BNI 792: A Discussion on Culture with Claudia Thompson

Summary

BNI & The Power of One: Episode 792 Summary – A Discussion on Culture with Claudia Thompson

Release Date: March 5, 2025
Host: Tim Roberts
Guest: Claudia Thompson, Director of Field Operations for Northeast US Core

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1. Introduction to the Episode

In Episode 792 of the BNI & The Power of One podcast, host Tim Roberts welcomes listeners to a compelling discussion on the pivotal role of culture within BNI chapters. Unlike the usual format, this episode features a second guest, Claudia Thompson, making it a dynamic and engaging conversation.

2. Guest Introduction: Claudia Thompson

Claudia Thompson serves as the Director of Field Operations for Northeast US Core. With an extensive 22-year tenure in BNI, Claudia has held multiple leadership positions, including Managing Director for New York, Launch Director, Consultant, Senior Launch Director, and Coach. Her deep-rooted involvement showcases her expertise and commitment to fostering successful BNI chapters.

Notable Quote:
“At we have a really strong peer B, because the, you know, so the hope is that everyone is doing well…” — Claudia Thompson [12:55]

3. Claudia’s Professional and Community Involvement

Claudia is not only a stalwart within BNI but also actively contributes to her community. She chairs the Diversity Equity Inclusion Panel of BNI US, a role that underscores her dedication to creating inclusive environments. Her prior roles include serving as the board president for November Project, former board chair of the Boston Women’s Fund, and founding director of the Boston Business Woman, a women’s networking organization boasting over 55,000 members.

4. Claudia’s Personal Interests and Side Projects

Beyond her professional commitments, Claudia enjoys a vibrant personal life. She spends quality time with her son, Michael, indulges in traveling, reading trivia, and sampling various vegan cuisines. To stay active, Claudia participates in Bollywood dance, runs marathons, and hikes trails. Additionally, she co-hosts a personal podcast named Rose Noir, which delves into discussions about The Bachelor and other dating reality shows.

Notable Quote:
“I think it’s important to find joy, of course, you know, in what you do and just... Just to have that for myself.” — Claudia Thompson [04:34]

5. Exploring Podcasts: DEI Talks and Rose Noir

Claudia manages two distinct podcasts:

• BNI Talks: Formerly known as DEI Talks, this YouTube-based podcast features discussions with various BNI members, directors, and business professionals. Topics range from veteran experiences transitioning to civilian life to supporting members with unique challenges.

  Notable Quote:
  “One of my favorites is always the veterans in November. We always do one for Veterans Day and it always. Someone gets choked up.” — Claudia Thompson [04:08]

• Rose Noir: A personal project initiated during the COVID-19 pandemic, Rose Noir centers around The Bachelor and similar reality shows. Claudia collaborates with friends to interview cast members and share engaging conversations about the dynamics of these programs.

6. Transitioning to the Main Topic: The Importance of Culture in BNI

The conversation shifts to the heart of the episode: the significance of culture within BNI chapters. Tim introduces the renowned adage by Dr. John P. Kotter, often misattributed to Dr. Meisner: “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” Both host and guest agree wholeheartedly on its validity.

Notable Quote:
“100%. Because if you. The way that people feel when they talk about visiting their first chapter and if there’s a good culture, they want to be a part of it.” — Claudia Thompson [07:23]

7. Defining a Strong BNI Culture

Claudia elaborates on the elements that constitute a robust BNI culture:

• Inclusivity: Successful chapters avoid cliques, ensuring every member feels heard and valued.
• Engagement: Regular participation and spotlight opportunities for diverse members keep meetings vibrant.
• Consistency: Adhering to BNI’s foundational practices without overcomplicating strategies fosters organic growth.

Notable Quote:
“It's a huge opportunity when you establish it where like, oh, this is easily repeatable, but so is the junk.” — Claudia Thompson [15:11]

8. The Power of One Report and Its Influence

Tim and Claudia discuss the Power of One Report, a national initiative aimed at maintaining member engagement and ensuring high performance within chapters. Claudia underscores its critical role in her leadership approach, emphasizing that consistent application of its principles leads to sustainable growth.

