We had the good fortune of connecting with Dave Thomas and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Dave, Let’s talk about principles and values – what matters to you most?
Transparency. When we opened doors to Performance360 back in 2011, we knew that we wanted to run a different kind of business. We wanted our members to feel like they were a part of every process, all of the growth, and had a personal sense of ownership over the Performance360 community and its success. We felt that the only way we could create the kind of sustainable community we wanted was to be complete and total transparency. Said differently, a business culture of honesty. If our member didn’t trust us, there was no way that we could ever build anything lasting, so deciding to be a culture of transparency meant keeping our members in the loop on every major decision, soliciting their feedback for any major changes, and treating each person as if they had a seat at the proverbial table. It can be highly challenging to be a culture based on transparency. After all, it means sharing a lot of things you may not want to, such as periods where the gym may not be doing well, things we may have screwed up, or changes that we know people may not like but we believe to be for the good of the gym. Transparency often means opening yourself up to criticism, but it also means connecting with people on a human level and helping them to understand that the nature of our gym is a business that is human. To be transparent is ultimately a numbers game. Sometimes you’re going to lose, sometimes you’re going to win. But over the long haul, we find that our members value our open-door policy, and the net is a community that knows exactly where they stand at all times. Ultimately, if we’re going to screw up as an organization, it’s going to be because we shared too much, not enough.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
I believe what sets us apart from other gyms is that we view ourselves as part of the hospitality industry, not the fitness industry. That is not to say that we don’t take the fitness component incredibly seriously. We absolutely do. We do squats, deadlifts, and challenging high-intensity workouts. But we believe that there is no way we will ever get some to take fitness as seriously as we do if we don’t first show that we care about them, care about their experience, and break down the massive, intimidating barriers that make to so challenging for many in our industry. Our coaches are trained just as much on interpersonal skills and communication as they are on technical fitness coaching. Nothing else we do matters if you don’t feel welcome, safe, and comfortable at our gym.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I would take them to the beach, probably Pacific Beach or OB and then go grab lunch or dinner. A hike at Torrey Pines. Tacos as Oscar. I’m pretty simple.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
There is no way that we are where we are today, three gyms and nearly ten years of success without my partner Bryan Pritz. Bryan is our behind the scenes co-owner who handles all member relations. This means he has to handle every question, account change, request, complaint, you name it. He does so graciously and in a manner that always puts a fire out, never enlarges it. It’s a skill that he has mastered and without our ability to communicate regularly with customers outside of the gym, there is no Performance360 on the scale we have it.

Website: www.Perform-360.com
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