Recognizing the Best Workplaces: Values and Virtue Signaling

Brent BeshoreEssay
Written By Brent Beshore

When we invest, we are ultimately betting on a leadership team, a bet that a handful of people can lead a much larger group of people towards a mutually beneficial goal. A big part of that judgement comes down to evaluating if the company’s leaders create win-win relationships not only for customers, but also for employees and communities. We don’t think anything less is profitable long-term. 

It’s easy to talk about values and difficult to live them. If it was easy and advantageous, the world would be a lot kinder, generous, and soft-spoken. It’s something we think about a lot at Permanent Equity.

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that we struggle to live out our aspirations. Fairness is the obvious path until it costs you something. Reliability is a no-brainer until it causes inconvenience. We’re human and our first reactions are sometimes wrong. But, we’re trying. We try to identify and study our own inadequacies. And we try to use those feedback loops to get a little better. Baby steps, but hopefully in the right direction. 

We’re blessed with portfolio company leaders who are walking with us. I’d like to shine the spotlight on John Hall and Kelsey Meyer who lead Influence & Co. Like every relationship, we’ve had our ups and downs. But even in my deepest frustration, I’ve always respected them, especially how they care for their employees. "Caring for your people" is so often repeated that it has become virtually meaningless. I can assure you that it’s lived at Influence & Co. consistently, in thick and thin, and especially when it’s inconvenient.

It’s no surprise that they were recently ranked #37 on Fortune Magazine’s Best Small Workplaces. It’s quite an honor and one that fits them well. Every company has a unique personality and their’s is quirky, caring, and innovative. They have blazed a new trail, which is something in and of itself. But what makes them more impressive is how they’ve done it with an eye towards providing a first-class work environment. No wonder out of the 65 employees surveyed by Fortune, 64 of them are proud of where they work. There’s always room for improvement. 

Congrats team. 

Brent

Brent Beshore

Brent Beshore is the founder and CEO of Permanent Equity, the Columbia, MO firm he started in 2007 on a simple thesis: buy good companies and keep them. In 2017 he architected the long-term fund structure that lets the firm hold ownership stakes for decades.

His path to this work was less than direct. He started his first business at seven, manufacturing bows and arrows in his Joplin, MO neighborhood (the unit economics weren't great). He went on to study politics with an emphasis on poverty studies at Washington & Lee, spent some time at the University of Missouri's law school, and then returned to building businesses. Along the way he founded a handful of companies, accidentally bought a business, and founded Permanent Equity.

As CEO, Brent's time goes three places: the investors who back the funds, the operators who run the companies, and the next opportunity. 

He sits on the boards of Air-Cert, Mediacross, Pacific Air Industries, and 10th St. Talent. He wrote The Messy Marketplace: Selling Your Business in a World of Imperfect Buyers (2018; second edition 2024) to set business owners’ expectations about what it takes to sell a company successfully. He founded Main Street Summit and helped create Capital Camp, gatherings that bring owners, operators, and investors together from around the world for the kinds of conversations that build real relationships.

Brent and Dr. Erica Beshore are raising three daughters and a son. He's active in his church, serves on the board of Love Columbia, and plays competitive tennis and bad golf.

https://www.permanentequity.com/brent-beshore
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