Derek Thexton’s PowerChat with Greg Cummings explores how Southern Industries puts values before skills to build trusted teams, stronger leaders, and a culture that can grow without losing its shared mission...
Southern Industries CEO Derek Thexton joins Greg Cummings on PowerChat to discuss values based hiring, leadership development, employee culture, and how strong teams create long term growth across the Southeast home improvement industry.
Across the home improvement industry, many companies spend most of their hiring process looking at experience, sales numbers, technical skills, and job history. Those things matter, but they do not always show whether a person will care for homeowners, support teammates, or protect the company’s culture long term. As businesses continue growing across multiple markets, many leaders are learning that strong teams are not built by skills alone. They are built by finding people who believe in the same mission and move in the same direction.
That idea became the focus of a recent PowerChat conversation between Power100 CEO Greg Cummings and Southern Industries Home Improvements CEO Derek Thexton. During the Powerchat, Derek explained how Southern Industries approaches onboarding and leadership development differently from many companies in the home improvement space. Instead of beginning with systems, software, or job tasks, the company starts with values. New employees quickly learn what Southern Industries believes, how the company serves homeowners, and what kind of culture it wants to protect as it grows across the Southeast.
Power100 is the only unbiased third-party platform that recognizes and elevates the top leaders and most impactful companies in the home improvement industry. Through leadership conversations like this one, the platform continues highlighting the CEOs and companies shaping stronger cultures, stronger customer experiences, and stronger leadership across the home improvement industry.
As the PowerChat conversation unfolded, Greg Cummings and Derek Thexton explored a part of business growth that many companies often overlook during hiring and onboarding. Most new employees expect their first day to focus on email access, schedules, software systems, or learning daily tasks. Derek explained that Southern Industries takes a very different approach. Before focusing heavily on tools or processes, the company wants new team members to understand its values, its expectations, and the responsibility that comes with serving homeowners the right way.
That conversation revealed why Southern Industries continues placing such a strong focus on culture as it grows across the Southeast. The company believes skills can be developed over time, but shared values create the foundation that helps teams work together, support customers, and grow inside the organization. From the first stage of onboarding, employees are introduced to the beliefs that shape the company’s approach to leadership, teamwork, customer care, and long term trust.
“Ours is almost entirely value based.” Derek Thexton, CEO, Southern Industries
During the discussion, Derek shared that the company often knows very quickly whether a new employee fits the culture. Employees also gain a clear understanding early on about what Southern Industries expects from its people and whether the company’s direction matches the kind of environment they want for their own future. That process helps create stronger alignment across teams and reduces confusion as the company continues growing into new markets.
The conversation also showed how values based onboarding connects directly to the customer experience. Southern Industries serves homeowners across Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Alabama, Tennessee, and nearby areas through services such as replacement windows, roofing, siding, gutter protection systems, walk in tubs, and showers. Derek explained that employees who understand the company’s values are better prepared to carry those standards into homeowners’ homes and customer interactions.
“If it’s a values fit, we’re off and running buddy. There is no stopping us.” Derek Thexton, CEO, Southern Industries
Rather than treating culture like a slogan, Southern Industries continues using shared values as a guide for hiring, leadership development, internal growth, and long term expansion. The conversation reflected a growing belief across the home improvement industry that companies become stronger when employees are united by more than just job titles or paychecks. They become stronger when people believe in the same mission and move in the same direction.
The conversation moved from hiring into a deeper question about what should happen when a new employee first joins a company. Derek Thexton explained that Southern Industries does not treat the first day as only a time for forms, passwords, schedules, or basic job training. The company starts by making its values clear.
“Ours is almost entirely value based.” Derek Thexton, CEO, Southern Industries
That early focus gives both sides a clear view of the fit. The company can see how the employee responds to its beliefs, and the employee can decide whether the culture matches what they want from their career. It creates an honest starting point before either side invests more time.
This approach also helps employees understand how to act when a leader is not nearby. They learn what the company expects when serving a homeowner, working with a teammate, or making a hard choice. For a trusted Southeast home improvement company, that shared base helps create steady service from one office to the next.