Notable Quote:
“Because if you do too many different things, you don’t know what’s working, what’s not working. So you don’t know what to keep and what not to keep.” — Claudia Thompson [10:32]

9. Challenges and Opportunities in Cultivating BNI Culture

The duo addresses the dual nature of culture as both an opportunity and a challenge. Claudia highlights that while BNI encourages members to emulate successful practices ("monkey see, monkey do"), maintaining a strong, accountable culture requires intentional effort. The discussion references a social experiment video illustrating how individuals tend to follow group behaviors, reinforcing the importance of setting positive cultural norms.

Notable Quote:
“If we say that, it’s so hard to get people in the green, that mindset. So people come in and... they’re going to do that.” — Claudia Thompson [15:07]

10. High Accountability: A Pillar of Success

A critical component of a thriving BNI culture, as discussed, is high accountability. Claudia explains that chapters with strict accountability measures, where members must maintain their engagement and performance, tend to flourish. This environment not only drives business success but also fosters camaraderie and enjoyment among members.

Notable Quote:
“We’re having fun because we’re making money. Businesses.” — Claudia Thompson [16:39]

11. Conclusion: The Synergy of Culture and Strategy

The episode wraps up by reinforcing the idea that while strategy is essential, it is the underlying culture that truly propels BNI chapters to success. Claudia and Tim emphasize that a strong, inclusive, and accountable culture creates a fertile ground for strategic initiatives to thrive, ensuring long-term growth and member satisfaction.

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Final Thoughts

Episode 792 offers invaluable insights into the foundational role of culture within BNI chapters. Claudia Thompson’s extensive experience and practical examples provide listeners with actionable strategies to cultivate a positive and productive BNI environment. By prioritizing culture alongside strategy, BNI members can unlock unparalleled levels of success and community engagement.

Transcript

[A]

Welcome back to BNI and the Power of One podcast. Thank you for joining us again today. We have. We just did this a week or so ago. We had a guest on. We're back with another guest, which is unusual unless it's Michael Martin for our Business Matters podcast, but super fun. It. It's better than me talking to myself, which I tend to do a lot of today. With us is Claudia Thompson. She is the director of field operations for Northeast of US Core. So before I read the rest, describe territorial areas you cover in Northeast Core.

[B]

So. Yeah, so besides you and Maine, we pretty much cover from Charlotte up to Vermont.

[A]

Yeah. So massive, massive area.

[B]

Massive, massively populated area.

[A]

Okay. Yeah. Also that. Just large geographical. She's also the chair of the Diversity Equity Inclusion Panel of BNI us. We'll talk about that because I don't think a lot of people even know what that is or that it even exists. She most recently held the position as managing director for New York. She's been in BNI member for 22 years, served in multiple chapter leader leadership positions, has been a launch director, consultant, area direct consultant, senior launch director, coach, which is where we all met. You're originally from Boston, which is just 30 minutes from me, so we've known each other for a long time through that. Claudia loves serving others, giving back to the community. She served as the board president for of November Project and former board chair of the Boston Women's Fund. She's also a founding director for the Boston Business Woman, a women's networking organization with over55,000 members. Wow. That's incredible. Yeah. And in her spare time, she loves spending time with her son Michael, traveling, reading trivia, enjoying all types of vegan cuisine. She also loves staying active by performing Bollywood dance, running marathons, which is now. I've always thought you were a little crazy. Now we know you're really crazy. And hiking trails. And as we were talking before, you have your own podcast as well. A fun little podcast. What's the name of that? And what's the focus of that one?

[B]

Oh, my goodness. So the fun one. So I do one. It was DEI talks and now we've transitioned them not too long ago to BNI talks and we talk different people. To what? Webinar based on YouTube. So we really have a good time just talking to different panelists that there could be members or directors, but business folks throughout BNI to talk about different topics. So it's March, it's Women's History Month, so we're going to talk to some Amazing women who are leaders, both, you know, on staff in BNI as well as members or directors. So. So we do that. But we've talked to folks who have, you know, who are on the spectrum and have a business and are members or we had a woman who is deaf. We've had people, we've had veterans, you know, so we talk to different folks about their business and how we can best support and interact with them. So it's been really great to do that. I think we've had that running since 2021. And so then I have a fun one.

