Synopses & Reviews
Much studied CEO Bob Chapman and bestselling author Raj Sisodia take on one of the greatest misconceptions of modern businessthat leadership starts with getting the right people on the bus (and the wrong people off). Real leader enable the people already on the bus to achieve extraordinary things.
Too many companies focus only on producing the best products; Bob Chapman says we should put our efforts into bringing out the best in the people who produce them. Over the past few decades, he has transformed Barry-Wehmiller from a broken one-hundred-year-old manufacturing business into a thriving global firm, by acquiring challenged companies and leading them in creating a better future.
However, instead of using cost cuts, cosmetic changes, financial hijinks and major layoffs, Chapman did it by inspiring the people within the business around a shared vision of a better tomorrow. When he looks into a challenged company, he usually sees disenfranchised team members, undeveloped value, unheard complaints, and a lack of inspiration. As he frequently points out, seven out of eight people believe the company they work for does not care about them. Chapman advocates creating environments teeming with care, compassion, and human connection to bring out the best in the employees. When that happens, both the business and its people flourish.
In this book, Chapman and Sisodia challenge traditional thinking about how to run a business and, above all, how to be an inspirational leader. Through actual stories and proven how-to techniques, youll see how the cultural transformation Chapman championed throughout Barry-Wehmiller became the fuel for its robust growth and created meaningful work and personal fulfillment for its team members. From the establishment of an organizational vision to adopting continuous improvement processes to drive that vision deep to empowering employees through education, recognition, collaboration, communication, and more, youll get simple, straightforward, practical techniques to create thriving work environments grounded in people-first leadership. Youll be inspired and equipped with actionable build a better organization and a better world.
Synopsis
Bob Chapman, CEO of the $1.7 billion manufacturing company Barry-Wehmiller, is on a mission to change the way businesses treat their employees. Inc. Magazine
Starting in 1997, Bob Chapman and Barry-Wehmiller have pioneered a dramatically different approach to leadership that creates off-the-charts morale, loyalty, creativity, and business performance. The company utterly rejects the idea that employees are simply functions, to be moved around, "managed" with carrots and sticks, or discarded at will. Instead, Barry-Wehmiller manifests the reality that every single person matters, just like in a family. That s not a cliche on a mission statement; it s the bedrock of the company s success.
During tough times a family pulls together, makes sacrifices together, and endures short-term pain together. If a parent loses his or her job, a family doesn t lay off one of the kids. That s the approach Barry-Wehmiller took when the Great Recession caused revenue to plunge for more than a year. Instead of mass layoffs, they found creative and caring ways to cut costs, such as asking team members to take a month of unpaid leave. As a result, Barry-Wehmiller emerged from the downturn with higher employee morale than ever before.
It s natural to be skeptical when you first hear about this approach. Every time Barry-Wehmiller acquires a company that relied on traditional management practices, the new team members are skeptical too. But they soon learn what it s like to work at an exceptional workplace where the goal is for everyone to feel trusted and cared for and where it s expected that they will justify that trust by caring for each other and putting the common good first.
Chapman and coauthor Raj Sisodia show how any organization can reject the traumatic consequences of rolling layoffs, dehumanizing rules, and hypercompetitive cultures. Once you stop treating people like functions or costs, disengaged workers begin to share their gifts and talents toward a shared future. Uninspired workers stop feeling that their jobs have no meaning. Frustrated workers stop taking their bad days out on their spouses and kids. And everyone stops counting the minutes until it s time to go home.
This book chronicles Chapman s journey to find his true calling, going behind the scenes as his team tackles real-world challenges with caring, empathy, and inspiration. It also provides clear steps to transform your own workplace, whether you lead two people or two hundred thousand. While the Barry-Wehmiller way isn t easy, it is simple. As the authors put it:
"Everyone wants to do better. Trust them. Leaders are everywhere. Find them. People achieve good things, big and small, every day. Celebrate them. Some people wish things were different. Listen to them. Everybody matters. Show them." "
About the Author
Bob Chapman is Chairman and CEO of Barry-Wehmiller, a $2-billion global capital equipment and engineering consulting company. A combination of almost eighty acquired companies spread among ten operating companies with nine thousand team members around the world, Barry-Wehmillers vision is to use the power of business to build a better world.
Raj Sisodia is FW Olin Distinguished Professor of Global Business and Whole Foods Market Research Scholar in Conscious Capitalism at Babson College. His most recent book is the Wall Street Journal bestseller Conscious Capitalism: Liberating the Heroic Spirit of Business (with John P. Mackey, cofounder and co-CEO of Whole Foods Market).