Mastering Working Relationships: Tips from Miami Cigar’s Jason Wood

Miami Cigar & Co.’s Jason Wood shares his tips for building familial bonds in the workplace and the benefits they bring to your business

Leading any business venture is difficult, but working with family can present a whole different level of challenges. What makes the premium cigar industry unique is that many manufacturers and brands are led by different families who must find a balance between business and family. This is something Jason Wood, vice president of marketing and sales at Miami Cigar & Co., has come to master over the years.

Even though the foundation had been laid down by his in-laws, Nestor and Mariana Miranda, Wood knew there was much work to be done if the company was going to continue to evolve. His goals for Miami Cigar & Co. were clear: He would take the blueprint provided by the Mirandas and fine-tune the goals and plans they had begun in years past. He wanted to make sure Miami Cigar & Co. continued to be among one of the leading companies in the premium cigar category, and he knew it’d take a lot of work and hustle to achieve that goal.

Find Your Place
“Being able to work with each person in each department not only helped me to understand what they did but who they were,” he says. “In the trenches is where bonds are formed, and I am thankful I was accepted by all of them.”

When it’s time to make decisions that impact the business, Wood seeks feedback from his team before making a final call. As the leader, he has the final say, but learning how to listen to others has allowed him to make better moves through the years. He doesn’t see the value in having the right people on staff if he’s not going to listen to them. On the flip side, he must make the decision that will be best for the overall business, a move that’s difficult when the company’s values are based around teamwork and family.

Since joining the company in 2009, Wood has learned the importance of leading by example while also maintaining a personal connection with his staff. With Nestor Miranda and his leadership style as an example, Wood has come to treat and consider every staff member as a part of his own family. Much like a real family, everyone on his team is willing to go the extra mile because they want to do him proud. This makes syncing up his expectations and goals with those of his team even easier and more natural because there is a familiarity and familial bond in place throughout the company.

Know Your Weaknesses
Leaders also have to take care of themselves in order to be effective in the workplace. Wood stresses the importance of finding balance in life or running the risk of becoming one-dimensional. He has observed many professionals who are great at business but have personal lives that are in need of improvement and who are unable to fully enjoy the benefits of their hard work and grind. Wood enjoys spending time with his wife and children and makes time for them as a way to strike a balance between work and his personal life.

Wood has also grown into his leadership role, becoming more comfortable speaking up when necessary. Early on, he tried to avoid ruffling any feathers, but over time he came to understand that being more vocal would have enabled him to change things for the better sooner. At both Miami Cigar & Co. and his previous entrepreneurial ventures, he worked to overcome mental roadblocks. Now he hopes to transmit that hard-won experience to others in the company and industry.

“My previous jobs were all with large corporate sales forces and never with a family business. Immediately I realized that my decisions would be felt both positively and negatively,” he explains. “On one side, it is exciting to know that your decision is going to move the needle, but on the flip side, it’s concerning because that needle can head the wrong way with a bad choice. The key is to ensure that if a bad decision is made that it is remembered and never done again. Learn from your mistakes, become a better leader, and ensure that those errors are never committed again.”

Embrace Your Strengths
Wood may have gotten the best advice on leadership from his own father, who told him that when you take care of people, people will in return take care of you. This is a lesson that Wood has applied to his own leadership style, which involves acknowledging that nothing can be accomplished alone. It’s all about teamwork and hustle, and the best leaders are those who embrace the relationships they’ve built throughout their journey toward the top.

While the consolidation and acquisition of retailers by larger manufacturers who are suddenly entering the retail side of the business concerns Wood, he’s optimistic about Miami Cigar & Co.’s future. Next year, the company will celebrate its 30th anniversary in the cigar industry, an accomplishment that wouldn’t have come about without the strong bonds and relationships formed between the Miranda family and its retail partners over the years.

“Although we do have a large footprint in the industry, we are still able to give that personal touch to our retailers and work one on one with them to ensure that they are receiving the service they deserve,” Wood says.

Demonstrating the company’s ability to hustle, its flexibility and its commitment to customer service to retailers is Wood’s goal for this year’s International Premium Cigar & Pipe Retailers Association (IPCPR) trade show and international convention in July. While the IPCPR show will give the company a chance to showcase its premium cigar products, it will also allow the team to spend valuable time getting to know their retail partners and what they’re looking for from Miami Cigar & Co.

This story first appeared in the July/August 2018 issue of Tobacco Business magazine. Members of the tobacco industry are eligible for a complimentary subscription to our magazine. Click here for details.

– Story by Antoine Reid, an editor and digital content director for Tobacco Business Magazine. You can follow him on Instagram @editor.reid.