Since 2002, EO San Francisco member Anthony Sandberg has traveled for pleasure eight to 12 weeks per year. When he shares this fact with other entrepreneurs, most shake their head and say, “It must be nice, but I could never do that!”
Sandberg, who founded OCSC SAILING in 1979, used to believe the same thing … until he fell off a cliff and shattered his leg. “Unable to walk, I had time to think about my own life and what was important,” says Sandberg. “I was so involved in my work that I had excluded important things like family and friends, as well as lifelong desires for other experiences such as sports, education and, above all, travel.”
Before the accident, Sandberg couldn't imagine his business running without his 24/7 attention. “I used to be aware of what was happening throughout the company at all times,” he says. “One of my biggest preoccupations was wondering why my staff didn't pick up the ball and run with it instead of constantly looking to me for direction.”
After the accident, Sandberg’s long-term business partner and friend Rich Jepsen suggested that he take over as CEO of the company. Trusting Jepsen and wanting to pursue other activities— particularly long, foreign trips—Sandberg agreed.
As it turns out, the interim CEO took a much more analytical approach to the business. “Instead of working in the business like I did, Rich worked on the business. He created systems to shift greater responsibility to our managers and front line workers,” Sandberg notes.
As Sandberg started planning his wish list of places to see and things to do, he asked his employees to share their dreams. During this process, he discovered that his staff also desired opportunities to pursue adventures. Since OCSC SAILING already offered trips to exotic destinations throughout the world, Sandberg realized that he could create a unique employee incentive. Currently, all of his company’s managers earn half an adventure trip a year fully paid, or if they save this time, a fully paid adventure trip every two years.
OCSC SAILING employees can also request extended leave to explore, travel or volunteer, provided that they give adequate notice. The company can sustain these long absences because employees go through rigorous cross training and learn a team approach to work. According to Sandberg, “Our team members are capable and glad to fill in for their colleagues on extended leave, since they know that others will do this for them someday.”
Typically, sailing schools experience rapid workforce turnover. Yet the average tenure of OCSC SAILING’s 85 employees is six years, and many have been with the company for more than 20 years. In its annual satisfaction survey, employees consistently rank corporate support of travel and other personal growth opportunities as a significant reason for staying with the company.
“Giving our people time to travel and pursue personal growth opportunities is truly enlightened altruism,” observes Sandberg. “When our employees return from sailing in Turkey, backpacking through Southeast Asia, hiking the glaciers of Antarctica or kicking back in the Chilean wine country, they bring a brightness and enthusiasm that makes our club a place where people want to be. When I travel, I come back with fresh ideas about how business is done elsewhere, and I’m constantly reminded that it is the cumulative impact of outstanding service that makes a company remarkable,” concludes Sandberg.
As Sandberg discovered, travel can be good for the soul and the bottom line.