M3 is a privately held company. And we are committed to staying that way. Why is that so important to us? Because we want more.
We want more of what matters. We want more freedom. We want better and stronger partnerships – and more of them. We want more accountability – not to Wall Street or private equity managers but to our clients, to our community, and to ourselves as M3ers.
Our culture at M3 is one of investment. For that to work, we can’t be held by investors who don’t live and breathe M3 every day. Our shareholders are an active part of M3, so each and every one understands and champions our culture of investment. We make investments in talent, technology, and developing specializations that will help us serve our clients better, faster and smarter, so they can grow and be stronger. We make investments in our community so it can be strong enough to support the organizations we do business with. We make investments in each other, giving of our time and sharing knowledge so M3 can be stronger. When we lift each other up, we all get stronger. That is the dividend in a culture of investment – and it’s immeasurable.
The investor culture is another story. It’s a culture of bottom lines, returns on investment, spreadsheet-based decisions, out-of-town oversight, and rationed client service models. An investor culture can work for some, it just doesn’t work for us. It’s flashy, even lucrative – but it’s not sustainable as a culture of investment.
I get phone calls all the time asking if it’s time to sell. Never even tempted. The answer is, “No, thank you.”
We’re building something bigger.
