PPB October 2017

Chris Arranaga President Gorilla Marketing Riverside, California Number of direct reports: 23 C hris Arranaga went from being a student at UCLA to a business owner to becoming someone’s boss. For five years he ran his business solo; he hired his first employee and became a boss 33 years ago. And, apparently, he’s pretty good at it. “Chris is by far one of the most fair, supportive, generous (with time and money), smart and balanced humans I know,” says nominator Rosslyn Forrester, who has reported to Arranaga for the past five years. “His mantra is that employees and clients should be treated like family members—with great care, love and fairness. He lives it every day. He is always ready to provide encouragement and support. He is the first to compliment, and often award when and where appropriate for a good sale, a new idea or a victory of any sort. For example, a gas card for every employee was an incentive to reach a milestone sales goal. When we just very narrowly missed it, he recognized that we all worked hard to get to where we were, and gave us the gas cards anyway!” Chris’s cool factor He often says, “We are building our empire.” Now that’s cool! His best boss Lane Grado, my manager at UCLA Recreation [a campus job he held during college]. He was always approachable and fair to everyone. He was busy but always had time to talk when I requested. What managing others has taught him about himself Honestly, that I have way more to learn every day. I don’t pretend to be an expert or the best but I want to be better tomorrow than I am today. I just am constantly reminded that sometimes my nonverbal communication speaks louder than what I actually say; it is not always positive and I need to constantly work on that. His best advice for other bosses I think you need to be a good listener and you need to be humble. You also need to be mindful that with the people you manage, you should hope that the role doesn’t define them. They have much more important titles they carry than their title at work, such as friend, sibling, parent, coach, etc. Enable those parts of their lives and their work title should be more enjoyable. Don’t pretend that their job title is the most important position in their life. “I have way more to learn every day. I don’t pretend to be an expert or the best but I want to be better tomorrow than I am today. —Chris Arranaga FEATURE | Best Bosses 26 | OCTOBER 2017 |