Creating a Culture of Courage: Rex Kurzius Of Asset Panda On How to Create a Culture Where People Feel Safe to be Authentic & Why That Helps the Bottom Line
An Interview With Vanessa Ogle
A company that encourages and embraces new ways of thinking from its entire roster of employees will always be a step ahead of a competitor who welcomes complacency. Whether they’re engineering entirely new products and services to sell to our clients or making improvements to existing systems in ways that reduce our expenses, Asset Panda’s employees are the ones who bring our innovations to life. If we create an environment where they’re happy and willing to make those essential contributions, the positive impact on our bottom line is obvious.
In today’s social media filled, fast-paced world, authenticity in the workplace and in our personal lives has become more difficult to come by. Business leaders must focus on the bottom line of profits and corporate success, but does that have to be at the expense of the authenticity of their employees? I believe it is quite the opposite. I know from my own experience that a culture of authenticity allows the hiring of a team that will bring their all to the workplace. That fosters innovation, creativity and a level of success that few companies dream of. Yet, fostering an environment where individuals feel secure enough to express their true selves remains a challenge. The importance of authenticity cannot be overstated — it is the foundation of trust, innovation, and strong relationships. However, creating such a culture requires intention, understanding, and actionable strategies. As part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Rex Kurzius.
Visionary CEO and Founder, Rex Kurzius has revolutionised asset management, growing Asset Panda into a multi-million dollar award-winning firm — here’s how
In the fast-paced world of business, efficient asset management can make or break an organisation’s success.
Enter Rex Kurzius, the visionary CEO and Founder of Asset Panda, whose innovative approach to asset management has revolutionised the industry.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series. Before we dive into our discussion our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you share the most interesting story from your career?
Throughout my career as a serial entrepreneur, there have been periods of time when my mind has been completely consumed with looking for my next venture. Sometimes my inspiration has come from obscure sources or seemingly random experiences in my own personal life, but it’s always driven by an intention to create the life I want for myself and for my family. The inspiration for Asset Panda, the leading asset management platform I launched in 2012, came to me while on a tour across India with a client.
We were in Bangalore when I saw a young man on a bike. It was an old, beat-up bike that probably had more miles on it than my oldest car back home. In his hand, however, was an expensive smartphone. Four propane canisters were strapped across the back of his bike, and I could tell he was clearly making a delivery and using the phone for directions. He would probably use it to confirm delivery of the canisters, too.
As I watched the scene unfold — the young man combining one of the lowest-tech modes of transportation with the highest-tech mode of communication — I realized I had my next business concept. Keeping track of physical assets is obviously a global problem, but it’s also one that can be managed on a mobile device. I could help people keep track of their property and other physical assets. I could offer the service on a subscription basis, and my customers could do all of this with mobile technology. It checked off most of the boxes on my list of criteria for the next business I would launch — it aligned with my intentions.
I faced a lot of doubt when I started shopping the idea around, but I never deviated from my intentions. Today, I continue leading Asset Panda with that same intentionality that has become a trademark of our company’s culture.
You are a successful individual. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?
The three attributes that have helped me most in my career as an entrepreneur are GRIT, the ABILITY TO SELL, and INTEGRITY.
Grit is a must-have for anybody who’s an aspiring entrepreneur. To me, grit means that you’ve committed to an outcome as a foregone conclusion, and you’ll stop at nothing to achieve it. I am the first to admit that I’ve spent much of my career making things up as I go, and in that process, I’ve failed more times than I can count. But no matter how much trial and error it takes, I never deviate from the ultimate vision I set out to fulfill. So if one method to get there doesn’t work, I’ll try out another one, and another one, and so on, until I reach what I originally set my mind to. That kind of perseverance has helped me achieve things that many would have once believed to be impossible.
Next, my ability to sell is the only way I’ve been able to turn my outlandish ideas into reality. I’ve had to sell my employees on the vision I have for our company in order to get them on board with bringing that vision to life; I’ve had to sell our clients on investing in a product and service that, at first, may not be all that familiar to them; and the list goes on. As an entrepreneur, you have to constantly be in sales mode if you want to move the needle on anything.
