Founder, Chairman and CEO Tom Grape has led Benchmark Senior Living and its more than 6,300 associates to achieve over $2.5 billion in company value and $570 million in annual revenue. Under his leadership, Benchmark leverages the power of human connection to transform lives at every stage of life.
Through the Changemakers series, Grape shares how he has led Benchmark through change to attract a more complex consumer and deliver on their evolving needs. He also talks about his mission to increase diversity at the leadership level, both within his organization and in the senior living industry at large.
What changes have you driven at Benchmark or in the industry that you’re especially proud of?
I’ve been in the industry for a long time, and I’m proud of having been, at least in the assisted living side, there from the ground up. I was one of the founding members of, then ALFA, now Argentum, and was a chair many years ago. I founded the Massachusetts chapter, helping write legislation in Massachusetts and as a founder of the Connecticut chapter, I take pride in being one of the early folks.
Benchmark was an early champion of promoting positive culture, and we are still defined by that characteristic today. The Boston Globe has named us in their “Top Places to Work” list each of the 14 years they’ve had it. We’re the only company to accomplish that in their large company category, and I’m so proud of that. We’re continuing to be a strong proponent of culture.
Care, in general, is something on which we’ve worked hard to differentiate ourselves from others. And we’ve become a pioneer in capital over time. We were the first one to bring opportunity fund capital and international capital to the sector, and we were one of the first RIDEA deals.
You founded Benchmark in 1997. How have you changed as a leader since then?
I’ve mellowed. I’ve become more introspective about myself and the company, and I’ve learned to take a longer view — all those things that come with age and experience.
Do you see yourself as a Changemaker, and are you always excited to drive change despite the fact that it can be scary sometimes?
Yes, I do see myself as a Changemaker, to a fault. For better or for worse, I sometimes make change when inaction is the better route. In some instances, our greatest strength is our greatest weakness, and I would say that’s true for me.
Talk about a time when you tried to execute change as a leader and things didn’t go according to plan? How did you pivot and what did you learn?
These “times” are moreso themes. There have been times when I tried to do something without helping people understand the thinking, motivation and rationale behind it. Or situations when the organization wasn’t ready and equipped due to timing or resource challenges. Those kinds of themes are what I look back on, and the various outcomes were usually due to my inability to recognize those themes.
How do you think about timing so that a company like Benchmark can innovate without getting so far ahead that a new idea is just too new?
The best way to drive change is to do it in increments. We’ll start with a pilot, depending on what kind of change it is, to test it, tinker with it and work out some of the kinks. If it’s not being well-received but you think the execution is OK, then maybe you’re doing it too soon. I would try to avoid too many broad-scale changes at once without having done some form of test or early introduction.
Changemakers tend to be risk-takers. Do you agree with that statement? And how do you describe your own appetite for risk?
I do agree with that statement and I’ve been told many times that I have a pretty extreme appetite for risk. I didn’t think of myself that way before, but over the years I agree with that and I’ve been described that way many times. I have a pretty high appetite for risk.
If you could change one thing about the senior living industry, what would it be?
I’d love the senior living industry to find a way to have our product/service received in a more universally positive fashion. Our product is a real gift to the people we serve and yet, it is not always received as such. It’s not always delivered as such. If we can have it delivered, received and portrayed more consistently it would be a great advance for the industry.
What are some words of advice for managing resistance to change?
I’ll probably repeat some of what I said earlier. We start with ‘why.’ Read the timing in terms of other organizational demands and so on. Pick the right people. Those are the ones that come to mind.
What would you say is the single greatest driver of change in today’s senior living operating environment?
Consumers. They have driven change in everything, and the baby boomers have turned everything on its head. I think the senior living they’ll want to live in is not the senior living we offered 10 years ago or more. It is going to spark a period of dynamic change driven by the consumer.
It’s exciting, but it’s going to be challenging as well. I think it’s a real opportunity for the industry, but we have to be open and ready for it. The consumer is king. We have to honor and embrace that.
Can you talk about how you see the need for diversity, equity and inclusion in the industry and what you’re doing to drive change at Benchmark in that regard?
This is another area in which our industry is slow. Our industry has great diversity at the frontline level, and perhaps the department head level, but if you look in most of the corporate offices, it’s a different story entirely. It’s another opportunity for our industry to get out and be a leader in an area that’s critically important. Benchmark has already taken a number of significant steps.
I can’t hold us up as the poster child of the diversity solution, but we’re working diligently to get there. We’ve have an Inclusion Advisory Council that has been actively engaged for a couple of years with a cross-section of folks from different levels of the company. They’ve also hosted a number of webinars and training sessions to build awareness. We’ve been working with consultants to develop more training programs and recruiting tools, and we’re taking some of the foundational steps to build an equally diverse senior management team, which I’m going to be able to do soon.
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