This is the story of Sklar Wilton & Associates. Actually, it’s only the beginning of our story as you’ll see we’ve only inked the first 5 chapters.
Chapter 1 began in 1986 when Luke Sklar launched his start-up and founded the company. We lovingly refer to these years as the BQ chapter, the Bullshit Quotient chapter. These years were fueled by incredible spirit and passion, and Luke’s desire to fix the problems he saw happening over and over again in the marketing space. We’re sure there was some bullshit going on since Luke was still young and somewhat inexperienced at the time, but he made up for that with his smarts and his desire to help others succeed.
Six years later, Chapter 2 began. Luke realized he’d reached his ceiling of complexity. He was generating a positive impact with impressive clients, the work was steady, and he needed someone with business smarts to join him. Charlie Wilton brought his wisdom to the team and Sklar Wilton & Associates was formed. Charlie also brought much needed infrastructure, business processes to increase efficiencies, and a thoughtful step-wise approach to the services they would offer. The IQ chapter began.
As Luke and Charlie continued to help their clients succeed, the business continued to grow. Jen Marley joined the team as the third partner in 2000. Her keen interest in growing and supporting all of the associates led to the development of various new programs. Our Personal Development Program, compensation plans, and benefits plan were all brought to life during Chapter 3 – our Emotional Quotient Chapter.
As we nurtured our emotional intelligence, it unleashed the creativity and wisdom of the entire SW&A team. We witnessed the exponential power of collaboration among 32 diverse, experienced, and talented people. Chapter 4 arose with the formalization of P32, a concept that Manoj Raheja had embraced and named the Power of 32. Soon after, in 2012, Manoj became a partner.
Today, we are at the height of Chapter 5, our S32 Chapter. This chapter celebrates the Spirit of 32 which is rooted in the realization that “doing more than expected to help others succeed” is incredibly fulfilling but at the same time, quite demanding. Expanding on our EQ and P32 wisdom, Sarah Liverance and Erin Webber hatched the idea of a whole person development program to equip everyone with tools to support their mind, body, and spirit. We’ve shared how our S32 program works in numerous blog posts, such as this list of ten things Barb Paszyn is thankful for and this list of ten things Sarah Whitty is grateful for. We’ve subsequently been honored to receive numerous awards supporting our initiatives from the Great Place to Work Institute (e.g., #1 Best Workplace in Canada in 2017) and Employee Recommended Workplace (#1 Employee Recommended Workplace in 2019 and 2017).
Now, we’re getting ready to flex our Adaptability Quotient, our AQ. As the economy, political environment, and society evolves, we’re preparing to take on VUCA: volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity. However, with five chapters successfully launched behind us, we’re ready for it. We’re supported by wisdom, emotional intelligence, effective collaboration, and whole person development, and we intend to weather the storm and come out stronger than ever.
The SW&A story certainly doesn’t end there. There are many, many more chapters to come. But today is a good day to honour the past, and the stories and characters that got us to where we are today.