Students should investigate company culture when seeking jobs after graduation, a CEO said Thursday at the Price College of Business.

Colin Reed, the head of the Gaylord Entertainment Company, said graduates should pick a company that cares about people.

“That is a company that’s growing, not (deteriorating),” Reed said. “And it’s not an organization that’s focused on the almighty dollar.”

The Gaylord Entertainment Company operates numerous hotel and media companies and is a long-time benefactor to OU. Reed has been chairman and CEO of the company since 2001 and president since 2005.

Establishing a culture of support and commitment is the key to success in this struggling economy, Reed said, and establishing this support requires the maximum effort of everyone on board.

“When you build the right culture in an organization, you can deal with basically anything that’s thrown at you because every one of your people are committed to the cause,” Reed said.

However, Reed said, building the right culture in an organization doesn’t happen overnight.

“This is not something that you can do by standing on the top of a mountain and say ‘Hey you guys and gals, we want you committed to the company,’” he said. “You do it by literally spending years before that building the right culture in the business.”

Reed, who served as a member of the three-executive Office of the President of gaming company Harrah’s Entertainment Inc., got into the hotel and casino business at an early age and was named chief financial officer of a big hotel in London when he was 27, he said.

“I wasn’t born into affluence and wealth,” Reed said. “I lived on the other side of the railroad tracks.”

In his youth, Reed worked in London for five years in an investment banking business. That’s when he started making money, he said.

“When I was doing my accounting studies I was poor, really poor,” he said. “Then I got into the hotel and casino business and I’ve been in the hotel and casino business for 35 years.”

In recent years, Gaylord Entertainment Company has relied on its company culture to succeed, Reed said.

“We’re very fortunate. We got a good culture and we got good management in our business that is on top of things,” he said.

Reed also said he believes Gaylord Entertainment Company has stayed successful in this struggling economy because it has a good connection with its customers.

“Our customers love our company. They believe that we care about them and that we’re not just there to extract money from them,” Reed said.

Choosing the right company to work for is key, he emphasized.

“If you work for an organization that’s cares about people and you’re a good individual — you’re a reasonably ‘starved’ person — you’ll get watered and you’ll get nourished to be able to grow and expand your areas of influence,” Reed said.