollars on marketing and getting nowhere near those results. Naturally, people wondered how Cirulli did it, and he was happy to tell them. As speaking invitations rolled in, he began traveling all over the country and around the world, often taking members of his staff with him. Wherever they went, they talked about the companys distinctive culture and way of operating, shaped largely by the ideas that Cirulli picked up on his neverending quest for self-improvement. Wherever you turn at GHF, you find examples of Cirullis application of something he has heard about or read. Every month, for example, he meets for two days with what he calls his Get Better Team to think of ways to improve the business. On Monday mornings, theres a Focus and Energy meeting of managers from 8 a.m. until 10 a.m. New employees receive One Minute Praising or One Minute Reprimands, lifted straight out of The One Minute Manager, by Kenneth Blanchard and Spencer Johnson. Blanchards characterization of employees as either ducks or eagles helped inspire a GHF program called Eagles of the Moment, wherein club members nominate employees who have gone above and beyond the call of duty. Its all about selfimprovement. Were a factory for producing future leaders, says Shawn Stewart, the companys 32-year-old operations manager. Production begins with the hiring process, which is the foundation for everything else GHF does. The company, which now has 375 employees, typically gets about 1,000 applications a year for 70 to 100 jobs, almost all of which start at minimum wage. We compete on work environment, says Stewart, who oversees the selection of more than 75 percent of the companys new employees. There are five steps to getting hired at GHF, beginning with a four-page application form consisting mainly of puzzles and games. We eliminate most of the lazy people with that, Stewart says. Next, references are checked by phone, which further reduces the pool. The third step is a group interview, with at least eight candidates and a hiring team including supervisors and department heads, followed by a one-on-one with the department head. Stewart challenges his people to come up with creative ways to determine whether candidates really share the companys four core values: integrity, willingness to work hard, extraordinary commitment to helping people, and desire to create the future. One technique, for example, is the chair test, wherein extra chairs are left in the interview room. Stewart used it once with a candidate who had come through the group interview with rave notices. The candidate was sitting in the room when Stewart entered. They need some chairs next door, Stewart said and began picking up the extra ones and carrying them out of the room. He kept doing this until only two were left. The candidate didnt move, except to take his feet off a chair when Stewart asked him to. Well, said Stewart, thanks for coming, but this place is really not for you. The guy was taken aback. But you havent interviewed me yet, he said. Yes, I just did, Stewart said and ushered him out of the room.
Finally, candidates are taken through a high-intensity workout on the MedX machines developed by the late Arthur Jones, the founder of Nautilus. The idea is to work a particular muscle or group of muscles to exhaustion. We want to see how people react to adversity, says Stewart. Thats when the true self comes out. We tell them up front were not looking to see what kind of shape theyre in. We just want to know two things: Are they hard working, and can they listen and follow directions? Despite all the screening to that point, 25 percent of the candidates fail the test. The ones who pass become the raw material of the leadership factory. Most recruits seem only too happy to get with the program. That includes being shadowed by a veteran employee who serves as an on-the-job trainer and administers weekly quizzes in preparation for quarterly tests, on which they must score at least 90 percent. They are further expected to take advantage of the opportunities for continuing education offered by the companys large library of selfhelp books and tapes. And they have to follow the rules. Recruits receive points for things like tardiness, no tie or nametag, improper shoes, complaining, and cursing. Seven points in a quarter results in probation. Its not for everybody, which is intentional. The whole selection process is designed to weed out the wrong people, notes Will Phillips, a management consultant who runs roundtables, including one Cirulli belongs to, for fitness-industry CEOs. Joe takes very seriously the idea that you should hire for attitude and train for skill. When you hire people and try to convert them to your way of doing things, you create a horrible tension that training is supposed to fix employees. That may be more insidious than having a selective, somewhat authoritarian goal-driven business like Joes. Of all the goals that Cirulli and his colleagues set for themselves, none seemed more daunting than making Gainesville the healthiest city in America, though the choice of that mission was hardly a surprise in itself. For years, Cirulli had been saying that the ultimate measure of a fitness business should be the health of the community in which it is located. But it was one thing to have such a mission and quite another to measure your success in achieving it. Debbie Lee was the one who came up with the mechanism. She remembered a project she had overseen when she was a coordinator of undergraduate programs
