Managers sit on desks while leaders are busy setting expectations and being role models for everyone in the company. Being a CEO is probably the most annoying title I have ever had in my professional career. Annoying in a sense that it’s labeled me as an office man sitting on a big desk wearing a suit and a suffocating tie, and that is totally not me.

At 3mushrooms and Monarch, we believe in teamwork, in a horizontal hierarchy, in collective efforts and in building relationships. It is a certificate of achievements when our clients know us by names. They know every single person that works for 3mushrooms and Monarch and that’s the kind of relationships that we thrive on.

Working with my client is no different from working with my partners. The client’s success is my success. Unfortunately, many business professionals nowadays take the human touch out of the business transaction and concentrate only on profit margins without considering their clients’ needs to expand. This is how 3mushrooms is different since our business philosophy comes from the growth concept of mushrooms. Mushrooms grow in clusters and groups. So if I can help my client grow, then I will grow with him and, consequently, my suppliers will grow with us. If I can’t be in the field with my client, then I won’t be able to service him the way we should. This doesn’t happen by sitting on a desk in a glamorous office wearing a suit and a tie. Probably the only title I believe in is Team Member, not CEO.