A Conversation With ... Jack Stack

You’ve received numerous business awards, including Springfield Business Journal’s 2001 Lifetime Achievement honor. How do you feel about all the recognition and awards, including the one you’ll receive April 13?

I tell you what – I don’t deserve any of them. Seriously. I am very humbled by that. But I have to tell you: Every teacher who ever taught me, who is now lying in a graveyard, has to be rolling over in their graves right now, absolutely shocked. It’s luck – timing, luck and experience, and a good life.

What are you working on now?

Right now, I’m trying to get this company (ready) to turn it over to the associates so they can have the same 25-year run that some of us have experienced. Our 25th anniversary is next year, and what I am trying to do is realize that I am a dinosaur and get these young kids ready to succeed and have them double the business over the next 25 years.

Your open-book management philosophy is well-known in many business circles. How did you know getting employees involved was so important to success?

I didn’t know, because I came from the school of command and control; do your job, nothing more, nothing less. Then when International started to fail, and they were going to close this company, I went out and tried to borrow money to save the jobs. And when I was trying to borrow money, they didn’t ask me about skills, and they didn’t ask me about credentials. They asked me about things like the balance sheet, cash-flow statements and income statements. That’s when the awakening came, you know, that we’re teaching people how to create a service or how to create a product. But the marketplace wants people who are going to create companies, so why don’t we just quit kidding ourselves and teach people how to create great companies? And if they can learn to create great companies, then they can apply their skills, and they can apply their experiences to a much bigger picture. I used to build trucks and engines, and I thought ‘If you build a big engine, and a good engine … then the company was going to be great.’ That was so short-sighted it was unbelievable.

Basically, you learned the hard way that employees at all levels should have a vested interest in a company and how it’s doing?

I came from the bottom up. I did really, really hard time. I started in the mailroom at International Harvester at 19, so when I work with somebody, I’ve actually probably experienced the same experiences that they have. I can relate, and I will never forget that when you walk into a business or a factory, you smile and you say hello and you look people in the eyes and make people feel comfortable. Because when I was an hourly guy, I just couldn’t believe how badly management treated people. And they probably didn’t even realize they were doing it.

SRC’s founding goes back to you trying to get money to save jobs – including yours. Since then, you’ve continued to focus on the people of SRC. Why?

I have been very, very blessed to have really good talent, and it’s the talent and also the philosophy and the system. If your goal is to create a business and businesspeople, and to teach them the open books and teach them how to become owners, they then can become owners. And when they become owners, they grow businesses quite rapidly. We’ve actually started 47 companies (under SRC) in the last 23 years, and we’ve had the people to do it, and the people have been successful. It’s just been breeding itself.

It’s funny – most of the people who have been brave enough and courageous enough to share (open-book management) with their associates, it’s not only spread around Springfield … but around the world, which is really even more bizarre … that a garage shop in Springfield, Missouri, with a group of employees who are mechanics, have had a profound effect everywhere.

What has been your toughest lesson professionally?

You’ve got to have a succession plan in almost every area that you’re working in. You’ve got to develop a succession plan in the company, and it’s the hardest thing you can ever imagine. When you’re gone, have a person sit in and replace you, or provide someone a little extra training in speaking or leadership. Or move a person around and give them as well-rounded an experience as you can. The funny thing about it is that if you’re going to set up an organization to run 25 years, the babies aren’t even born yet (who will eventually run the business). I didn’t realize how hard succession planning is.

What is your succession timeline?

My dream was on our 25th anniversary, sometime in 2008, to have a concert to celebrate our 25 years, and have all the associates and their families, and bring Jimmy Buffett into town for this party and retire there. That was my dream.

How close are you to fulfilling that dream?

Well, Jimmy Buffett’s a million bucks, so that kind of threw that out the window. But I think we’re real close on the Doobie Brothers and Three Dog Night. And I’m probably five years away (from retiring).

Most people know about Jack Stack the businessman; what do you like to do when you’re not working?

I’m an aspiring bass fisherman. I like to competitively fish in bass tournaments. I didn’t start out that way – I grew up in Chicago. I fish for the loss of it; it makes you feel human.

Are you a Chicago Bears fan?

Yes, and a Cubs fan. Where do you want to go with that? I have a Cubs banner here that I flag around just to let everybody know what’s wrong with me.

What’s something about you that people might be surprised to know?

Probably that I have a very, very sick sense of humor. I think everybody around here would attest to that, but I also think a sense of humor is a necessity in terms of leading anything. You’ve got to be able to laugh at yourself especially, and I have a lot to laugh at.

Tell us about your family.

My wife, Betsy, and I have five children. At one time, we had four under 5, to tell you how insane it was at our house. Ryan is 28, Katie is 27, Meghan is 26, Tim is 24 and Kylie is 17. Meghan (who owns Staxx) is an entrepreneur, and Katie is an entrepreneur who has her own school. Ryan and Tim are working for corporations – they’re businesspeople. And Kylie is a singer, a dancer, an actor. She’s been in 15 plays since she was 5 years old. [[In-content Ad]]