Stack recognized for business excellence

But for someone with all of those accomplishments, his advice to business world newcomers is painfully simple: “Don’t be afraid to be stupid. Ask questions.”

That’s what Stack told those in attendance April 13 at Ozarks Technical Community College, where he received the 2007 Excellence in Business Award from the OTC Students in Free Enterprise team.

The founder of SRC Holdings Corp. is the third recipient of the award; real estate developer John Q. Hammons received the award in 2005, and the 2006 honor went to the O’Reilly family.

After receiving the award, Stack sat down with Jim Anderson, president of the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce, for a conversation about his career and his business philosophy.

Turning down the president

The conversation included some surprisingly candid comments, including why Stack rejected a job offer from President Bush. The offer came after the president visited SRC Heavy Duty in February 2004.

“He fell in love with the transparency of our system, and he wanted us to go to work for him,” Stack told Anderson. “We got a phone call, and it said, ‘We want you to come out to the White House and work for the president.’ I figured that if I was what the president wanted, we must be in serious trouble.”

During a series of 17 interviews during two days in Washington, D.C., Stack said he met with the president’s economic team, whose members told him that his job would entail presenting a list of scripted economic ideas all over the country.

“I looked at this guy and said, ‘You really don’t want me for my big ideas, do you?’” Stack said. “And he said ‘Big ideas? What are you crazy? Can you imagine if everybody here had big ideas, how chaotic it would be?’”

That was the moment, Stack said, when he knew the job was not for him.

Personal friend Larry Snyder of construction firm Larry Snyder & Co. said it was the right decision for Stack.

“Jack is … his own person. He would never be comfortable saying what he’s told to say,” Snyder said. “He can do a whole lot more good here in Springfield.”

Living in Springfield

Despite the opportunity to work in Washington and travel around the country, Stack said he is attached to Springfield. He said that Springfield is in a position, with its diverse job market and strong education and health care infrastructure, to prosper for many decades to come.

When asked what his dream vacation would be, Stack’s answer was simple. “I travel all over the world, all the time, and I cannot wait to get back to Springfield,” he said. “There’s probably no finer place in the world. My dream would be to have one week, seven continuous days, where I could be home.”

Another of Anderson’s questions uncovered a surprising fact that most people don’t know about Stack.

“I’m afraid every day,” he said. “It’s one thing to go out and talk about a system, but it’s another to have to go back and make absolutely certain that the system works. We know that (open-book management) is a really common-sense system and that it works, and we’ve seen it time and time and time again. But my fear is that people will think if this company fails, the system fails.”

Anderson also asked about Stack’s company, Springfield Remanufacturing Corp., which is celebrating its 25th year.

“I really want to set this company up so that we can have the same kind of run we’ve had for the next 25 years,” Stack said. “We’re breaking it down into small segments, seeing where our strengths and weaknesses are, seeing where investments need to be made.”

Although Stack has put a lot of work into both his business and his management system, he downplayed his achievements.

“The only reason (‘The Great Game of Business’) became a bestseller was because it vindicated a lot of things that a lot of people were already doing,” Stack said. “They read the book and said, ‘We’re doing this. It’s OK to share information with people.’ The book worked because we were lucky enough to apply common sense to a book. If it changes the way people do business, that’s awesome.”

Tim Bellanti, vice president of Associated Wholesale Grocers and Stack’s neighbor for about 20 years, gives Stack more credit.

“Jack is the kind of guy who doesn’t like the spotlight. But he’s very deserving,” Bellanti said. “Jack’s received a lot of awards, but this one is special.”

Jack Stack – In His Words

On failure:

“If you fail 49 percent of the time and succeed 51 percent of the time, you’re ahead of the game.”

On how he wants to be remembered:

“I’d like to be remembered as a person that … made a difference for someone. If everyone could make a difference in one person’s life, think about how much easier and better the world would be.”

On being satisfied:

“People think about what it will be like when they’ve ‘made it,’ or they’ve ‘gotten there.’ I don’t think I’m there yet.”

On achieving business success:

“I think in today’s world, people don’t ask enough questions – they take things at face value, they don’t stand up for themselves.”

On his first job, and what he learned from it:

“My first job was delivering newspapers, and I learned that I did not want to work out in the cold.”

On joking with the FBI:

“They asked me, ‘Have you ever done anything that would embarrass the president of the United States?’ And I said, ‘I’m a good Irish Catholic boy from Chicago. I came out of the womb guilty, and I’ve been guilty ever since.’ Turns out the FBI doesn’t have a sense of humor.”

On what humbles him:

“I get humbled a lot when I come home with an empty bag of fish.”