http://money.cnn.com/magazines/business2/business2_archive/2004/12/01/8192527/index.htm
For years I have been eating Cliff Bars because they are all natural and taste better than other energy bars. After reading this article taste and the fact that they are all natural won't be the only reasons I choose Cliff Bars over the competition.
Cliff Bar is a privately held company owned and managed by founder Gary Erickson. The company competes with global giants in the food industry; including Nestle, owner of PowerBar, and Kraft, owner of Balance Bar. It may seem like Cliff Bar is destine for failure competing in this market, but that's far from the reality. Cliff Bar owner, Gary Erickson has done the opposite of what most business owner's would do. He has turned down multiple substantial offers from food industry giants to ensure the success of his company. Erickson is not focused on the money, he is focused on becoming the industry leader while standing by the ideals of corporate social responsibility.
Despite the doubt from industry experts, Erickson stood by his values and decided to keep the company under his control. As a result business partner and co-CEO, Lisa Thomas demanded a buyout and left the company, leaving Erickson to manage the company on his own. By making this decision Erickson proves he has what it takes to be a leader. He also shows signs of the five major leadership traits-including, intelligence, self-confidence, integrity, sociability, and determination. As a result of a buy out the company would have to make drastic changes Erickson was not comfortable with. For starters, the company would be moved from California to the Midwest, forcing Erickson to part with his 65 current employees. Also, many of the unique qualities Erickson worked so hard to establish at Cliff Bar would be at jeopardy. Including, twice-a-month three-day weekends, a twenty foot climbing wall in the office, and his commitment to backing multiple social issues. Erickson also shows signs of emotional intelligence. He continually shows signs of how the a leaders personality supports the leadership process.
Clearly with Erickson's decision to not have his company bought out, potentially granting him a successful future and bigger opportunities for growth, a reason being he did not want to lose his customers shows that he has more employee orientation than production orientation from the University of Michigan studies. Relationships seem to be very important to Erickson, showing him to be more relationship-orientated than task-orientated. I believe if Erickson was in any way interested in making more money and making his as successful as possible, I with no doubt would place Erickson right up there with Dan Akerson in having low social judgement skills. These two leaders seem to be vastly different in that category, but similar in the fact that they both possess high leadership skills, and both clearly have good general, and seems like cognitive ability as to how to work their company in the current market and economy.
ReplyDeleteAny more ideas/thoughts about comparing Erickson with Akerson?
I would agree that Erickson seams to be more employee oriented and contains consideration behaviors as The Ohio State Studies show. He builds great respect to and from his fellow 65 employees which he refused to part with. He obviously displayed a liking of his followers. I would also go to say that there is trust in his followers. He not only has ran this company successfully, but declined to leave his employees and continues to run the business he has been.
ReplyDeleteYes I agree with you two-Lauren and Kyle. Millions of dollars or keeping 65 employees and he picks those employees just shows his loyalty. Those followers know that they can trust in their leader. He is dependable and did not deceive them. He doesn't have many employees though so I can see how he probably has close relationships with them. Those relationships probably add a lot of value to the company, and those relationships might make him who he is today. I think he knew how his employees would feel if he left them and he could understand the emotions that they would have--emotional intelligence.
ReplyDeleteI would have to agree that Erickson does possess some of the major leadership traits. The one that really stands out to me is Integrity and Self-Confidence. Why they both stand out is of course his commitment to his team and his employees for not selling the company and changing the whole infrastructure as well as culture. Also, his commitment to a quality product shows also his character. The move to convey his product to organic ingredients could have succeeded or failed but he has the confidence in hiring Elysa Hammond to help take on the challenge with Erickson. Lastly, the fact that he believes so strongly in his product his company makes to take on the giant firms for market share shows his determination and self-confidence in his is definitely a leadership trait.
ReplyDeleteErickson does show consideration behaviors, and like Stephanie says I do think it is a result of the fact that it is 65 employees rather than 150 or even 200. I have worked in a family run business that is nearly 60 people with the company and there is a sense of loyalty, as well as not only business relationships but more person relationships because of how few employees there are.
Leadership is NOT one man for himself. Leadership is about the team as a whole. If it weren't for his followers he would have never been able to achieve his goals.
ReplyDeleteLauren and Kyle, I think were all on the same page about how important it is to emphasize Erickson"s employee relationships. The company is operating in a niche market segment in the food industry with minimal capital relative to their competition. Specifically, the organic and natural food markets. At the time the article was written this market was saturated by small private companies. It was also common that strong company cultures thrived in this environment. This As a result there are limitations regarding both distribution channels and marketability. Therefore, a strong company culture supportive of the founder's vision seems to be a very marketable given the segment they operate in.
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