Copy of How WD-40 Built a $3.6 Billion Company by Putting People First with Former CEO Garry Ridge

Leadership spend a disproportionate amount of their time on the strategy versus building the culture, because you can move levers easily to redirect strategy. We were going into, you know, when was it, the great financial crisis, 2008 or 2009? The world was coming to an end, right? And people were laying people off left, right, and center. And I said, we will not lay anybody off. One of the words that I dislike immensely in organizations the word manager, and I think it absolutely sends the wrong message. We're not here to manage people, we're here to coach them.

Hey everybody, ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the Unemployable Podcast. If you spent 25 years as the CEO of WD-40 and led the people to build the company from a $300 million market cap to $3.6 billion and create arguably the most widely distributed consumer product in the world, Present in 80% of homes in the United States. Your name can only be the incredible Gary Ridge. Welcome, Gary.

Hey, that was a very— you said some very nice things there. Thank you, Jeff.

Well, you're very welcome. And I, as I, as I shared before we opened up, I'm just super, super, super excited to have you on here today. Here's the opening question. You took over as CEO in 1997 of WD-40. How are people we are called to lead different today and what's the same?

Well, I think what's the same is people have hearts and I think that's the most important thing is one of the great things I learned from my mentor, Dr. Ken Blanchard, is you can go to school to get people in the head, but you've got to get people in the heart. So I think the thing that's remained the same is people are people and they want to be seen as an important part. What's changed? There's a lot of things have changed, particularly in the ways of work. Back then, the fax machine was really popular. I'm not sure you could find one these days unless it's a doctor's office. And I guess that whether we like it or not, we've become more dependent on immediacy. I think back then we took a little more time to think where today it's a faster sort of world. But You know, that's the difference in that, you know, we, we are who we are today and we need to adapt along the way.

Yeah. When you took over as CEO, what, what did you find in the company? You had been with the company for 10 years in sales and marketing, various executive capacities. You, when they, when they asked you to become the CEO, What did the landscape look like in the company?

Well, the company was a great company. There was, the culture was what it was. The challenge was the culture was not going to support what we, where we wanted to go. And our mission was to take the blue and yellow can with a little red top to the world. It was a, you know, as you mentioned, Jeff, a very successful brand in the US, but we saw our opportunity was all the squeaks in many other countries. And to do that, we needed to have an organization that could act 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, whenever the sun was shining anywhere in the world. So our culture had to change from what was fairly insular to very expanded. And that was the difference that we— the change that we saw and that we went out to make.

And a couple years after taking the role, you actually went back to school and you met Ken Blanchard. Is that when you started to really develop your philosophy around what the culture could be? And I'm interested in, did the company have the values at the time that you took it over or that was something that you brought?

Well, 2 questions. Firstly, yes, I did go back to school. In my first couple of years, and you rightly so, I had been with the company for 10 years. I started in Australia and I opened our Australian subsidiary and did a lot of work in Asia. And in 1994, I moved to the US to head up our global expansion. And we knew how to make the brand aware and make it easy to buy in other countries. That wasn't our challenge. My challenge was how do you create an organization where if the sun was never going to set, people could make decisions? And I didn't know how to do that. Through a circumstance, I learned about this master's program at USD and I went to an information session and Ken was there. And Ken said what I shared with you earlier, most MBA programs get people in the head. We've got to get people in the heart. So I decided I'd go back to school.

Yep.

And that's where I learned the power of servant leadership, And Ken was one of my professors and I was very, very fortunate that not only was he one of my professors, but we ended up becoming very good friends and I was on the board of his company for 10 years after that. So that was really where I learned the power of servant leadership and what our real role is as a leader, which is to help those we have the privilege to lead step into into a better version of themselves.

So one of the definitions of servant leadership that I've heard is to give people what they truly need, not what they say they want in the moment. And to be able to give people what they truly need, what's truly going to inspire and help them, you have to get in the pocket with them. And one of our values is servant leadership. Our values are CARES, Community, accountability, respect, excellence, and servant's heart, servant leadership. So, and, and it's one of our values. So when we talk about it with our franchise owners, we're a franchise business and we say, you know, we have to be close enough to you to get in the pocket, meaning you have to trust us to tell us what's really going on. I might go to a franchise owner and say, your numbers are off. And they'll say, well, it's the leads, or I've gotta change out a salesperson, or it's something like that. But if you're in the pocket with them and you're truly looking to serve them and you're paying attention to their outcome and you know them, they might then say, hey, I'm going through a divorce. My eye's not on the ball. So, you know, you have to be close enough to people and they have to trust you to get them to understand what they truly need.

