Everybody Matters

Since 1997, Bob Chapman, CEO of Barry-Wehmiller Manufacturing Co. , a $1. 7 billion machine and tool manufacturer, has fostered a radically different approach to leadership from the management techniques common in most businesses. Chapman and his company reject the notion 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. The company’s business model is built on the premise that a family pulls together during hard times, 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. In 2009 and 2010, during an extended economic slowdown that lowered revenue by more than one year, Barry-Wehmiller applied this principle by keeping all employees on payroll while cutting hours and temporarily shutting down one plant.