Page 78 - How America's Best Places to Work Inspire Extra Effort in Extraordinary Times

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B CHAPTER FOUR

Steering the Ship and

Inspiring the Crew

Trust and Confidence in Senior Leaders

People join companies, but they leave managers.
—Conventional wisdom

Commitment is not to an organization, it is to the leader’s vision and to
the culture that follows on that vision.
—Jac Fitz-enz

: JOE: THE CEO TAKES A RISK

Joe had started out his career as a mechanical engineer, quickly
worked his way into project management, and had held a series of
progressively more responsible engineering management positions.
Respected for his technical knowledge and trusted by clients, he had
been recruited to head up a growing design engineering firm.
After two years as CEO, Joe had watched the firm’s business pipe-
line dwindle as it began to lose projects to the competition. He had

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