Winning at All Costs is Not Winning
Welcome to the Why to Wow newsletter which is all about inspiring the hearts and minds of people worldwide with the Power of Differentiation. In the Why to Wow newsletter, I share my experiences over the last 40+ years helping leaders differentiate their brands and products. I hope it will inspire you to discover and share your own brand’s uniqueness with the world.
Jason’s 70-year-old company has been successful from day one. And when he took over the reins 20 years ago, he continued that success story until, one day, he started experiencing doubts. “Are we too focused on winning at any cost, even if it means our culture is weakened?” Like many family business kids, he grew up in the company. He knew what being in a rather aggressive, sometimes crude, manufacturing culture was like. His conscience and his faith were tugging at him.
Over one year, he hatched a plan to renew the company and, hopefully, “win” by doing things correctly. He methodically rallied his leaders around treating people with respect and listening first. I’d love to say things suddenly improved, but they did not. He received pushback. Many employees felt that the company was going too soft and that they would lose against more formidable competitors. But, over time, Jason persevered and maintained his ambitious plans for growth while dramatically changing how people were treated.
Today, Jason and the Lippert team are juggernauts in their industries, with impressive growth and employee retention. Click here to listen to his interview on Difference Talks and learn even more.
Difference-maker #1: Winning at all costs…is losing.
Verbally and emotionally “beating” people up, denigrating them, and setting unrealistic goals year after year does not make an organization strong; it cripples it. The short-term goals achieved at the expense of dignity and honor are tragedies to individuals and, ultimately, their companies are not sustainable.
Difference-maker #2: Building an inspiring culture is not just “feel good” but smart.
Jason’s leaders oversee the training of thousands of people and guide how their various plants donate time and resources to charitable causes. His 10,000+ employees have donated over 100,000 hours to local charities, making a difference in their communities.
Difference-maker #3: Listening is (almost) everything.
Jason conducts regular listening sessions with his teams to learn from them. He is inspired to hear how his employees may be thriving professionally, but just as importantly—if not more so—personally. He believes that if a person has a family life, then it is more likely that the individual is contributing to Lippert as well.
Winning at all costs is indeed a losing proposition. But so is assuming a happy culture is a weak one. A strong, positive, growing culture requires courage from leadership but, in the end, will reap far greater personal and professional rewards. Jason began his journey a decade ago, and his enterprise has multiplied in size, value, and integrity. He is winning the right way.
I had an incredibly inspiring conversation with Ryan Rockafellow, CEO of Engineered Transportation International, during his guest appearance on the Difference Talks podcast. Ryan shared unique insights on the challenge of bringing two rival brands under one umbrella and underscored the importance of protecting brand identity and differentiation. He called on his decades of experience leading world-renowned transportation brands that we see on the road every day. I invite you to listen to this episode today.