The Next Business Advantage: Leaders Who Grow People, Not Just Companies

In the world of business, triple-bottom-line companies have carved out a new narrative that prioritizes people and the planet alongside profit. But for a growing number of businesses, there’s an even deeper transformation underway. These leaders are embedding the principles of personal responsibility, integrity, authenticity, and breakthrough performance into the culture of their companies—creating an environment of transformation empowered by training from personal development providers such as industry leader Landmark Worldwide.
 

Landmark, whose stated purpose is to empower people in those areas that are most important to them (including business, performance, relationships, and communication), empowers entrepreneurs and business leaders to be more effective in how they manage and guide their teams to thrive both at work and in their personal lives.   

Thousands of companies send their employees to Landmark, including these six entrepreneurs who built and are continuing to evolve their companies with a focus on creating their organizations so that their employees don’t just align with the company’s mission—they own it.

Andrew and Peggy Cherng, Panda Express/Panda Restaurant Group
As co-CEOs of the Panda Restaurant Group, Andrew and Peggy Cherng have embedded transformational principles into one of the largest family-owned restaurant companies in the U.S. The Cherngs emphasize team empowerment, emotional intelligence, and contribution as core values. Panda’s philanthropic arm, Panda Cares, and its family foundation have donated millions toward education, health care, and youth development. At Panda, every role is an opportunity for personal leadership.

Treya Klassen, Dehoco
Treya Klassen is the founder and CEO of Dehoco, a brand strategy and communications firm that helps organizations articulate who they really are—and why it matters. With a background in brand development and entrepreneurial leadership, Klassen brings a no-nonsense, deeply human approach to helping clients align culture, purpose, and message. Her work is rooted in the belief that great brands don’t just tell a story—they reveal a commitment. The result: brands that are authentic expressions of the people behind them.

Jaime Hurtado, Insulation Technologies (InTec)
In 1985 InTec founder Jaime Hurtado took a family business and infused it with the values of empowerment and advocacy. A Landmark graduate and longtime community leader, Hurtado emphasizes training, growth, and educational support both within and beyond his company. InTec doesn’t just insulate buildings—it equips people with the tools to improve their lives. What he got from Landmark was clear: “Everyone talks about culture, but most treat it like background noise. For us, culture became our main strategy. We started managing for trust, for ownership, for possibility—and that’s when results took off. That change transformed our whole company.”

Omari Kamal, P&G Advisors and Community Capital Tax and Accounting
Omari Kamal is redefining financial services for underserved communities. Through his firms, P&G Advisors and Community Capital Tax and Accounting, Kamal provides strategic consulting and tax support with a deep commitment to empowerment. A Landmark graduate, he integrates transformational coaching into his work with minority business owners.

Jack Licata, Bag Ups
Jack Licata, a former U.S. Air Force captain, founded a company revolutionizing something as everyday as the trash bag. His mission: to manufacture in America, employ U.S. veterans and people with disabilities, and use biodegradable materials.  His commitment is deeply personal—born from a decade of caregiving for his fiancée after a severe head injury and a determination to create meaningful work for those too often overlooked. Landmark’s Breakthrough Seminar was the turning point that moved Bag Ups from a “someday” idea to a thriving social enterprise. 

What each of these six entrepreneurs shares is more than a commitment to profit, people, and planet. Whether serving millions of meals, building brands, insulating homes, financing dreams, or reinventing the garbage bag, each proves that when purpose aligns with performance, and you include a focus on developing people, the result is not just impact but aliveness. Their example shows the next evolution of enterprise: companies that grow by growing their people. And that is exactly the leadership capacity Landmark’s programs are designed to promote.