”Reading the report together as a leadership team created a cohesiveness — going through the same thing, reflecting at the same time. The team developed a shared sense of urgency. The SWIM report got leadership aligned really quickly. It felt like a 'just do it' mindset after that. We learned to make decisions fast without endless debate. We got our culture back. People got far more engaged. It shouldn't have taken the SWIM report for us to align on these things, but it did. Two years later, it continues to be our guiding star. It's part of our scorecard. It feeds directly into our strategic plan.

CEO - Tapecon Medical DevicesSteve Davis

”When you're in executive leadership, it's easy to forget the human element of the business. You get caught up in the day to day — the supplier in Portugal that's not coming through, the new tariffs you're navigating, the financials of an acquisition... You forget to spend the time to understand and tap into people's reasons to come to work. And you don't get handed tools that allow you to do that in any real way. Nothing comes close to the level of understanding SWIM gives you. It allows you to get the level of buy-in you need for the whole organization to align. We never had such an actionable tool on alignment before. This gets the whole leadership team on the exact same page, no question.

I dare you to try to motivate employees without understanding your system's inputs at this level. Good luck. I don't think anyone in the country is doing anything like this.

CHRO & General Counsel - Allient IncAlex Collichio

”Dustin Snyder's SWIM shines a light on system processes that often cause the behaviors managers are trying to fix. Applying this to organizations is a game changer. Not all management problems are people problems. Finding causal elements built into process systems enables optimum solutions. SWIM shows you how.

Founder - Optimax SystemsMike Mandina

”I sought this out because something didn't feel right and I didn't know why. I needed a barometer on the company culture. If a company has been around as long as ours, we were doing something right — wanted to know what was in the way of scaling that. My team was more defensive at first. But when we dug into who we actually are as a company something changed for them. It became a reminder that this is what makes us who we are, and we have to fight to keep it second nature, from the top to the bottom. If you focus on what's in the SWIM report, the economy can bring the storm and you will be fine.

President & Principal - Voss ManufacturingAlex Kammerer

”Digesting the SWIM report was a process that took stages. Anything critical, my nature was to push back and defend against it. It had to marinate for a few days, for all of us. Eventually, spitballing it around as a leadership team, we began tossing around our own stories that validated everything the workforce was trying to tell us. When I started sharing the findings with the VPs, they were really excited. They helped me start to view the whole thing as a huge positive. It’s not the kind of thing you can read once and understand fully. You go back to it over and over for months to digest it and let it improve you. A year later, I'm still circling back to the SWIM report to ensure I'm making decisions in the right context. It's become my compass as an executive.

COO & Principal - Whiting DoorAlexandria Whiting

”It might have been heavy to say these things a few years ago, right after I went through SWIM. But now it feels so simple. It’s not a magic wand, but it’s the way to see what you need to do to get people bought in on what you need them to do. It ended up being far more empowering than it was damaging to my ego. As soon as I realized that I needed to work within this new SWIM framework, it was very empowering. This was the perspective I needed to have to succeed. I had to continue to execute on staying in sync with the workforce or I’d revert to my comfort zone and go backwards. Accessing this kind of perspective on your workforce is enlightening and empowering. This kind of thing can launch an organization’s trajectory.

Chief Operating Officer - FLP Co.Steve Krisko

”We had grown our headcount 4X in less than a decade. With all that change, SWIM was an important experience for me to go through as a CEO to get back in touch with the organization. If I’m being honest, I think most other staff surveys are sorta bullsh*t. But SWIM lets the staff's real experience shine through. And the employees saw the moves we made based on the information they trusted SWIM with. Our leadership is harnessing things, making progress, in a way we never could have before.

CEO - Good Neighbors Credit UnionEmma Smalley

”It was helpful to understand who we really had from a team perspective. After this, the leadership team has really been able to grow. We're all really proud of how far we've come.

I think for some of the leaders that in the moment it can hurt. But you come to see it's a very, very objective understanding. You start out guarded, and taking the step to trust is hard. As you come to see your role in a new light - when you see the side of things you've never seen before - you learn a lot and can really embrace your role.

I'm really pleased with the direction we were able to take after SWIM. We are so much more focused as an organization. It feels like a different organization actually, a totally different place - and the future is very bright now.”

President & CEO - Erie County Medical CenterAndy Davis