Finally, my integrity is everything to me. Entrepreneurship can be overwhelming, with new challenges at every turn. Following my own moral compass in how I conduct business has simplified a lot of tough decisions for me. Over time, that has formed a reputation for me and for my business that has helped our bottom line in the end. People want to do business with us because we have a track record for holding ourselves accountable to a certain standard.
Ok, thank you for that. Let’s now jump to the primary focus of our interview. How do you define corporate culture in the context of your business, and why is it important for your company’s success?
I believe that corporate culture is the only durable competitive advantage there is in today’s marketplace. We all have to evolve as technology, systems, and more advance, but the general vibe someone feels when they interact with your company is something that you want to stand the test of time despite all the evolution going on around you.
With this in mind, the defining elements of our culture at Asset Panda are trust, freedom, and results. We invite and empower our employees to drive changes in our business model to ensure that the organization’s success is always congruent with our employees’ values and lifestyle preferences. Our philosophy is that if we provide an environment (even remotely) where talented employees can enjoy themselves and feel valued, they’ll be more committed to our collective goals.
Simply put, we believe happy people produce really good results, and that mindset has served us well.
Can you share an experience where corporate culture impacted a business decision or client relationship (positive or negative)?
When you have a strong corporate culture, your business will reap the positive benefits of that on an ongoing basis. In our client relationships at Asset Panda, real validation of our corporate culture’s impact beyond just our internal team comes often from our clients in the form of compliments not only on the product and service we provided, but also on how our team provided it. Our employees enjoy the work they’re doing, which makes for a positive customer service experience for our clients. Sometimes, this has been the deciding factor in whether or not we win business over our competitors. Our corporate culture — that general “vibe” we embody as a team — transcends our work into the relationships we form with new business prospects, and that makes people more inclined to work with us. That is the hallmark of any well-run business.
What strategies do you employ to monitor and enhance corporate culture within your team or organization?
We keep our company culture on track by prioritizing CLARITY, COMMUNICATION, and LIKEMINDEDNESS.
- CLARITY — Each person at Asset Panda knows their purpose and what role they play in achieving our big-picture goals. Their duties are well defined, and our expectations of them are clear, making everything they do more intentional.
- TWO-WAY COMMUNICATION — I like to say that the only bad question is the question you never asked, and fostering that mindset in others requires creating an environment where everyone, regardless of their status in the company, feels empowered to have a voice. At Asset Panda, we don’t abide by a “one-to-many” hierarchy; we take an “all-hands-on-deck” approach to everything we do.
- LIKEMINDEDNESS — Starting with our hiring process, we look for individuals who are positive, curious, and driven, because that is the type of energy we feed off of. We simply do not tolerate negative or toxic behaviors in our workplace, regardless of how talented or capable someone may be.
How do you handle situations where the executives may not be aware of corporate culture in mid-management?
Eliminating the concept of ego is really important, and that requires some vulnerability. Believe it or not, I like bringing my team bad news almost as much as I like bringing them good news. I’m transparent about my own shortcomings and failures because I want to foster an environment that embraces mistakes as the means for improvement. This opens the door for employees to feel comfortable communicating openly and honestly with me and their other colleagues in return. This approach significantly reduces the amount of disconnect between what’s happening from my perspective versus what’s happening from my employees’ different perspectives.
Based on your experience and research, can you please share “5 Ways Corporate Culture Helps the Bottom Line of a Business”?
- Cultures of Innovation Create New Revenue Streams
A company that encourages and embraces new ways of thinking from its entire roster of employees will always be a step ahead of a competitor who welcomes complacency. Whether they’re engineering entirely new products and services to sell to our clients or making improvements to existing systems in ways that reduce our expenses, Asset Panda’s employees are the ones who bring our innovations to life. If we create an environment where they’re happy and willing to make those essential contributions, the positive impact on our bottom line is obvious.
2. Consistent Cultures Drive Progress
Looking back on the past 12 years since Asset Panda’s inception, I can admit it took us some time to get to a point where we had a core group of people who really established the positive culture we wanted and that we have in place today. But once we had that foundation in place, we were fully committed to it. That is the culture that’s kept team members around for extended periods of time, ultimately reducing our employee turnover and showing us that the longer people stick around, the greater their impact on the business.
