Thought Leadership

Actionable strategies for developing staff into leaders for your firm and community In today’s rapidly evolving funeral industry, leadership is found in the everyday interactions your staff have with grieving families and community members. Transforming your staff into the next generation of leaders is not only vital for sustaining excellence in service but also for driving innovation, deepening community involvement, and fostering a culture of continuous improvement. Let’s talk about actionable strategies to cultivate leadership among your team members, emphasizing in-person engagement, professional growth, and the profound impact of community involvement. Creating a Vision for the Future Empowering your staff to become the next generation of leaders begins with a clear, shared vision that harmonizes traditional values with modern innovation and deep community involvement. Vision-Driven Culture: Clearly articulate your organization’s mission, values, and long-term goals during in-person meetings. When every […]

SCENARIO: Randall T. Smith and his wife, Petaluma (“Peta”), had owned and operated their own funeral home and crematory business, Mesa West Funeral Home & Crematory in Midland, Texas, for nearly seven years serving their community with the highest level of service at affordable prices. Then, in 2019, Randall was diagnosed with liver cancer, and in 2020, he passed away. Before Randall died, he told Peta that, “if you ever sell the business, I think it’s worth at least $1.4 million.” Randall and Peta, who were both licensed funeral directors and embalmers, had built Mesa West Funeral Home & Crematory on money they had saved up from years working for a corporate consolidator. Mesa was serving a solid 210 families a year, with total annual Revenue just north of $1 million by 2019. During peak COVID periods between 2020 and […]

Embracing innovation while honoring tradition. The funeral service and cemetery professions have always stood at the intersection of tradition and adaptation. From the beginning, their focus has been on providing comfort, care and dignity to families during highly challenging times. Despite this heritage, however, funeral service is similar to other professions and therefore not immune to the rapid advancement of technology. Artificial intelligence (AI) has found applications across various sectors already, and it is now making its way into funeral home and cemetery operations. When I was first approached about the AI concept for funeral service four or five years ago, I confess I didn’t see the fit. I was wrong, however, and now see that AI is transforming the profession. In order to come to that realization, however, I had to understand how such a deeply human-centered vocation – […]