The board of directors panicked. They demanded layoffs to protect the margin. Marcus refused. Instead, he called an all-hands meeting. He didn't stand on a stage; he stood in a circle with the staff.
The previous CEO had been a man of metrics and mandates. He spoke in quarterly projections and viewed employees as overhead. Marcus, however, viewed them as the heartbeat. He spent his first month doing "The Rounds." He didn't ask about productivity; he asked about their kids, their hobbies, and the biggest "pebble in their shoe" at work. Humble Leadership: The Power of Relationships, ...
They didn't do it for the company; they did it for Marcus, and they did it for each other. The board of directors panicked
Marcus didn't lead from a pedestal. He didn't have a mahogany desk or a "Reserved" parking spot. In fact, on his first day as CEO of Terraluna Manufacturing, he couldn't be found in the executive wing at all. Instead, he called an all-hands meeting
He was in the loading docks, wearing a high-vis vest, learning how to scan inventory from a twenty-year veteran named Sarah.