Do you have to work in a Christian organization to hold onto your values and integrity? Chief Operating Officer of Rob Brinkman, doesn鈥檛 think so.

鈥淎 company can be successful and hold onto its core values, and keep those values aligned with its team members and aligned with a strategy that allows it to foster and grow,鈥� said Brinkman at a Crowell Distinguished Speaker Series event earlier this year.

NZXT is a leading provider of computer gaming products and services. Brinkman joined NZXT in 2018 and has operational responsibilities for sales, global operations and more. Previously, he was Chief Administrative and Operations Officer at Vizio. He graduated cum laude from Northern Arizona University and received a master鈥檚 degree in organizational leadership from 51萝莉. He is also a mentor in Crowell鈥檚 MBA program.

Using NZXT as an example, Brinkman shared how integrity leads to success showcased in the following eight principles. These principles apply whether you鈥檙e starting a company or looking for the right company to join.

1. Culture is the foundation of success.

Brinkman defined culture and how they think about culture at NZXT.

鈥淲hat is culture? Culture is the fundamental set of beliefs of a person or an organization, the guiding principles that decide how we act, what鈥檚 right and wrong, if we're on the right path,鈥� said Brinkman. 鈥淲e will hire people on a culture-fit over a skill-fit because we believe that our culture's right. If they understand and fit our culture, we'll teach them what they need to know, because part of our culture is learning and growing.鈥�

2. Keep it simple and focused.

Simplicity is in the DNA of NZXT. Brinkman shared that after NZXT founder Johnny Hou said, 鈥淲e've got to simplify. We've got to go after perfection,鈥� the company really started to grow.

鈥淲e will never have more than five products in any one category,鈥� said Brinkman. 鈥淲e focus on gamers. Our products don't need to be everything to everyone. And our growth has skyrocketed in the last two years.鈥�

3. Identify and serve a community.

Brinkman shared the importance of identifying a particular community to serve. For NZXT, that is the gaming community.

鈥淲e serve gamers by relentlessly evolving our products and services,鈥� said Brinkman. 鈥淥ur vision is to become the most authentic brand for gamers, based on our core values. If we stay true to that, not only will our employees see it, but our customers will too.鈥�

4. Every voice matters.

At NZXT, employees are able to send questions to 鈥渢own halls.鈥�

鈥淲e expect to hear from everyone,鈥� said Brinkman. 鈥淓very question is answered, even questions that say, 鈥業 know you won't answer this 鈥� 鈥欌€�

Brinkman emphasized that the town halls do not necessarily change the decisions the company will make, but people know that leadership is listening.

鈥淲e believe that [if] people know they're being heard, they're going to be more willing to take risks,鈥� said Brinkman. 鈥淎nd in business, in order to grow, you have to take risks. We believe in staying humble, being vulnerable, and actively listening to the needs of our community.鈥�

5. Keep learning to keep growing.

Brinkman shared that at NZXT, founder Johnny Hou would personally build computers multiple times a year in order to ensure the products he designed for gamers actually worked. However, as his company and his family grew, he realized he no longer had time to build gaming rigs, and he believed that other gamers, as they got older, had the same concern. Out of this realization came a business opportunity.

鈥淲e created a division to build computers for gamers,鈥� said Brinkman. 鈥淲e do it a little differently, not hard drive size and speeds and feeds, but 鈥榃hat are you going to do with it, specifically? What games are you going to play?鈥� We learned, we made some changes, and our 鈥榖uild service鈥� is now the largest custom configuration business in the industry.鈥�

Ideas can fail, but NZXT creates opportunities from them. For Brinkman, that鈥檚 the true definition of a 鈥渓earning company.鈥�

鈥淎 learning company means an environment that is safe, where if you take risks and make mistakes, you'll learn from them,鈥� said Brinkman. 鈥淢ost companies say that, but when it happens, they鈥檙e pointing fingers and placing blame.鈥�

鈥淲e tried a retail [store] concept,鈥� said Brinkman. 鈥淎pple is in retail, maybe we could be in retail! We spent a lot of money, but we made no money. People loved coming in and playing, but they didn't spend. We stood up at a town hall and said, 鈥業t didn鈥檛 work, but we'll learn from it.鈥� We made it an example for our team that failing and learning is okay.鈥�

6. Relentlessly pursue perfection.

NZXT鈥檚 approach is to aim for excellence and provide thoughtful work down to the micro-detail.

鈥淚 visited the factory that was going to build our headsets,鈥� said Brinkman. 鈥淭hey make headsets for other manufacturers, longer than [we鈥檝e] been in business. They thought the quality [of our prototypes] was just fine. But we said, 鈥楴ot for us. We鈥檙e not putting out a product that doesn't meet our standards.鈥� We have yet to launch that product because the quality is [still] not what we want.鈥�

7. Validate hypotheses with objective data.

According to Brinkman, NZXT has 210 employees, and four are data scientists.

鈥淎 lot of other businesses make decisions based on gut; we use data,鈥� said Brinkman.

8. Do what you say.

At NZXT, the culture emphasizes accountability.

鈥淲e can't talk about 鈥榬elentless perfection鈥� and then not build with quality,鈥� said Brinkman. 鈥淚 constantly have customers ask, 鈥榃hy don鈥檛 you build a [cheaper] case and get a bigger market share?鈥� We won't do it. You can鈥檛 just talk about values, you have to live them. We want to be authentic, we want to be real, and our customers will know if we鈥檙e not.鈥�

The Crowell Distinguished Speaker Series brings a selection of accomplished business leaders to campus to share their varied professional and personal insights and provides the opportunity to network with fellow attendees including alumni, MBA mentors, faculty, and current and prospective MBA students. The event is always free and open to all. Future events can be found on the Crowell events calendar.