Yeah.

And so that's the definition that we use for it. And, and so I'm interested in your take on that. And how servant leadership lived inside of your organization.

Yeah, I agree with you. I didn't call it in the pocket. I called it the stinky locker room because one of the words that I dislike immensely in organizations is the word manager. And I think it absolutely sends the wrong message. We're not here to manage people. We're here to coach them. And coaching is part of the servant leadership process because a great coach is there to help those they have the privilege to lead play the best game they can. And if you think about a great coach, there are some attributes of a great coach. Number one, a great coach doesn't run on the field and take the ball. A great coach doesn't go to the podium and steal the prize. A great coach knows what it takes to win and is there to help those they have the privilege to coach play a better game. And a great coach spends a lot of time in what I call the stinky locker room. And that's really what you are talking about is in the pocket is really understanding, getting alongside, building trust because at the end of the day, there are 4 things that need to be in place to build a great culture. Do people know, feel, and are they treated like they belong in the organization? Number 2, are they recognized and do they recognize that the work they do matters and makes a difference? Number 3 is, are we creating an environment with a low level of fear and a high level of trust? And I called that the learning moment. We said, we don't make mistakes, we have learning moments. And the definition of a learning moment is a positive or negative outcome of any situation that needs to be openly and freely shared to benefit all people. And the 4th element needs to be in place is you are not there to manage people. Your role is to coach people to play their best game. Interestingly enough, during the time I was in the role at the company, we were regularly getting feedback both formally and informally from what I called our tribe, which was in the form of employee engagement feedback. And one of the questions related to what other people would call manager. And the question was— and we had a 97% positive outcome to the question is, I respect my coach. Now remember, If you remove the word coach and replace it with manager, that word would be in most organizations. I respect my manager. Well, most people leave organizations because frankly, they don't like their manager. And when we ask people, why do you respect your coach? The answer came back very clearly. The coach is here to help me play the best game. They want me to win. They're supporting me. That's why I respect my coach.

You said if you're building an organization where the sun will never set, is, did I hear you correctly?

Yeah.

Yeah. One of the, one of the things I think about often is, you know, taking the long view when you're building a culture and you're investing that time and your, your personal energy and your, your, your brain and your, your time thinking about the people and, and how to best lead them and, and how to best let them be prosperous and happy within the organization. If you're, you know, it seems like that's a very long-term view and you basically have to take that. And, you know, today with private equity buying companies every 3 or 4 years, hitting earnings claims and things like that, there seems to be a balance, right? In saying, you know, I don't care what the market or, you know, what the market's gonna tell me my numbers need to be. I'm not going to, you know, I'm not going to pretend like, you know, we're going to sell this company in 2 years. Like, we're really taking the long view as if these people— you have to actually act like these people are going to be here for the rest of their lives. And what do you need to care for them? What do they need to fulfill their life and to have a great life both at work and outside of work? So I just, I feel like maybe we've lost that. a little bit in the leadership of CEOs and with the demands of a real transactional type business environment that we're in. Do you see it that way?

