Even on Reality Show, The Dwyer Group CEO Champions Values, Faith

Dina Dwyer-Owens chokes up as she talks about her life mission and the opportunity she sees for moving that forward through her engagement on the show Undercover Boss this month.

As chairwoman and CEO of The Dwyer Group, a Texas-headquartered franchise company, Dina has long been dedicated to living and lifting up a code of values she links directly to her own and the company's success.

Dina Dwyer-Owens

One of her goals is to touch millions of lives with the message of what is possible for organizations that are very clear about who they are and how they want to conduct business and that then do their very best to live by those values. It’s about committing to treat people right, she says, pointing to the business benefits this creates as well, as The Dwyer Group has found.

Dina also counts her faith – which she ties closely to her commitment to her values – as a powerful ingredient of her success. "I try to give God the glory for my success, because without him I am nothing," says Dina in a recent Axiom News interview, adding she feels compelled to share that belief with as many people as possible.

It's in speaking about this urge that she feels she's going to cry.

"I really think that it's my responsibility to not be afraid to share who I am," says Dina.

"I think it's my biggest job to make sure that I touch other people's lives with the hope and the brightness of having that kind of a relationship and that kind of a faith."

While engaging with the show has yielded other benefits — it's a chance to see how far The Dwyer Group code of values has penetrated its front-lines, and it will provide some fodder for laughter, says Dina, given her clumsy attempts to do front-line service work – it's the moving forward of this larger, two-pronged vision she's most passionate about.

The show is ideal for this, she notes, especially for her at this time in her life when, with a child still at home, she isn't interested in travelling and speaking much.

Dina says she hopes she's "inundated with people who want to know how do I put values into my organization . . . because they've witnessed how healthy it is to have (these)."

The Dwyer Group episode of Undercover Boss airs on CBS Jan. 22 at 8 p.m. EST. It will air on CTV throughout Canada as well.  

The Dwyer Group code of values has shaped thought and action and yielded success across its approximately 1,600 franchisees worldwide since Dina stepped in as CEO in 1999. The core values are listed as respect, integrity, customer focus and having fun in the process, together forming the acronym R.I.C.H.

For more on The Dwyer Group and a book Dina has published on the company's values, visit this link. Dina is also writing a second book on leading according to these values, tentatively slated for publication release the first quarter of 2012.

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