If there's one thing I have learned from Ararat, it's that it doesn't matter how educated you are, how brilliant your new product, or how exemplary your service to your customers, nobody is going to be really successful until they learn how to put people before profits.

Ararat taught me that without prioritizing the importance of meeting the needs of my people first, I couldn't reasonably expect my people to be motivated to wanting to look after the needs of my company.

There was an epiphany of sorts for me when I realized that it doesn't matter how hard I work. What's going to make all the difference is when I recognize that it's ultimately going to be my people, not me, who are going to make my company a thriving success.

As a senior administrator, I've taken management courses for almost 25 years, so when my boss (who'd taken training with Dr. Orieux before) said we'd learn a lot, I was very sceptical. Was I ever wrong! What really impressed me the most was how much Dr. Orieux obviously respects his employees and goes out of his way to help them realize how valuable they are to his company, and much he appreciates them, and his training has helped me to see that my boss has this same kind of heart for us.

Dr. Orieux is a rare commodity in corporate training, in that his focus is truly about getting EVERYONE to get along. I have attended countless training seminars over the years where the trainer is heavily tainted by managerial nepotism, which is futile because you'll never get employees to buy into any training that devalues the contribution of the subordinates.

I have never seen a corporate model for synergy as balanced as what Dr. Orieux and his associates at Ararat have, presenting the needs of the company as well as the needs of the workers, without favoring one at the expense of the other.

No wonder our employees walked away just as inspired and motivated as our managers.