at the University of Florida. One student had interned at Johnson & Johnson in Jacksonville, where she worked on the companys application for certification as a Well Workplace by the Wellness Councils of America. It turned out that WELCOA also had a program for certifying cities, based on the percentage of the work force in Well Workplaces, which the group defines as companies, organizations, and institutions with comprehensive wellness programs. Cities with 20 percent of their work force in such a program won the bronze, 30 percent took silver, and 50 percent earned the gold. One could argue whether a WELCOA certification actually constitutes the best measure of a communitys health. But the program did lay out a plan of action that could be used to rally the community, and other cities had already participated, making it possible to compare results. And because no city had ever done better than a bronze, why not go for the gold? But GHF could do only so much by itself. If Gainesville was going to become the first Gold Well City, the communitys movers and shakers had to get behind the effort. With that in mind, Cirulli and Lee approached Marilyn Tubb, who was then vice president for community affairs at Shands HealthCare, a University of Florida affiliate and operator of several hospitals around the state, and had just become president of the Gainesville Chamber of Commerce. In short order, Tubb and Lee put together a steering committee of 16 people, including representatives of media outlets, health care programs, and local government. The committee immediately went to work building support for the campaign. To win the award, at least 20 organizations had to participate in the effort and obtain their Well Workplace certifications within three years leading up to the submission of the Well City application. That called for a lot of work in a relatively short period of time. The organizations had to select coordinators, organize health fairs, get people screened for health risks, hold meetings, launch exercise programs, and so on. Shands HealthCare donated the health screenings. The Gainesville Sun contributed advertising. GHF provided consulting, speakers, meeting space, exercise programs, whatever. And
government officials from across the political spectrum put aside their differences to get behind the campaign. When word finally came in the spring of 2003 that Gainesville had won the award, hundreds of residents turned out to celebrate. The rest of the fitness industry took note of the achievement and GHFs role in it. Many clubs contacted Debbie Lee to learn more. Only a relative handful, however, launched Well City campaigns of their own. People admire Joe for the way hes integrated himself into the community, but I dont think many of them try to emulate him, Napolitano says. They feel as though they have a lot more pressing issues to take care of. And maybe they do, or maybe they have overlooked what Gainesville Health & Fitness got out of the campaign from a business standpoint. Beyond signing up a lot of new members, the company firmly established itself as the wellness resource of the community. I know that if I need help with anything, I can call GHF, and they will always either provide it themselves or point me in the right direction, says Tracy Tompkins, who served as campaign coordinator at Naylor LLC, a custom-publishing and event-management company. We wanted to become better organized around wellness, but we lacked direction and knowhow, says Tompkins. Naylor now uses the program in recruiting. By positioning itself as the citys wellness resource, GHF has gained an enormous competitive advantage that its salespeople have been able to make good use of in selling to the corporate market. That advantage is certain to grow as health care costs continue to rise and more companies discover that a serious wellness program is one of the only responses they can offer. By the time the rest of the fitness industry catches on, however, Joe Cirulli will no doubt be on to the next big thing. Whatever that next thing turns out to be, it will happen in Gainesville. Cirulli insists he has no desire to have a fitness center anywhere else. He loves his city, and the feeling is mutual. Three times GHF has been named Business of the Year by the Gainesville Chamber of Commerce. Cirulli has received the Distinguished Entrepreneur for Lifetime Achievement Award from the University of Floridas Warrington College of Business Administration, in addition to being named Industry Visionary of the Year by the International Health, Racquet, and Sportsclub Association in 2005. Along the way, Cirulli has become a walking advertisement for the power of positive thinking. He still owns the little Mercedes, but he mostly drives a Lexus these days. His parents live in a house he built for them in Gainesville. Cirulli has his own home there, as well as a beachfront place on Anna Marie Island. Once a week, he flies his A36 Bonanza, often to Sarasota, where he has a condo. Although he never made another list of goals for himself, he did get together in 1999 with his managers to draft one for GHF. We will be recognized worldwide as a model company for improving the health of an entire community, the document began. It then listed 10 goals for the next 10 years. The fourth was, We will be on the cover of a leading business magazine. Guess they can check that one off. Bo Burlingham is an Inc. editor-at-large.
The GHF Commitment
Why inspire?
I know that with this kind of support I can only succeed at my fitness goals. - John M., Gainesville, FL I love that gym so much. Ive traveled all over the world and that is the best gym I have ever been to. - Brittany Daniel, Hollywood, CA You have provided us with so many wonderful ideas which are spreading now from Gainesville into the whole world. Everybody admires you in the industry. I wish you and your people everlasting success, luck, happiness and of course the most important thing HEALTH. - Jasmin K., Mnchen, Germany Thanks for all the things you do to make us a better community to live and work. You are a true leader! Thanks for your friendship. Good health and many more successes. - Perry McGriff, Gainesville, FL Just wanted to thank you for providing Gainesville with the greatest gym Ive ever been to (Ive been to a few). - Stephen T., Gainesville, FL Your gym is amazing and it is incredible to see what you were able to accomplish! I truly admire your ability to create great relationships with your clients. You can see their excitement when they are in the gym. - Ray C., Lexington Park, MD No wonder you guys have a winning business. - Giang B., Fontana, CA Im writing this to thank you for the inspiring interview on Mixergy.com. Its one of the best interviews so far in my opinion. Because of that I printed out a copy of Napoleon Hills book and Im literally devouring it. I wouldnt have done that if I hadnt seen your interview. Thank you very much for your time!!! - Constantin G., Romania Wow, what an inspiration you are. - Sarah P., Tucson, AZ
I just read the article about you in Inc. magazine and was compelled to email you. You are an inspiration to all. - Donna D., Atlanta, GA

