CPG veteran Steve Blair started a business advising clients on company culture

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Transform people and businesses around the world with incredible growth” is the vision statement of the Harvest team.

The omnichannel retail agency at Rogers helps Amazon, Costco, Kroger, Sam’s Club, Target and Walmart suppliers of consumer packaged goods (CPG) grow their business with retailers.

Steve Blair of Fayetteville has lived that vision for the past seven years in his role as the company’s vice president of people and culture. In the year He contributed significantly to the company’s growth from 30 employees to nearly 250 in four markets and two countries in 2015.

“It makes us laugh, sing and dance through the high pressures of development,” said CEO and founder Ross Cooley. In 2006, he and two colleagues worked for Procter & Gamble’s Walmart team before leaving to start the business. “If there was a list of five people who have had the greatest impact on our company, Steve is on it. If there was a list of five people who have had the biggest impact on my life, Steve is on it.

That was Cully’s social media accolade, a colleague with big shoes to fill. A veteran of the region’s CPG ecosystem since the 1990s, Blair is stepping down from the Harvest Group at the end of July to start a consultancy called Cultural Partnerships.

“I’ve always felt the importance of a healthy culture in any growth-minded organization,” he said. “In my work so far, I have seen what is possible when organizations and leaders align on a purposeful mission and purpose and prioritize the people and health of the organization.”

Steve Blair

Blair is from Kansas City, Mo., and spent 16 years (1993-2009) working for Procter & Gamble in various leadership roles. He worked for other suppliers and a publishing company before joining Cooley — who hired him as an intern at P&G in Fayetteville years ago — and the Harvest team in 2015.

Blair, a member of the Northwest Arkansas Business Journal’s 2009 Forty Under 40 class, said it wasn’t until a year ago that he began to wonder what his company’s vision statement meant to him. After some “inspiring and thought-provoking” conversations with Cooley, Blair is pursuing that vision by helping organizations build and grow purposeful cultures that attract the best talent.

“The last two years have been very challenging and unexpected for people and cultural leaders who have been around for the last three decades or more,” Blair said. “There’s never been a more important time for organizations to understand what their teams want, what motivates and inspires them, and how to deliver unique, meaningful, authentic engagement. I am excited and excited to help more organizations understand and realize the impact of efforts in these critical areas.

Blair said he will spend the next two months at Harvest Group “finishing up and transitioning,” studying the target market, listening to leads and planning to launch a potential expansion in January.

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