1. Gaming the system When Jack Stack and his partners bought Springfield Remanufacturing in 1983, they needed everyone's best efforts to turn it around. So they invented the Great Game of Business, a mechanism for tapping into employees' intelligence and enthusiasm by teaching them to think like owners. The company has thrived by giving employees a stake, arming them with financial data, and teaching them how their actions affect profits.
2. Meet the press Quad/Graphics is the world's largest privately held printing company, in part because of founder Harry Quadracci's decision to educate not just employees but also customers. In the 1970s, Quadracci began running printing seminars. Twice a year, 35 clients would gather at Camp/Quad to be enlightened about offset presses and color separation. The training helped Quad's customers be better at their jobs, which generated goodwill -- and more orders for Quad.
3. How sausage companies are made In 1982, unhappy with employees' attitudes and performance, Ralph Stayer, CEO of Johnsonville Sausage, hired a humanities professor from the University of Wisconsin to help him understand the deficiencies in his leadership. Stayer used the insights he gained to revamp his management style and his business, pushing decisions and responsibilities down the hierarchy and making people want to listen rather than just making them listen.
4. Whistle blow while you work "Always communicate without fear of retribution." That was one of the tenets on which Patrick Kelly and his partners founded Physician Sales and Service in 1983. Kelly wasn't kidding: He encouraged employees to report shoddy performance by their supervisors. If the complaint was justified and the boss proved intransigent, often the boss was outta there.
5. They are also served who only wait Uncomfortable chairs. Cold coffee. Issues of People magazine older than Cloris Leachman. So go the waiting rooms at most auto service shops. When Barry Steinberg launched Direct Tire and Auto Service in the 1970s, he insisted on bright, clean waiting areas with comfortable chairs and good coffee. To ensure employees would be chipper no matter the time of day, he interviewed applicants on three days at three different times. The myriad service awards still look great on Direct Tire's pristine walls.
6. When the chips are down In 1977, Debbi Fields opened her first Mrs. Fields store and set hourly sales goals. As her cookie empire grew, Fields implemented an elaborate software program to guide store manager behavior -- again, on an hourly basis. Cash registers at each store fed data directly into the system, which told managers their goals for the next 60 minutes and made suggestions when they were in danger of falling short. Mrs. Fields -- now up to 380 stores -- is still renowned for its IT-enabled management.
7. The circus comes to town In 1984, Connecticut grocery impresario Stew Leonard was contemplating opening a second store. (His first store, a 100,000-square-foot carnival featuring a petting zoo and cows dancing in the aisles, was already a $100 million success.) Before finalizing the new location, he wanted to do a little market research -- Stew Leonard style. He pitched a big tent on the site and invited prospective customers to stop and bend his ear.
8. They roll their own For more than 40 years, Norman Rautiola's Nartron Corporation has designed and manufactured not only electrical systems but also virtually all the components that go into them. Rautiola is fanatical about creating the parts in-house -- that way, everything is optimized for his products. The process also develops employees' technical expertise and gives Nartron opportunities to innovate.
9. Learn to earn In 1984, Tom Golisano, founder of Paychex, established an eight-week sales curriculum for new hires taught by a full-time faculty. The program cost as much as $18,000 per student, but most graduates were selling at 75 percent of quota in four months.
10. Tough mother Gert and Tim Boyle of Columbia Sportswear realized in the mid-'80s that there was marketing gold in the power dynamics of their mother-son relationship. In their most memorable commercial, she made him walk through a car wash to demonstrate a waterproof parka.
11. Why this dinosaur's not extinct Before the TV show Barney and Friends, there was Barney and the Backyard Gang, a series of videotapes created by the Lyons Group. In 1987, founders Kathy Parker and Sheryl Leach couldn't muscle the purple rex onto store shelves. So, they sent free tapes to preschools, then hired telemarketers to alert area retailers. Stores that stocked tapes had their names sent to the schools and were rewarded with hordes of parent-dragging toddlers.
12. Your wish is granite When Bruce and Steve Woolpert took over the construction supply company Granite Rock in 1987, they launched annual "How're We Doing?" report cards, which ask customers to rate Granite in quality and service. These extensive surveys probe the effectiveness of each product line. The data are crunched into charts and displayed around the plant, so employees see their work through customers' eyes.
13. I owe my role to the company store When Henry Nasella became president of early-stage Staples in 1988, he knew zilch about the office-supply business. So he spent part of the first month working in one of the chain's stores, ringing up purchases, unloading trucks, and restocking shelves.
14. What would Sam do? In the late 1980s, Marvin Kramer of Friendship Manor Homes was spending time and money finding sites for his senior residences. He would identify a good spot and fly there -- and inevitably, Wal-Mart would be scouting the same area. So, Kramer started piggybacking: He waited until Wal-Mart planted a store and then located nearby.
15. Retreat to move ahead In 1991, sales at Patagonia had reached $100 million, but founder Yvon Chouinard felt Patagonia was in danger of becoming another uninspired megabrand. He took his managers for a three-week trip to the hills of Patagonian Argentina, where they mulled over "the next 100 years" and came up with one hell of a mission statement: Patagonia would reduce waste and pollution, it would donate 1 percent of sales to environmental causes, employees would be allowed to surf and ski as needed, and the company would be content with growth of 5 percent to 10 percent per year. That off-site helped create one of the most respected companies in the world.
