This is an excerpt from an article by Industry Week published on September 20, 1999 titled "On Competition's Cutting Edge"which listed tactics that promise to translate into
competitive success in the year 2000 and well beyond. The article starts here and the reference to Manco and Jack Kahl can be found here by scrolling down to No 15.
No: 15: Managing with heart
Sit in on a Manco team meeting or, better yet, attend one of its Duck
Challenge Days where Avon, Ohio-based Manco honors partners (employees),
suppliers, and customers who made an outstanding contribution to the
company's success during the previous year.
You'll see a lot of frivolity and humor. This year, for example, company
executives -- one as Karnac the Magnificent, the other as Ed McMahon --
poked fun at top management. In other years, CEO Jack Kahl has swum
across a duck pond in chilly weather or had his head shaved because the
company had achieved its goals.
But more importantly, you'll get a sense of the camaraderie and heartfelt
warmth Manco partners have for each other and for top management. No forced
applause, no one pretending to be happy for someone else.
That unique culture has played a large role in the ability of Manco -- owned by
Germany-based Henkel Group since 1998 -- to grab a 63% share of the duct
tape market in the U.S. with its Duck Tape brand. Credit the leadership style of
Kahl, who bought the company in 1971. Manco's goals are posted on bulletin
boards throughout the company. Large wall-sized charts list daily sales,
shipments and billings, current sales and marketing expenses, and the
monthly profit or loss.
All partners wear name tags with their first name in large print, their last name
in small type. All employees can put up a slogan where they work. Anyone
can stop production on the shop floor anytime, and signs above the shipping
dock proclaim: "If you're not proud of it, don't ship it."
It's also commonplace for people at Manco to get up at a meeting "and thank
eight people for helping him or her make a successful presentation to a
customer," says Kahl. "It is simply positive reinforcement of human beings --
not for profits, but for being good human beings."
Manco reinforces that culture through stories by the Manco Duck.
"Starting today, thank at least five people a day," suggested the Manco Duck
in a recent issue of the company's bimonthly Duck Tales newsletter. "A
handshake, a personal note, or a greeting card will do wonders to boost
morale. People who feel appreciated become energized. They work harder,
wanting to exceed their goals and prove that they can do even better next
time." The Duck even gives tips to managers: "Hold meetings whenever rumors
start . . . and give employees nothing but honest answers."
It's all part of what Kahl calls "the big heartbeat in this company. We ring bells
to praise people, and we pat them on the back. We recognize all the unsung
heroes." And Kahl is one of them: This year, he rented an elegant theater in
downtown Cleveland and brought in Broadway stars for an evening of
entertainment for his employees. He took the cost -- "a couple of hundred
thousand dollars" -- out of his own pocket, not the company's.
Return to Interview with Jack Kahl
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