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Leaders & Followers: Lessons From 45 Years at Herman Miller, Inc.

by Dick Ruch; co-published with Star Publishers

131 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); catalogue #03-0098; ISBN 1-55395-735-0; US$21.00, C$24.00, EUR17.00, £12.00

Clearly-presented ideas on responsibilities of leaders and followers within a corporation and how to work together towards a common goal, from former CEO of Herman Miller, Inc. Essential reading.

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about the book      about the author      sample excerpts or Table of Contents      catalogue info

About the Book Leaders & Followers is about values and principles, people relationships, and the characteristics of effective leaders and followers. It's about ideas and practices that increase productivity and job satisfaction. It advocates the essential need for a strong moral dimension in business that guides behavior better than policies and rule books, and brings out the best in the people who do the work of the organization. The premise underlying Ruch's essays is that without followers, there can be no leaders, a simple fact that often goes overlooked in the rush to praise individuals at the expense of their organizations. As noted author Max De Pree notes in his foreword "there are no gaps between his voice and touch."

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About the Author Dick Ruch served Herman Miller, Inc., for 45 years in 14 different jobs, including vice-president of manufacturing, CFO, CEO, and Chairman of the Board. Herman Miller, the office furniture company, is regularly included on Fortune's annual list of most admired companies and is well known for its innovative designs and social responsibility. Ruch lives with his wife, Patricia, and two cats in Holland, Michigan, and is an active trumpet player. He and Pat have four children, twelve grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren.

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Sample Excerpts

Characteristics of a Great Leader

There is no more useful quality of the human mind than to determine and communicate what the few essential things are.
- Anonymous

The ultimate leader is willing to develop people who will be able to surpass her or his own abilities.
- Anonymous

In the morning, those who are evil will be the slaves of those who are good.
- Psalm 49:14

The character of a great leader includes many different qualities. Characteristics differ from responsibilities, although there is an obvious relationship. Here is my list of the characteristics of good leaders. Your list will likely be different, and that's okay, but I hope these thoughts and examples will stimulate your thinking. A great leader develops the potential in people and helps them become interdependent. We all know that as little children we're dependent on our parents. While that's a comfortable time of life for many of us, it's not a condition that we can maintain for very long. As we grow up and become teenagers, we begin to assert our need to be independent.

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Equity and CEO Compensation

Executive pay is not rational to most employees.
- Carl F.Frost

The leaders of the French revolution excited the poor against the rich; this made the rich poor, but it never made the poor rich.
- Fischer Ames

People are rich when you have what you need in the world - a nice family, a good education, to participate in the community, to see your children do well. That is rich.
- William Connell

A man is rich in proportion to the number of things he can afford to let alone.
- Henry D.Thoreau

I think Carl Frost is right-executive pay is not rational to most employees. In one recent year, top executive pay increased by 54 percent while the average worker pay increased 3 percent. In 1999, average CEO compensation in large companies was 475 times the blue-collar wage. It seems pretty excessive, doesn't it? Thankfully most small business owner-operators will never get caught up in the executive pay race; they don't have the financial means to support it.

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The Innovation Team

People acting together as a group can accomplish things which no individual acting alone could ever hope to bring about.
- Franklin Delano Roosevelt

Downsizing, rightsizing, reengineering have not yielded the expected results-but they have shaped the realization that employees must be utilized more effectively, not just eliminated.
- Industry Week,April 3,1995

The human need to belong and to contribute is a powerful force that is unleashed by successful teamwork.
- Anonymous

Despite FDR's wise observation, the opposite, of course, is also true. Some things are better done by individuals. Using the correct structure that fits the tasks to be accomplished and assigning the right mixture of talent and personality is an important way that leaders empower others to do the work of the organization. While I believe that we've learned a lot about teams in the last 20 years, the amount that we don't know seems as large as ever. The word "team" is a ubiquitous term, and there are many kinds of teams. Some function as standing committees for administrative purposes; some are ad hoc collections of experts; some are cross-functional groups assigned to a definite but long-term goal.

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The Herman Miller Story

We built our business on these three principles:
1. Make the best product you can
2. Keep your promises
3. Treat everyone with respect both inside and outside
- John Geiger

Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain who build it.
- Psalm 127:1

There is not in all America a more dangerous trait than the deification of mere smartness unaccompanied by any moral responsibility.
- Theodore Roosevelt

In today's new economy, a lot of people feel that history doesn't matter. I disagree. Good leadership or, if you prefer, good management has always embraced change and tried new ideas, some of which turn out to be just the latest fad and quickly fade away. But the values and principles that provide much of the frame-work for business success are long lasting. The corporations that function according to careful and humane principles truly con-tribute to the good of society. Herman Miller has a legendary story, and most of it is true! Since I worked at Herman Miller for 45 years, I can make such a claim. Being legendary is both a blessing and a curse. Over time people at Herman Miller have evolved great values and principles that serve us well today. But the downside is that a strong culture can make the company resistant to change, even though Herman Miller has the wonderful habit of embracing radical change every so often. That being said, on with the story.

- It is the story of an unusual family, the De Prees, a family with strong values and a generous and sharing spirit.

- It is the story of a successful business driven by a desire to serve all of its constituents.

- It is the story of a productive and loyal workforce.

- It is the story of productivity through participation, profit sharing, and employee ownership.

- It is the story of the power of world class design, amazingly blended with a belief in modesty and small-town values.

- It is the story of cooperation and partnership with suppliers and dealers in serving customers.

- It is a story of economic value added (EVA) through customer intimacy, operational excellence, and product leadership.

- It is a story of a company embracing technology in the information age and yet retaining the intangible assets of passion, compassion, and learning.

- It is a story that's all about people - Herman Miller started out the size of a baseball team and grew to many thousands, while earning a worldwide influence and providing work places for millions.

- It is a story with a modest beginning and an ending (thankfully) not yet in sight.

The story begins with the life of one extraordinary person - Dirk Jan De Pree, better known as D.J., the founder of Herman Miller. In June of 1909, D.J., not yet 18 years old, graduated from high school and took a temporary job with the Michigan Star Furniture Company. D.J. thought he wanted to be a lawyer and go into Demo-cratic Party politics. At that time in 1909, he had firmly made up his mind never to do three things: Live in Zeeland, Michigan. Marry a Dutch girl. Work in a furniture factory.

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Catalogue Information

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