Matthew Fehling

Q: What most notably stands out about your leadership style or what is an example of leadership success you can share with our readers?

It’s hard to really know what style of leadership I embody, as I believe it tends to be situational. I do my best to be a supportive, while decisive, leader who truly believes my biggest leadership obligation is to get my team members the tools and resources they need to be successful. If they’re successful, then I’m successful.

Oftentimes, people mislabel stagnation as tradition, heritage or even convention. We have a duty to the business community to ensure our products and services help elevate trust in the marketplace. We’ve hired and, most importantly, empowered people to help design these nationally recognized programs we continue to improve. As Ben Franklin once said, “Well done is better than well said.” And we’re doing.

I do try to lead by example. Given that BBB is supported by a wonderful group of leaders who volunteer their time as board directors, it’s important for me to give back as well. I currently serve on four boards, and have served on as many as six at one time. We’ve instituted a quarterly volunteer day, giving employees eight hours each to volunteer at a nonprofit close to their heart.

Q: What impact has any disruptions of the past 18 months had on you as a leader?

The biggest disruptions we’ve seen have been internal in nature. In October, we completed a merger with BBB serving Central California and Inland Empire. This was an opportunity to add a valuable partner and integrate their successful arbitration and mediation programs. Any time a merger of this magnitude is embarked upon, there are always things popping up that one doesn’t plan for. Overall, it’s been a rewarding experience, enhancing efficiency to better support and benefit the business community.

Another disruption, external in nature, has been the amount of private equity activity in the skilled trades industry. Many of our long-time partner BBB-Accredited businesses are being acquired. We’re proud to see these businesses thrive, as we’ve always supported them, but we often lose one-on-one connections and recognize the need to adapt to better serve them.

Q: What do you feel we can be doing as a business community to empower economic growth here?

One of my earliest mentors, Thomas J. Gallagher, used to talk about creating a “region of integrity.” If we’re all collectively mindful, and our community of like-minded businesses grows, it will ensure folks can confidently engage with trusted organizations. Businesses that address local challenges and prioritize values strengthen their position, foster thriving communities and build lasting trust. This builds loyalty, which fuels sustainable growth and encourages a ripple effect of accountability. We can choose to make this sound lofty, or rather simplistic. Either way, the region wins.

We’re elevating this idea by piloting BBB4Good, which verifies a business’s social good activities with BBB. Earning the BBB4Good Trustmark empowers consumers to identify businesses that reflect their values and purpose-driven businesses to stand out in the marketplace.

Q: What is new and notable for your company’s near future that will impact our economy?

We have a unique “shared service” program that we run out of our Phoenix campus that currently supports more than 25% of the BBBs in North America, representing more than one-third of all new revenue to the BBB system as a whole. It’s created more than 40 jobs and added close to $3 million in topline revenue to our BBB.

Our Phoenix area “ignite sparked by BBB” initiatives continue to thrive, and new offerings are set to be soft-launched in December. Our Business & Community Center offers meeting space and currently hosts more than 1,000 business and community leaders each month. From using our meeting spaces for strategic planning, training and networking, to using our Podcast Studio, we’re thrilled to be a resource for so many. Up next, we’re excited to be launching an Innovation & Events Hub, which will feature a large, open event space; crash spaces; and a video production studio.

Lastly, we’ll be re-tooling and re-launching our very successful business accelerator programming aimed at Main Street businesses. Our past success in this area is due in no small part to a wonderful community of trustworthy businesses that include GoDaddy, Desert Financial Credit Union, Snell & Wilmer and LifeGuides.