Scaling Culture Across Every Branch

Summary

In this episode of Culture Architects, David J. Friedman sits down with Chris Turner, president of Piedmont Service Group, a multi-location HVAC and mechanical services company serving Virginia and the Carolinas. Chris shares his journey from joining Piedmont as a sales engineer in 2003 to eventually stepping into the president’s role more than two decades later.

David and Chris explore what it takes to preserve a strong culture as a company grows across locations, makes acquisitions, and transitions from longtime leaders to a new generation. Chris explains how Piedmont moved from having a culture people could feel but struggled to define to intentionally creating the “Piedmont Way,” a set of 31 behaviors designed to create greater consistency across every branch.

They also discuss what happened when Piedmont introduced the Fundamentals to hundreds of field employees, why the investment paid off, and how the culture has influenced accountability, recruiting, retention, and even customer relationships.

Ultimately, Chris reflects on one of the biggest lessons of his leadership journey: the people side of the business matters more than he ever expected. As he puts it, sales may drive the business, but culture drives the sales.