Citizen Inc. Q&A: Scott Bybee

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SBJ Podcasts

Scott Bybee, president of ESC Inc. Consulting Engineers, is the guest for Citizen Inc., Episode 4, from SBJ Podcasts. The following Q&A is from the show, co-hosted by Springfield Business Journal’s Eric Olson and United Way of the Ozarks’ Greg Burris and recorded at ADsmith Studio.

Eric Olson: In each of these (interviews), motive seems to be an important thing. And that’s answering the question of why. What is the why for Scott Bybee and ESC Consulting Engineers?
Scott Bybee: That goes back to the founding of the company. My dad started the company out of our basement 30 years ago. He’s a very generous person, with me and with the community. It’s kind of baked into the cake. It’s a faith-based organization. That’s the core of the why. We’re not taking any of this with us. The generosity message is there’s joy in giving; there’s freedom in giving. It gives you a reason as a company to say, this project may not have gone well, but we can change the world in small bits and pieces in Springfield, Missouri. We decided as a company we’re going to be generous and make it part of what we do as a company. Everybody gets to be a part of it and gets to weigh in on what we’re partnering with.

Greg Burris: Do you find that you’re hiring people who share those same values because they’re aware of what you’re doing in the community? Does that attract people to come work for you?
Bybee: It does. We’re not a well-known business entity, maybe in the medium to small range. But people who are engineers or tech types or draftsmen, our website is prominent enough that people find those things. And when they see that outreach thing, I get those contact forms or emails all the time that ‘I’m looking to relocate to Springfield, and I really align with your values.’ Then you have a basepoint of mutual agreement that they’re going to be in line with: There’s bigger things to tackle than engineering work. It’s foundational. If you recognize that generosity is a joy-bringing activity, it can change the whole way your company functions. We do profit sharing, so whenever we write that check to XYZ company, that’s coming out of their checks. They know that. We’re very upfront and open about how all that works; still our team is just extravagantly generous.

Burris: You’ve talked about philanthropy, but what about examples of the hands-on engagement in the community? If you were talking to a CEO of a small or midsize company, they might say I can’t carve out the time.
Bybee: I’m on a generosity council here in Springfield, and we talk about giving your LIFE – and that’s labor, influence, finance and expertise. So, you can be generous with more than finances. We do engineering projects for people and we don’t charge them, like church projects. One of our civil engineers went to Haiti a few years ago and designed a warehouse for Convoy of Hope. We track that on our scorecard if we donate services. But also, it’s the little things, like there was somebody who needed a handicapped-accessible ramp in our neighborhood, and our structural engineers “nerded” out on that. Little stuff like that.

Olson: Seems like you’ve approached generosity as a school of learning. Is that a fair assessment?
Bybee: That’s generous on your part to attribute that I’m looking at it as just trying to learn. But I see other people through their stories and generosity journeys, that’s something worth learning more about. Money is important because it’s so strongly connected to your heart and where your priorities are. The process of learning about generosity and the things you benefit from when you do it, it’s a fun learning experience. Giving is fun.