3. Distinctive Cultures Keep People Coming Back
A strong corporate culture is instrumental in setting the overall vibe or tone that a brand gives off. Take Harley-Davidson, for example, with customers so loyal that they tattoo the company’s logo on their bodies. That type of brand affinity comes from how you make people feel, not just what you sell them. Making people feel good is a sure-fire way to earn repeat customers, and that’s something that starts with your behind-the-scenes culture.
4. Cultures of Efficiency Prevent Waste
When a company’s employees feel a personal connection to the overall mission, vision, and values of the organization, they feel a greater sense of responsibility in how they spend their time. A corporate culture that makes employees feel valued is likely to see greater productivity than one that views and treats its employees like replaceable cogs in a machine.
5. Cultures of Transparency Result in Positive Reputations
Customers expect honesty and transparency from the companies they give their money to. If they don’t receive that treatment, they’re entitled to publicly share their negative experiences, which can deter future customers. The same applies to employees. Companies that make open and honest dialogue a core component of their culture make their employees feel acknowledged and respected. Those who do the opposite will earn themselves a negative reputation that makes people question whether or not they want to do business with you.
In what ways has focusing on Corporate Culture given your business a competitive edge?
The history of Asset Panda is really an exercise in the importance of corporate culture. Like any company, we’ve experienced our fair share of highs and lows. I eventually realized that a common denominator across some of our biggest failures was cultural misalignment. We could be doing everything right on the surface, but team dynamics were getting in the way of our ultimate success. Now, I firmly believe that the mantra of “you’re only as strong as your weakest link” applies to culture just as much as it does skills and knowledge. If 90% of your team is on the same page and shares the same positive energy while 10% is exhibiting negative and toxic behaviors, that 10% sets the tone for everything. We’ve since built such a strong company culture that, when cultural misalignments arise, we are quick to eliminate them in order to avoid the failures we’ve seen them cause before. We still aren’t perfect, by any means, but I know our commitment to maintaining our cultural standards has helped us secure and keep business that we may not have had as much luck with in the past.
You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the greatest amount of good to the greatest number of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)
I want everyone to realize that the greatest project you will ever work on in this life is yourself. For so long, a part of me thought it was selfish to spend time bettering myself when I could instead spend that time directly serving others. As I matured, my outlook on the world shifted, and I no longer saw myself as a victim of things that happened to me, but rather I see myself in the driver’s seat for how I controlled my responses to the things happening in my life. The better I respond, the better an example I can be to those around me. Only by pushing ourselves to evolve and improve in every stage of our lives can we make the maximum impact on those around us. As Gandhi said, we should “be the change [we] want to see in the world.”
How can our readers further follow you online?
You can find me on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/rex-kurzius-🐼-517aa9. You can also keep up with everything my team and I have going on at assetpanda.com or on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/asset-panda/.
Thank you for the time you spent sharing these fantastic insights. We wish you only continued success in your great work!
About The Interviewer: Vanessa Ogle is a mom, entrepreneur, inventor, writer, and singer/songwriter. Vanessa’s talent in building world-class leadership teams focused on diversity, a culture of service, and innovation through inclusion allowed her to be one of the most acclaimed Latina CEO’s in the last 30 years. She collaborated with the world’s leading technology and content companies such as Netflix, Amazon, HBO, and Broadcom to bring innovative solutions to travelers and hotels around the world. Vanessa is the lead inventor on 120+ U.S. Patents. Accolades include: FAST 100, Entrepreneur 360 Best Companies, Inc. 500 and then another six times on the Inc. 5000. Vanessa was personally honored with Inc. 100 Female Founder’s Award, Ernst and Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year Award, and Enterprising Women of the Year among others. Vanessa now spends her time sharing stories to inspire and give hope through articles, speaking engagements and music. In her spare time she writes and plays music in the Amazon best selling new band HigherHill, teaches surfing clinics, trains dogs, and cheers on her children.
Please connect with Vanessa here on linkedin and subscribe to her newsletter Unplugged as well as follow her on Substack, Instagram, Facebook, and X and of course on her website VanessaOgle.
