I PLANNED THIS EDITION ON CHANGE LONG BEFORE I KNEW IT WOULD ALSO BE A TRIBUTE ON THE PASSING OF MY FRIEND, DOUG DEMPSEY
I met my friend and colleague Doug Dempsey in 1982 (with his wife Brigitte)—almost 4 decades ago. Little did we know then what those next four decades would hold in store for us. I had recently been named President of Huffy Bicycles, a consolidation of three divisions into one, with a huge plant (in Celina, OH, 900,000 Sq. ft.) and big workforce (2000 United Steelworkers). Huffy Corp. (NYSE—HUF at the time) top corporate executives thought the plant was maxed out producing 11,000 bikes/day. It also had been troubled by a variety of union-management problems in recent years. It was clear from the outset that I was going to need help in my position—enter Doug Dempsey—who provided that “help" and contributed to many successes during our years together as colleague, and soon thereafter, friends.
Because the Huffy Bicycles offices were split—a plant in Celina, and a Sales/Mktg, etc. office in Dayton, OH—it was imperative that we have a strong, trustworthy Operations executive leading the Celina part of the organization. Doug filled that bill—and then some. He was a Kansas farm boy who learned young about hard work and making things to work (including his skills at improving/fixing machinery). He had a great education (Engineering degrees plus an MBA), and had proven credentials. Doug’s early career was at Ford, then as an entrepreneur, and then heading Wilson Sporting Goods R & D. He innovated and was a patent holder for the first carbon fiber (graphite) tennis racquet—the Wilson Profile—which revolutionized the entire industry. I was lucky to find him, only after the recession of 1982 crippled his entrepreneurial business (racquet strings to work with graphite racquets), and luckier that he agreed to join me at Huffy Bicycles.
Technically he reported to me, but practically speaking we were culturally “partners" in the best connotation of the word. Our goals and principles were aligned and our skills were complimentary. Doug developed "Huffy's people" and led them both creatively and culturally. He and I could debate many points, but it was never an “argument.” It was two like-minded people seeking better ways to do things in new, better ways, to maximize the results for everyone in our organization. At times he was more idealistic and I was more pragmatic, but when necessary, we would reverse those roles. That’s what good partners do. I later wrote many times about how I was always seeking partners with CHIPs: Character, Honesty, Integrity, and Principles, using Doug was my model of that ideal partner/collaborator.
I could write pages of examples to illustrate Doug’s contributions, and his visionary leadership attributes, but I’ll only cite a few examples that illustrate those traits.
Working together, we developed a strategic plan based on Quality, Service, Speed, (competitive) Cost and (superior) Innovation—through having better skilled and trained People. That’s easy to say, but not so easy to do. That was where Doug’s talent showed.
Doug had an easel/whiteboard in his office, on which he’d write a few words that inevitably led to the points he wanted to make with anyone who ventured in:
- DIRTFT: Do It Right The First Time (when he was seeking much better Quality)
- FIKIF: Fix It, Keep It Fixed (Fixing problems that were critical to a factory making 15,000-17,000+ bikes per day)
- Innovate, Emigrate or Evaporate: Strategies while fighting competitive threats from Korean and Taiwanese bike makers
- Donuts for Dollars: Recognizing and rewarding the 2000 employees for making plant-wide goals with free coffee & donuts. (It took the local donut shops best efforts to deliver 170-dozen fresh donuts in a short time frame!)
Doug was always looking for new & better things to do, and how to do old things better. The people there will never forget him.
We both departed Huffy within a couple of years time in the 1990s, as always, over matters of principle and culture, to move on to share our knowledge and experience with others, as consultant or executives, and build our friendship. Doug moved to his home, “Falcon’s Nest,” on a mountain overlooking Fort Collins, CO and Horsetooth Reservoir. I kept on consulting, writing magazine articles and books, and speaking, often about the things he (or we) had done, or that we had dreamed up and done together. He also kept innovating, working on other revolutionary concepts—like a “spokeless” bike wheel. (Inserting spokes is the hardest, most time consuming part of making a bike wheel.)
Doug did many other things while on that mountain, including maintaining over a mile of steep, curvy mountain road for his entire neighborhood—often using his home-made innovations, on decades old equipment. I’ll never forget building RR-tie steps together, up to the parking area. We enjoyed such mini adventures, as going up to the headwaters of the Cache le Poudre river, and then eating afterward at rustic mountain diners. At times we might walk the newly graded road, throwing baseball sized rocks off it, so vehicles didn’t hit them. When Falcon’s Nest caught fire and burned, Doug & Brigitte rebuilt it bigger and better. Even then we had to creep up the road in low gear, in the decades old Ford V-8 truck, carrying a 1000 gallon water tank — until the well could be rebuilt.
Most times we’d just sit on the deck, sipping Irish Whisky, looking as far as the eye could see (to the East—miles—limited only by haze) and recapturing our shared memories of successes and hardships. Our ideas were still so many, that on a few occasions, we found receptive people to share them with. We dreamed of a better world—and how to build it and lead it. We both thought we could keep doing that for longer, but as we hit our 80th birthday this year (mine in April, Doug’s in May), Doug was struck down by a fatal combination of medical problems that he couldn’t survive. (In our last phone call, just weeks ago, he shared that he had hoped he would have 6-7 more years, but that wasn’t looking so good now!)
However, his memory and his accomplishments, will survive, both in Brigitte’s memories and mine, and those of everyone who knew him, who he touched with his inspirational spirit and the remarkable positive changes he created — as his legacy. Goodbye old friend, until we meet again, I’ll POR (Press On Regardless—as he signed so many messages.)
God bless you.
Your friend, John
https://memorials.viegutfuneralhome.com/douglas-dempsey/4652826/index.php
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How 25 Years Can Change the Entire Landscape.
©John Mariotti 1995, 2021
To begin A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens wrote, "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...” The part that is little known of this opening paragraph bemoaning the times is the final phrase, "...it was a time not unlike all other times."
This topic clearly illustrates that the most important management lesson of the past 25 years has much to do with the upheaval of change, and its relationship to people and technology. The acceleration of change is certainly the biggest challenge of the next 25 years as well. Compounding the effect of this change is the explosion of information and communication technology.
Three of the leaders of industry in 1970 were General Motors, IBM, and Sears. Companies like Toyota, Apple, and Wal*Mart were almost unknown. Yet they are today's emerging leaders. This kind of change not only becomes the primary challenge to management, but also the driver of change in the character of industry, past and future.
Many lessons were learned by business since 1970. Some of the most important were taught by the people of a small group of mountainous islands located along the Pacific Rim. Japan rose from the ashes of World War II to become a world industrial (and banking) leader in a few short decades. Taiwan and Korea similarly created major industrial countries.
Whether what we have learned will cause us to change is uncertain, because the separation of cause and effect by time obscures the connection and inhibits learning. A few most critical lessons we should have learned:
- People are the most important factor in success, yet we often take them for granted or mistreat them.
- Technology is important, but not sufficient, without people involvement and cooperation.
- Knowledge is power and information combined with experience is the source of knowledge. This is the new source of competitive advantage
- There are lessons to be learned from the past–otherwise many errors will be repeated. A study of the lessons of history is valuable.
- People working together in interdependent relationships–partnerships–creating value—will determine success in the turbulent world we will face in the next 25-years.
Business will learn many new lessons.
John L. Mariotti, Knoxville, TN 1995
© John L. Mariotti 1995, 2021
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