SPOTSYLVANIA, VA – July 3, 2025

From the Founder and President

TMG 23rd Anniversary Message

To the TMG Tribe—

For 23 years now I have been blessed to be in “command” of TMG, and every day I get a chance to play. Even with the normal ups and downs of running a business, being in the “fray,” as with most things in life, it is the people that make it all worthwhile.  

The TMG Tribe is so much more than the 66 souls who call TMG “home”.  It includes the 55 others who have called it home since 2002.  It includes the 256 Partner Leaders and their teams who have partnered with us over the last 23 years by making the decision that TMG could help make their business better.  It includes the associations, friends, colleagues, and influencers who have encouraged us to tell our story and encourage others to join the TMG tribe.  

We are all about “mutually beneficial partnerships” that make the work both meaningful and fun… and fun is always a lot more productive.  

Our 23rd year marked a major milestone in the TMG journey, thanks to two leaders who trusted TMG to lead based upon a common understanding of the mission, the senior leader’s strategic intent, detailed planning, day-to-day execution, and trust in each other to do the right thing, take care of our people, and have each other’s back.

Since December 2020, Mr. Matt Sermon – now the Direct Reporting Program Manager of the US Navy Maritime Industrial Base Program – selected TMG to take our proven Team Performance Improvement model and customize it for the U.S. Navy and become the “end-to-end/plug-and-play” Program Management Team. 

As we begin our 5th year of the US Navy Talent Pipeline Program, we have trained, coached, encouraged, and recognized 493 Defense Industrial Base employers on improving the performance of their Talent Acquisition and Retention Systems. The result: 11,294 New Hires with 8,108 reaching their 1st-Year Anniversary – made possible by a team effort including the U.S. Navy, Naval Sea Systems Command, the Marine Industrial Base (MIB), 13 National Facilitators, Employer Training Providers, Local Facilitators, and Flag Sponsors working together to support the defense of our country.  Today, we are implementing a 5-year Talent Pipeline Program National Roll Out Strategy across America. 

Last year, Cedric Toussaint, Howmet Aerospace VP/GM, and Bob Baker,  the VP of Engineering, Quality, and Continuous Improvement, met with me. Cedric asked TMG to be the U.S. Program Management team to implement the Operations Performance, Engagement, Responsibility, and Accountability (OPERA) system, which had been hugely successful in the four French Howmet sites under Cedric’s leadership.  His recent promotion significantly expanded his responsibilities, and he was ready to repeat his process in the U.S.  Based on TMG’s ongoing Team Performance Improvement partnership with Howmet since 2012, Cedric and Bob trusted us to be the OPERA Program Management Team.  

OPERA is based on two principles.  

1. Trust Pays More Than Control
2. The One Who Does is the One Who Knows

OPERA is what TMG does.

Since 2002, TMG has been fulfilling its “Why?” At TMG, we help Leaders who WANT to lead, lead a High-Performance Team seeking PERFECTION. We give Leaders the Courage to Lead.  

As the Founder, I take great pride that TMG is also always seeking PERFECTION—leading by example, so when our partners ask, “who else is successfully implementing the TMG Team Performance Improvement System,” our first response is: “US!” 

PERFECT is taking the time to understand the strategic intent, define the mission, make a good plan, resource the plan, teach the plan, execute the plan, adjust as necessary, overcome obstacles, work as a team, and accomplish the mission. Do what we say we are going to do. Pretty simple.  Mission First — People Always!

I am very proud that since June 2002, we have made money every month we have been in business -except the first, we have never submitted a competitive proposal, 98% of our effort goes into delivering the services our partners pay us for, and we have no rules except living our shared values and using the values to drive our decisions and daily behaviors:

1. Do the Right Thing (Know the Mission)
2. It is All About the Relationship
3. Run a Good Business
4. There is No Such Thing as Coincidence. 

The result is what I fondly call the COVID Leadership bounce.  

Since the end of COVID in 2022, our business performance has improved year-over-year in every measurable term: partner satisfaction, backlog, revenue, earnings, quality, and team stability.   

What we do matters – to our partners, to American manufacturing, to our country, and most importantly, to those wonderful people who come to work every day.  

The greatest form of respect we can give our people is a Leader who: 

1. Wants to Lead
2. Demands to be Held Accountable
3. Is Engaged
4. Knows What Right Looks Like
5. Has a Leader Who Will Help Them Become a High-Performing Leader
6. Plays to Win Every Day!

Continuing Mission…

I am a Leader. My Team Plays to Win!

Joe
Joseph C. Barto, III
Founder and President