Outside-In® Companies
When you walk into an Outside-In® Company the strength of its culture is self-evident. What you find is a cultural mentality that centers on the customer. Today, there are three companies that have chosen to work together based on a shared set of values, the 20 Outside-In® Values.
CBI Group, Placers, and Barton Career Advisors provide customers with Blank Sheet of Paper (one of our values) talent solutions in Recruitment, Staffing & Outplacement.
Before Outside in was Outside-In®
Chris Burkhard established the Outside-In® culture during the founding of CBI Group in 2001 – a key differentiator that was inspired by his experience working at The Placers and the teachings of his father, Alan Burkhard. Alan established The Placers in 1971 and grew the staffing company into a robust employment organization that is still revered among those living in the region to this day. Chris has followed in his father’s footsteps not only as a successful entrepreneur, but also as a purveyor of a service-based company culture.
Ask Chris about Alan’s involvement in creating Outside-In® and you’ll receive humility and deep reverence towards his father’s contributions to the innovative culture – after all, Outside-In® grew organically within the walls of The Placers. As a student of Dale Carnegie, Alan advocated nothing less than a customer-centric service mentality practiced at his company. The culture at The Placers was very vibrant; Outside-In® was alive and well, it just didn’t have a formal name yet!
When Chris chose to strike out on his own as an entrepreneur, he did so with a clear objective in mind: to take Outside-In® and make it a company and a product. He founded CBI Group as a professional services organization that provided “customized solutions through its consulting methodology that maximizes client’s investment in their employees.” As stated in CBI Group’s original business plan, “The cornerstone of our approach is our unique ability to assist clients in creating an innovative, outside-in, employee and client attractive workplace.” In 2003, Chris was able to trademark Outside-In® – the gesture was a birthday gift to Alan that year.
Twelve years, one trademark, and three Outside-In® Companies later, Chris has achieved his goal of making Outside-In® a viable product for his customers. It may have started with CBI Group, but today CBI Group, the re-launched Placers, and Barton Career Advisors are three companies working together to provide Outside-In® solutions and serve within the vibrant company culture that exists today.