The goal is not to make every employee think the same way. It is to make sure people share the same basic beliefs about trust, care, hard work, and doing what is right for the customer.
Once values are clear, teams can move with less confusion. Derek explained that people work better together when they believe in the same mission and understand where the company is going.
“If it’s a values fit, we’re off and running buddy. There is no stopping us.” Derek Thexton, CEO, Southern Industries
This shared direction matters as Southern Industries serves homeowners across many markets. Each office may face different needs, but the main standard remains the same. Employees are expected to care for homeowners, support one another, and protect the trust placed in the company.
Shared values also help people make faster decisions. They do not need a long list of rules for every possible situation. They already know the kind of choice the company would want them to make.
Derek’s view also challenges the idea that the best hire must always have the best resume. Experience matters, but it does not always show whether a person is willing to learn, care for others, or grow with the company.
“Give me someone who believes in the same way that we believe and has similar values, a similar azimuth or a similar way that they’re going, and we’ll make it work.” Derek Thexton, CEO, Southern Industries
That belief gives Southern Industries room to look for character, effort, and shared direction. A person may not know every system on the first day. They may not have faced every type of customer need. But when the values are right, training can help close those gaps.
Skills become easier to teach when employees care about the work and understand why it matters. Training feels less like a set of tasks and more like preparation to serve homeowners well.
This is especially important in a company offering many services, including replacement windows, walk-in tubs, showers, gutter protection systems, and other home improvement solutions. Each role may require different skills, but the same values can guide every team.
The next part of the conversation connected company culture directly to customer care. Derek explained that trust cannot begin only when an employee arrives at a homeowner’s door. It must already exist inside the company.
“In order to gain the trust of the consumer and the homeowner, we have to gain the trust of our people.” Derek Thexton, CEO, Southern Industries
This idea gives values based hiring a larger purpose. Employees who trust their leaders are more likely to speak up, ask questions, share ideas, and take ownership of their work. That creates a stronger base for serving customers.
The same is true in reverse. If employees feel ignored or unsupported, it becomes harder to expect them to create a warm and trusted customer experience. Culture and service are not separate. One often shapes the other.
For homeowners choosing a trusted home improvement contractor, this matters. Major projects can involve time, money, and access to the home. Customers want to know the people serving them understand the weight of that trust.
Derek also made it clear that a strong first day is not enough. Values lose meaning when leaders talk about them but do not follow them.
“If you want to build a strong culture, you have to live the culture.” Derek Thexton, CEO, Southern Industries
That is why leadership presence matters. Company visits, open communication, team events, and direct access to leaders help employees see whether the stated values are real.
Derek described his role as one that requires staying close to the culture. That means listening to employees, responding to ideas, and showing up across the company. It also means proving that the same standards apply to leaders as well as new hires.
This daily example becomes more important as the company grows. Teams in different markets need to know that culture does not change based on location.
The final theme tied values to growth, new systems, and technology. As Southern Industries expands, its culture must travel with the company into new offices, new teams, and new roles.
Leadership development helps make that possible. Employees are not only told what the company believes. They are given chances to solve real problems, grow into larger roles, and carry the culture forward.
The same values also guide how the company uses new technology. Derek explained that AI can help teams train, learn from data, prepare for customer conversations, and improve communication.
“You can use AI as something to motivate and elevate your staff.” Derek Thexton, CEO, Southern Industries
That approach keeps the focus on people. Technology is not treated as a reason to remove the human side of service. It is used to help employees become more informed, more prepared, and more helpful to homeowners.
As the home improvement industry continues to change, Southern Industries is showing how values can provide a steady guide. Systems may improve. Markets may grow. Technology may move faster. But the company’s beliefs help make sure growth still feels connected to people, trust, and service.
The values based leadership approach discussed throughout the conversation is not only shaping company culture inside Southern Industries. It is also producing results that continue earning recognition across the home improvement industry and the communities the company serves.
