In 2016 our Vanderbilt Financial Advisors were all in the running to be eligible for the 2017 Top Advisors Getaway! Our advisors were encouraged to participate in our events, our culture, and our business building opportunities. Finalists accumulated enough points through participation to qualify for the trip. We’d like to thank our Top Advisors for their genuine hard work and dedication to Vanderbilt and our values which truly made for a group of perfect cultural fits.
Our trip to Las Vegas was an amazing and unifying experience grounded by our Vanderbilt Culture. We believe culture is a staple to a successful business. Our culture, grounded by our core values of Gratitude, Respect, Innovation, Teamwork, and Trust, has become a yardstick for us to measure all of our decisions by. By living our values, our culture has become a steadfast pillar of our business. Here are a few highlights from the cultural experiences we shared.
1. Zappos Culture Tour
Our first event for the trip was a tour of the Zappos headquarters. It is widely known that Zappos has one of the most unique, successful, and famous corporate cultures in the world – and their culture tour did not disappoint. We were lucky to tour their eccentric, exciting, and creative office filled with art, music, games, and yes, tequila! Zappos shared their 10 Core Values with us;
- Deliver WOW through Service
- Embrace and Drive Change
- Create Fun and A Little Weirdness
- Be Adventurous, Creative and Open-Minded
- Pursue Growth and Learning
- Build Open and Honest Relationships with Communication
- Build a Positive Team and Family Spirit
- Do More With Less
- Be Passionate and Determined
- Be Humble
Being able to learn their values and then see them in practice was an interesting and insightful experience. We learned that they don’t sell shoes, they sell customer service. Everyone on the tour was blown away and many admitted they were not excited for the tour at first but had no idea what they was in store. Thank you to the whole Zappos Family for sharing your culture with us, taking us in, and opening our eyes to just how creative and fun corporate culture can be.
Another better than expected experience was The Bronx Wanderers show at Bally’s. The Bronx Wanderers was a family band led by a father from the Bronx who had big dreams of becoming a famous musician, but instead found a life behind the scenes with a beautiful family, and ultimately with his own Vegas show. We heard stories about Billy Joel, Wayne Newton, and Elvis Presley and heard tunes from the 50’s to today. The show had us rocking from beginning to end and the entire group clapped and laughed along regardless of age. The band stuck around after the show for a group photo with us and we were able to personally thank them for an amazing night.
Our final group experience of the trip was a last minute decision to try something new. Our CEO Steve Distante had done Segway tours on a few trips and found that it was a great way to see a city and bond as a team. 10 people took the challenge and were dubbed “Segway Heros”. After learning to maneuver the Electric Segways, the team took to the streets of Old Vegas for a guided tour and some little known history.
All of these experiences were so meaningful because they were shared once in a lifetime experiences all with ties to aspects of our Vanderbilt Culture; 1. Zappos let us in and shared their amazing culture with us, 2. The Bronx Wanderers treated us to an amazing show and shared their run-ins with fame as well as humble beginnings with family, 3. Everyone who took a segway tour was new to it, and learned a new skill together. The unanimous best part about the trip was the people on it. Each “Top Advisor” was encouraged to bring a guest – it was a true testament to see that several of our advisors decided to bring a fellow Vanderbilt advisor on the trip.