[A]

All YouTube. The BNI talks is YouTube focused on.

[B]

BNI USA YouTube page. We have them uploaded. So there's some amazing ones. One of my favorites is always the veterans in November. We always do one for Veterans Day and it always. Someone gets choked up. I just. Just to hear their. Their path from, you know, military life to civilian life. And they just talk about how they grew their businesses. So it really is a great podcast or webinar discussions that we have. So feel free to. To hop on and. Yeah. And you can learn more about our folks throughout the country. Sometimes we have folks that are international as well.

[A]

So that's great. All right. The really fun one, the personal.

[B]

The really fun. My fun one. So I have a. It's called Rose Noir and a couple of friends of mine, again, we started it during COVID and we met actually like in Clubhouse when that was a big platform and we were just in different rooms chatting and we wanted to talk about. We were obsessed with the Bachelor and dating reality shows. So that's.

[A]

That's a popping listening.

[B]

I've been following me. They're like, my God, she's knocked down a peg or two.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

But I think it's important to find joy, of course, you know, in what you do and just. Just to have that for myself. So that's something that brings me joy and it's really just talking to my girlfriends, you know, and they're really close friends to me now. So. Yeah, so we do that. We interview some of the folks from the shows. So it's pretty cool.

[A]

That's really cool. I little known fact, not if people have been listening for a long time or know me for a long time, they would know. But other than they don't. So I used to do a podcast, beer related. It's called the Tap Handle Show. It still went on after I had to stop when I became the US National Director. Just because I couldn't keep up.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

With travel and everything else. But I think those. Doing those. Those kind of things is fun. We. So we used to interview brewers and those kind of things, and then.

[B]

Oh, nice.

[A]

Yeah, it was. It was a good way to get a lot of free beer, too. I've. Yeah.

[B]

Well, my friend is a doctor of beer, so I have to connect. Yeah.

[A]

In Boston, it's. Yeah, we had like a lot of these different places and my co host ended up starting a brewery after that, and they've continued it on. I haven't done it in years and years, but it's funny because I started it because I used to. I thought I was allergic to wine, so I only drank beer, but I didn't know much about it and I had a director of mine who obviously knew a ton about it, so we started having fun. I've since, like, basically almost stopped drinking beer and only drink wine now that I know that I'm not allergic to. A whole long story there. But, yeah, anyways, yeah, I think doing those fun things is really cool. And, and even, you know, some people do these podcasts and we're going to talk about them. We just talked off air. I'm going to do something at the US Conference on it. And they do it with, like, these grandiose visions of being Joe Rogan, and it's just like the wrong reason to ever do.

[B]

There's a long way. Like, he's like one of the top podcasters. There's no way that you can get the top there. And I think if you grow organically and stay consistent is like the key, but it's. It's challenging.

[A]

They're also unicorns. Yeah. It's like anything else. Right. You're not going to be Joe Rogan. Just do it for other reasons. But. And if you do it for the right reasons, you'll be successful enough with it. And it all depends on how you define success. Right. Like, I don't make a dime off podcasting like I've been offered. I just had a company reach out to try to take over selling advertisements on it and stuff. And I was like, nah, good. So there's other reasons for it. But anyways, let's get back to why people are actually hopefully listening. It's got nothing to do with my background podcasting. We want to talk about the importance of culture in bni. You have a tremendous amount of experience in BNI in all different levels, including being a member. And much like I did. And, you know, there's the famous saying by Dr. Meisner that's pushed out for years that culture Eats strategy for breakfast. So first of all, I want to. I'll ask you directly, do you believe that statement to be true?

[B]

100%. Okay, 100%. Because if you. The way that people feel when they talk about visiting their first chapter and if there's a good culture, they want to be a part of it. And so if you're so focused on strategy or you know, you know, not really focused on like, like creating a long term standing culture, it's gonna, it's gonna kill you. So.

