Value People

 Good Leaders Value People

Barry-Wehmiller Companies, Inc. is a global supplier of manufacturing technology.  At the beginning of “the great recession” in 2008 they saw their orders fall by almost one-third.  They contemplated layoffs but instead decided to institute a furlough program so that no one lost their job but everyone “participated in the suffering.”  They acted like a family, not an institution.  A look at one sentence in their statement of values sums it up when it says, "We measure success by the way we touch the lives of people."

Fair and sometimes heroic actions, during a crisis, result from a strong belief system.  That is the essence of great leadership.  Danger may be all around, however, people are safe.  In the words of Robert Townsend, who transformed Avis into a rental car giant, “True leadership must be for the benefit of the followers, not the enrichment of the leaders.  A leader is … someone who carries water for his people so that they can get on with their jobs.”

 

“Leadership is not about your ambition. It is about bringing out the ambitions of your team.” 

Cheryl Bachelder