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A LOOK INTO THE VISION

BEHIND GAINESVILLE HEALTH & FITNESS

Health & Fitness

THINK RICH AND NEVER GIVE UP

2 | insp ire d | Gai ne s vi lle He a l th & Fitne s s | g h f c. co m

inspired is a special edition magazine for Gainesville Health and Fitness.

4 | insp ire d | Gai ne s vi lle He a l th & Fitne s s | g h f c. co m

In Their Own Words

Finding Your Purpose

The GHF Book Club

Cultivating Your Culture

Charting Your Course

In Their Own Words

6 | insp ire d | Gai ne s vi lle He a l th & Fitne s s | g h f c. co m

Now all we had to do was accomplish the list!

In Their Own Words

In Their Own Words

By Joe Cirulli with intro by Shawn Stewart

The People Factor

8 | insp ire d | Gai ne s vi lle He a l th & Fitne s s | g h f c. co m

The Company Treatment

In Their Own Words

Creating the Right Programs

Our programming is also part of creating the experience.

In Their Own Words

Meet Your Stars

12 | ins p ire d | G a i ne s vi lle He a l th & Fitne s s | g h f c. co m

Honor Your Eagles; Rock Stars

Creating Your Own Future

Dealing with Challenges

Extraordinary Commitment to Helping People

Handling of Angry Customers

14 | ins p ire d | G a i ne s vi lle He a l th & Fitne s s | g h f c. co m

Hire for Values

In Their Own Words

GHFs Envisioned Future

In Their Own Words

18 | ins p ire d | G a i ne s vi lle He a l th & Fitne s s | g h f c. co m

The GHF Commitment

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