[A]

Yeah, yeah. So I, I also believe that to be true. I've talked about it on that. Really, it's the differentiator between any BNI chapter. Right. If you think about BNI in general, in theory, everybody runs the same thing every single week. Right. And your strategies are not gonna be dramatically different. There'll be subtleties and there'll be little things. But overall, strategy for success in BNI is the same for every chapter. It's pretty much the same for every member. So what makes one chapter really successful versus another? Right? Like what, what is the difference between a chapter that grows to 100 members and one that can't get out of its own way at 12? It, it literally is. It's culture, right? It's. It's the people in the room. And what does it feel like in that meeting? So how would you define a. In terms of bni, a strong culture? Like what is the key components or key focuses?

[B]

I mean, I think so. I have a couple of chapters in Long island that are 100 members, right. And then I have the chapters that are five members. It's not necessarily about the size, right? Not necessarily. But what I see about the chapters that have 100 people and they play full out everyone. It's not just the executive leadership team, right? It's not just the president or the leadership team. They tend to not be super clicky. They really make sure that everyone has a voice, that lots of voices are speaking. I think a lot of times when people think it should just be like the same three people speaking other than the featured speaker, I think that that is a challenge too. So they're very mindful to make sure. And because they have such a massive meeting, everyone does get to give their. Their pitch. Of course, it's shortened extremely, but they have like, you know, they highlight 12 people each week that speak. And it's very different. Different professions, you know, different. Some are newer, some are veteran members. So I think that you have to be mindful of, like, let's get everyone involved. Every week that there's somebody that gets some sort of spotlight, and it's not the same people. And so I think that that is a big part of it as well. And I think the other chapters, too, that grow, they. They definitely run pure bni. You know, they keep it consistent. They don't do too many flashy things. I think sometimes people like, to your point about the podcast, people think they have to do a lot of flashy, different things. Let's do all these stimulants, and they don't stay consistent. And then, you know, very much to, like, James Clear and atomic habits, like just doing some things simple consistently is going to make the difference then if you just, you know, because the thing is, if you do too many different things, you don't know what's working, what's not working. So you don't know what to keep and what not to keep. And so I think that's where it gets a challenge. But I think, you know, really just following the simple practices in pure B. And I will help you grow organically because the foundation will be strong enough to continue to add people.

[A]

Yeah, I think people miss massive misconception about larger chapters when it comes to cultural stuff. They often go, well, yeah, they have that because they're 100. And it's like, no, there are 100. Because they have that. Right. Like, we have a chapter I think is currently the third largest chapter. I think they just showed rankings like a week or so ago, and it was like, third. I think in northeast Florida, we have another one that's like, in the top eight. And both those groups were once, like 15, 16, 17.

[B]

Exactly.

[A]

Groups. They didn't start at 109, you know, I mean, and they didn't go from 17 to 109 in a year. They've, you know, gone, you know, progressively up. And so we. We focus a lot on the power of one. Are you guys utilizing? I know it's national. I know it's a national report, but is it a real big focus in core regions? The power of one report?

[B]

A hundred percent. I mean, you know, a big part of my foundation and where I started on the director team was as a launcher. And so whenever I would launch, but I would launch and then have to train them. And I got to train them, not have to. I really enjoyed that part because I would say, listen, you don't want anybody not in green or yellow. And so those chapters, I found, again, they would grow very well and they would have very strong peer B. And I. Because the, you know, so the hope is that everyone is doing well and that most of the people are in green and yellow and only a few in red and no one in gray. But of course, over time, chapters shift, you know, hands and, you know, just regions change and so you lose focus. Especially I think, during COVID that happened a lot too, with a lot of the chapters.

[A]

So, yeah, I have a general statement around culture I talk about. It's like the great opportunity for BNI chapters. It's also the biggest challenge they face at the exact same time, which is that BNI is very much a monkey see, monkey do organization. Have you ever seen. There's a YouTube video, it's by. I think it's Daniel Berg. He wrote the. I'm gonna forget the name of it now. He wrote a good book. I'll get you the name of the book. But if you YouTube, if you literally just type into YouTube, people are sheep. It's like the first video that's going to come up. It's called a social experiment. Most people are sheep. Have you ever seen this video?

