This Series:
Part 1 (Intro) | Part 2 (Purpose) | Part 3 (Values) | Part 4 (Roles) | Part 5 (Rhythms) | Part 6 (Goals)
In this series my goal is to provide some transparency about how we run our business at risk3sixty. Specifically, I am speaking to you future team members who are considering joining our team or future customers considering hiring risk3sixty to solve an important business problem.
I acknowledge that it can be hard to get the full sense of a company in just a few hours of interviews. And this is my attempt to supplement that and give you an insider's perspective on how we run the company. I hope it provides some insight to who we are and inspires trust that we are the kind of company you may want to work with.
At risk3sixty, we run our business on what we call our Management Operating System (MOS). And that is just a fancy way we try to provide some structure to the way we talk about the inner workings of our company.
From my vantage point our MOS is a critical tool that has helped us build a high performing and sustainable company. For example, we have been able to achieve results like earning 5-star reviews on Glassdoor, 3-time consulting magazine Best Consulting Firm to Work For, SANS Best Boutique Cybersecurity Firm, 7-Time Atlanta Best Places to Work, 7-Time Atlanta Fastest Growing Companies, and many others. We have also completed more than 2000 projects and earned an NPS score of 85+ when the industry average is around 45.
In this post I am going to provide a overview of the our MOS. If you want more detail you can read the rest of the series where I'll dive a little deeper into each element.
I have found that a lot of people do not have visibility into their companies objectives. As a result, their day-to-day job can feel disconnected from the business's greater purpose. That can leave people feeling like a "cog in a wheel." That feeling is demotivating. And the irony is that we know this. Study after study shows that when people feel connected to their company's purpose it empowers them to perform better.
At risk3sixty, we want our team to understand exactly where we are going and why we are going there. We also want every team member to understand how the job they do everyday is directly connect to the business's ability to meet its goals. Because when you can connect the dots between the company's grand vision all the way down to each team member's individual goals - it fires people up. People understand what they are fighting for, why they are fighting for it, and how it will impact the company (and their own paycheck).
In part two of this series we will cover how we use tools like setting a Big Hairy Audacious Goal (BHAG) and Open Book Management to get the whole team aligned and rowing in the same direction.
Every organization says they have values, but too often, they’re just words on a wall. Real values aren’t aspirational; they’re behavioral. They should describe how your team actually makes decisions and treats people when no one’s watching.
At risk3sixty, our values are the foundation of how we operate. They are simple, memorable, and actionable. We hire, promote, and part ways with people based on how well we live up to these values. They guide how we handle conflict, how we make business decisions, and how we serve our clients.
We’ve also learned that culture doesn’t happen by accident. It’s cultivated through reinforcement. So we make our values visible in daily operations from our annual grit event, shoutouts in team meetings to how we recognize performance and tell stories that embody who we are.
In part three we we’ll unpack how we defined our core values, how we keep them alive, and how they shape every part of our company.
A good structure creates clarity. A bad one creates confusion and frustration.
In many organizations, people aren’t quite sure who owns what. That ambiguity can lead to overlap, dropped balls, and burnout. At risk3sixty, we’ve learned that clear roles enable people to thrive. Everyone should know exactly what they are responsible for and what they’re not responsible for.
Our organizational design is built around accountability and autonomy. Each role is defined by outcomes, not tasks. This empowers team members to take ownership and make decisions, while also ensuring alignment with company objectives.
In part four we’ll walk through how we govern risk3sixty, structure our teams, how we use role scorecards to define expectations, and how we ensure people are in the right seats doing the right work.
Without rhythm, organizations drift. Information gets siloed, priorities lose focus, and misalignment creeps in quietly.
At risk3sixty, we believe in creating intentional rhythms - predictable cadences that keep communication flowing and everyone aligned. From our weekly all hands meeting (every Monday at 10:36am), quarterly offsites, our meeting structure creates space for connection, accountability, and reflection.
This predictable structure gives people freedom within a framework so the team always knows when and where key conversations will happen.
In part five, we’ll show you our actual meeting rhythms, the agendas we use, and how we ensure meetings are useful rather than wasteful.
Goals create focus. Without them, even the most talented teams can waste effort on the wrong things.
At risk3sixty, we use goals as a translation tool from our company vision all the way down to individual priorities. We believe in cascading alignment: company objectives → team goals → personal commitments. This ensures every ounce of effort is pushing in the same direction.
In part six, we’ll close the series by sharing how we connect mission to metrics, how we track progress, and how we use goals to turn big ambitions into everyday action.
I am excited about this series and I hope it provides you with more clarity into what we are all about here at risk3sixty. If you are ready to learn more check out part 2.
Read Part 2: Purpose --> Here