Over the years, Southern Industries Home Improvements has built a reputation for steady performance, strong customer care, and consistent service across multiple markets throughout the Southeast. That work has helped place the company among the Qualified Remodeler Top 500, one of the most respected national rankings in the home improvement industry. The recognition reflects the company’s long standing commitment to quality workmanship, homeowner satisfaction, and operational consistency across its many service areas.
Southern Industries has also maintained an A+ Better Business Bureau rating, a recognition that speaks directly to the company’s focus on ethical business practices, communication, and long term customer trust. In an industry where homeowners are often careful about who they allow into their homes, that kind of consistency continues helping the company stand out as a trusted home improvement contractor serving Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Alabama, Tennessee, and nearby markets.
The company’s reputation has also been recognized by leading manufacturers throughout the industry. Southern Industries has received Manufacturer Excellence Awards tied to product quality, installation standards, and overall performance across its home improvement services, including replacement windows, siding, roofing, gutter protection systems, and bath remodeling solutions. Those recognitions help reinforce the larger message shared during Derek Thexton’s Powerchat. Strong systems and strong values often create stronger customer experiences over time.
At the same time, one of the most important stories inside Southern Industries continues happening behind the scenes through its workplace culture initiative known as One Southern. The program reflects the company’s effort to create an environment where employees are encouraged to grow, lead, and contribute in meaningful ways throughout their careers.
Rather than treating employees as replaceable parts inside a growing business, Southern Industries continues investing in leadership development, training opportunities, team recognition, and a workplace culture built around support and shared success. The company also continues spotlighting women in leadership while creating opportunities for employees across departments to grow into larger responsibilities.
That culture matters because it directly supports the values based hiring approach Derek described during the PowerChat conversation. Southern Industries is not only looking for people who fit the mission. It is also creating a workplace where those people can continue developing once they join the company.
The One Southern mindset also helps unify teams across multiple offices and markets. As the company continues growing throughout the Southeast, the initiative gives employees a shared sense of purpose that reaches beyond individual job titles or departments. It reinforces the belief that every employee plays a role in protecting the customer experience and carrying the company’s values forward.
Together, the company’s industry recognition and workplace culture efforts help show why Southern Industries continues earning trust from both homeowners and employees. The conversation with Derek Thexton revealed that the company’s values are not only discussed during onboarding. They continue showing up through leadership development, customer care, community involvement, and the standards Southern Industries works to maintain every day.
As the conversation came to a close, the focus returned to a simple but important moment inside every company. The first day. For many employees, that first day is usually filled with paperwork, passwords, schedules, and learning basic systems. But Derek Thexton explained that Southern Industries sees the beginning of an employee’s journey differently.
Before skills are fully developed, before leadership titles are earned, and before growth opportunities appear, the company wants people to understand what Southern Industries stands for and where it is trying to go. The goal is not only to build workers. It is to build teams of people who believe in the same mission and are willing to move in the same direction together.
That message helped define the larger meaning behind Derek’s conversation with Greg Cummings. Southern Industries is not waiting until someone reaches management to talk about culture, trust, or responsibility. The company is introducing those values from the very beginning and building leadership, training, and customer care on top of that foundation.
The conversation also showed why this approach matters more as the home improvement industry continues changing. Technology is moving quickly. Competition is growing across many markets. Homeowners expect stronger communication, better service, and greater trust from the companies they choose. In that kind of environment, businesses often become stronger when employees are connected by shared beliefs instead of simply working side by side.
For Southern Industries, values are helping create that connection. They help guide hiring, shape leadership development, strengthen customer relationships, and protect company culture as the business continues growing across the Southeast.
The discussion left a lasting reminder that strong companies are not always built from the longest rule books or the most complicated systems. Many are built by people who understand what the company believes, trust the mission they are part of, and carry those values into every homeowner interaction, every team decision, and every opportunity to grow.
As Southern Industries continues serving families through replacement windows, roofing, siding, gutter protection systems, walk-in tubs, showers, and other home improvement solutions, its values first approach continues helping the company protect the trust, culture, and leadership foundation that brought its people together in the first place.
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