[B]

Maybe in a big, large crowd?

[A]

No. So it's a small. It's absolutely hilarious video. I play it at leadership training. So I'll send it to you.

[B]

Okay, awesome.

[A]

Because I've never seen a video define BNI better. That's not. Got nothing to do with bni. And so just to recap what the video is, there's a guy lady goes into a waiting room. It's all set up, okay? So she goes into a doctor's waiting room, and there's like three other people in the waiting room who are all actors. And there's a. Every, like, few minutes, a beep will go off. This is a little beep. And when it goes off, all three of those people will stand up and then sit back down and it'll happen like two or three times. And then you watch as she's like, trying to figure out, like, what the hell is going on, that she just starts doing it. Okay? So she starts standing up. Now, as she's doing it, one actor will leave. And then eventually she's by herself. No idea why she was doing it, no idea why any of this is happening. Beep goes off. She stands up and sits down. Now. Now they start bringing in new people who are not actors, who are just aware as she is. And they start following along. And it just shows that, wow, like, people will just naturally start doing what other people are doing or. Or grasp and take over. That's so to. For me, it's like that's the culture. Right. Like in bni, if your culture is strong, and I, I define strong culture as we're focused on why we're there. We have a culture of accountability. Right. That does. It's meaning that the fun stuff happens because of what we're doing. It's not the focus of what we're doing. What we're doing. And when you do that, every new member just becomes what they see. So if you have a really strong. So our largest chapter runs at like 98% of their members in the green, in the power of one. And. But they have since they were like 20. And I go, right, so now every new member who comes in just goes, oh, I, I have to be in the green because, like, everybody's in the green. Whereas if your culture is one, that's. Everybody's in the red, well, then every new member is just going to do that. So it's a huge opportunity when you establish it where like, oh, this is easily repeatable, but so is the junk.

[B]

Yeah. Well, it's also like, this is just the way that it is.

[A]

Right.

[B]

And so when they walk in. So if we say that, it's so hard to get people in the green, that mindset. So people come in and like you were saying, there's an air of casualness in certain chapters. So it's like, I don't have to try to bring visitors, right? I don't have to. No one, no one brings visitors, so I'm not going to bring visitors. You know, people are always unprepared for their weekly presentation. So I'm just going to be like that. And so to your point, the chapter, my own home chapter, the last one that I was in, I had, I like you, it got to be too much. And I was traveling and I didn't want a million subs. But in my chapter for a really long time, it's just that. And they're still running that way. Yeah, like you, we, we hold that tenants policy, the accountability is at a very high level. And in fact, you can't be, you can't dip below yellow for more than 30 days. Like, if you're in the red or the gray, you have to get yourself out very quickly. And if you're not progressing, like, you're gone, you know, and that's, that's the mindset. Like, if that's just the way that it is, it's like air that we breathe, that, that would, you know, and so to your point, like, if we had chapters operating that way, it. What would it be like, you know, 100% that they would be growing organically and without struggle?

[A]

Oh, you know, now that chapter and you think about that chapter, do you think that people are having fun or not having fun?

[B]

In the chapter that I was in.

[A]

Yeah, that high accountability. We're all in the green. If you're in the yellow, we're going to kick your ass out. Like, we. We are really serious. Are they having fun?

[B]

We were having fun. Of course they're like, we're having fun. Like, we. We go skiing together, we've traveled, we go to people's weddings, and we've done things. Like, it's just. Because it's just what it is. And we're grateful that people hold us accountable. Like, since October 1st, they're at $4 million. You know that that's what you want is like, they're also having fun because they're making money. Businesses.

[A]

Exactly. So I always tell everybody, like, I've never met the BNI member who joined a BNI chapter because they weren't having enough fun in their life. They had too much free time on their hands. They didn't know what to do with it, or they didn't have enough friends. Like, that's not why anybody joins. And the problem with culture is a lot.