Content Provided by Rusty Vanneman, CLS Chief Investment Officer

Last week my wife and I attended a new office space grand opening for a thriving business in our local community. The owners are friends of ours, so we wanted to check out their new space. In short, it was fantastic, and there are several reasons why.

First, the grand opening proved that entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well.  Though the economic recovery/expansion of the last four years has been sub-par by many historical measures, there are clearly opportunities for entrepreneurs, workers, and investors alike. There are people winning – and they are winning with people. People are making things happen, by providing new and better products and services each and every day, making people’s lives better in the process.  Even if we continue to see below-average economic growth in the years ahead as the global economy continues to deleverage, there will continually be fresh markets opening and expanding, offering plenty of opportunities for growth.

Second, corporate culture matters.  My friend is very big on corporate culture and intentionally goes about articulating and designing his firm’s values, as opposed to letting it happen by default.  He rightly believes that values are the guiding principles of a company.   The firm does this by clearly defining their values; hiring their values, and living their values.  It makes good sense.  His business is flourishing, driven largely by the loyalty of his clients and his employees.

This emphasis on values resonates with how we do things at CLS.  As our website states, our Core Values are: Belief, Deliver, and Partner

• Belief — We believe risk budgeting is critical to managing clients’ assets.
• Deliver — We deliver innovative solutions through multiple investment strategies to achieve the best possible portfolio management.
• Partner — We partner with investors, registered financial representatives and key vendors.

These values are what we are living and striving to act upon each day for our clients. To achieve these values, we stress:

• We will build meaningful and trusted RELATIONSHIPS.

• We will foster TEAMWORK, both internally and externally.
• We will constantly seek OPPORTUNITY for growth and innovation.
• We will bolster individual and team PERFORMANCE and accountability.
• We will encourage SIMPLICITY in our message and business processes. 

Third, our friends’ new office space has a slide between the second and first floor.  That’s pretty cool.

0372-CLS-2/7/2013