Ken Melrose
Toro lost $13 million on sales of $247 million ( down from almost $400 million in the late 70's ) in 1981. The CEO left, banks cancelled Toro's credit and Wall Street wrote them off. Melrose, who had joined Toro as director of marketing for the consumer products division in 1970, was appointed president that same year and CEO in 1983. Today, Toro is an $1.4 billion enterprise. How did he do it?
Melrose told the story of this dramatic turnaround in his book titled "Making the Grass Greener on Your Side: A CEO's Journey to Leading by Serving". He described how you can manage a company by behaving as if the customer is the boss, and the management facilitates the employees to work for the customers. Melrose states that the key to changing corporate culture is "patience and longevity". "Our goal was to change the culture from a top-down to a bottom-up kind of organization that valued employees, empowering and trusting them, and becoming trustworthy to them in turn. Changing a corporate culture is a marathon. For us, it took at lest ten years. In the landscaping context of their business, he refers to his leadership philosophy as "seed, not sod". Sow, nurture and harvest ... and share the rewards with everyone.