My dad, a Marine who went ashore in the first waves at Iwo Jima and Okinawa, used to say, “You can’t lead from the rear.”
I agree.
I have never understood business owners who treat themselves differently than the rest of their team — and then wonder why their employees hate them. I first learned to care about setting the right example when I was working as a welder at a mobile home plant while going to college. Mobile home sales had fallen significantly and the company did a layoff and cut everyone’s pay. A few weeks later, the owner and his wife (who worked part time but drew a full-time salary) both got new Cadillacs and parked them in their reserved — and covered — parking spaces.
For months, those two new Cadillacs were all that my coworkers talked about during our two 15-minute breaks and one 30-minute lunch period every day. I noticed that graffiti denigrating the owners (and some threatening physical harm) soon covered the restroom walls and even the break room. The final act of defiance was when a coworker with a large family and an ill wife got laid-off. As he was leaving, he keyed both of their cars. This lesson has never been lost on me.
During my career in management and as a company owner, I have gone out of my way to not treat myself any better than my associates. My wife and I are on the same benefits plan as everyone else; we pay our own deductibles and I don’t allow anyone to call me “Mister.” I clean up the restroom when it’s messy and I clean my own office. If we are busy and a customer needs a delivery in a hurry, it’s not beneath me to jump in a truck and take the materials where they need to go.
You can preach all you want and note on your website about how customer-focused you are, but nothing gets the commitment message across like a CEO making a delivery to a muddy job site on a sweltering July day in the South.
I drive a GMC Yukon and when I’m on the road, I stay at the Hampton Inn. I learned from my father to not drive a flashy car and to not have a facility or a personal office that looks too expensive. Customers and associates have enough to talk about regarding you and your family without you giving them more ammunition.
I’m not saying that owners and managers aren’t entitled to nice things. That’s why most of us work 70-100 hours a week, if not more. What I am saying is to be discreet about the trappings of wealth, especially during tough times.
Jim Sobeck is CEO of New South Construction Supply, a building products distributor based in Greenville with nine locations in the Carolinas and Georgia. He is the author of “The Real Business 101: Lessons From the Trenches.” newsouthsupply.com.