Well, my goal, our goal was to build an enduring company that we would be proud to hand onto others. I didn't put a timeframe on when we would hand it onto others, but I think what is really interesting, Jeff, is profit is not a bad thing. And here's the simple fact. Anybody Any CEO in an organization can write a strategic plan. Let's get together, let's write a strategic plan. It has all the elements. This is where we want to go, this is where we want to grow, this is what we need, whatever. But if only 30% of your people are going to work every day executing against that strategic plan passionately, you are going to get 30% of value out of the strategic plan. But if 80 or 90% of your people are going to work every day and passionately executing against the strategic plan, you got to get 80 or 90% of value out of the plan. So I have a simple algorithm, which is it's the will of the people times strategy equals outcome. Now what happens is leadership spend a disproportionate amount of their time on the strategy versus building the culture because you can move levers easily to redirect culture, sorry, to redirect strategy. But the culture piece takes time. I know you guys are out in the Charlotte area. I have a good friend of mine, his name is Charlie Maloof. He owns a number of Ashley Furniture stores out there. And he says, culture is not a microwavable event. It takes a crockpot approach. And that is so true. I agree with you that if I was an equity fund and I was investing in a business, I would certainly want to understand the strategy, but I would also want to make sure that we are building a cultural machine that is maximizing the investment we're making in the strategy. And that's why I don't understand some of the ways that leaders go to lead on this. We were a public company. I used to go and be in the presence of the loving people of Wall Street. And they would say to me, what's your quarterly goal? I say, I don't have quarterly goals. I'll tell you what our long-term plan is. I'll tell you how we're going to get there year by year. But if you follow me quarter to quarter, you are going to jump off a cliff because we are not smart enough to run businesses in 90-day intervals. And there are going to be things that work in our favor and work against us as we go along path. So if you are an investor that's only interested in what are you doing for me in 90 days, you should go buy someone else's stock because you're not going to be happy. We're never going to be friends. However, if you'd like to be in an organization that's going to build a business over time, hold us accountable, of course. But we had a compounded annual growth rate of total shareholder return of 15% a year over that 25-year period. And as you said, the market cap went from $300 and some million to $3.6 billion. Well, it didn't happen in 90 days. It happened over 20-some years. And so that was really our basis of conversation. We're not here. And the other thing too is, and one thing I'm extremely proud of is we never laid anybody off in that whole 25-year period through ups and downs, sideways or whatever. We never laid a person off. And it's because it was the the engine of the business that was so important.

When I think about building culture, there's a few things that I'd love for you to comment on. And if I was a— if you were going into a company today and somebody said, I really want to build an enduring culture, one of the things that I became aware of decades ago was this concept of unique language. You know, people, people, if people are gonna be part of a tribe or part of a club, right? They always have, they have a secret handshake. They've got a special word. It's, you know, we, we had made up words that meant something only to us. And, you know, we would, we ran a call center, but it was the franchisee's responsibility to make adjustments to these appointments based on their schedule once we booked the appointment for them. So we would have them twiggle their appointments, right? That was, it was a tweak, it was a wiggle, but like, you know, everybody knew it was their responsibility to do that. So, you know, there's some great definitions of culture out there. Herb Kelleher from NUTS talking about it's an organization's memory, but I always add to it that it lives also, that it lives in the stories, you know? So if you, if you have, if you're, if you're looking to build a high engagement culture, Okay. And, uh, for us, we, we know that actively, positively engaged franchisees are 6.3 times more successful than actively disengaged franchisees. But you have to get the comms right, right? And it's, it's, you know, so the, you, the unique language, you saying we're, we're creating learning moments, this is what this means. That's unique to WD-40 and unique to that culture. And then I'm sure that you use stories to reinforce, you know, how Those learning moments moved the business forward and created the outcomes that you were looking for. So, you know, I guess my question, that's a statement, but my question to you is really about the comms. If I wanted to make meaningful change going forward, where would I start? And, and from a leadership perspective, from the owner, CEO, president of the business, what do the comms need to look like? And, and how do you use those as, you know, guideposts for people just to hang onto and, and build down and then cascade through the organization?

Well, number one, Jeff, is don't try and camouflage issues with confusion to make out how smart you are. That's one of the things I've often said. People camouflage things to make them look great. It's not about you. And you are right. We called ourselves a tribe, something you could belong to. We had something called the Maniac Pledge, which was a pledge of responsibility. And I don't know if you've heard it, but I'll tell you the story about the Maniac Pledge.

I've not heard that.

Okay. So I'd been traveling around the world to our different operations and I got back to my office one day and someone ran in really quickly and said, I need to talk to you. And I thought, oh wow, you must have missed me. And that wasn't really what was going on. They were there to make me aware of the fact that there was something that happened that they didn't know about and they should have known about it. And I thought to myself, wow, how do we get rid of what I would call the na-na-na-na disease in an organization, the finger-pointing disease, right? And I said, well, we have to give people permission to be able to do what they need to do. So we created this thing called the Maniac Pledge. And the Maniac Pledge says, I am responsible for taking action. Asking questions, getting answers, and making decisions. I won't wait for someone to tell me. If I need to know, I'm responsible for asking. I have no right to be offended I didn't get this sooner. And if I'm doing something others should know about, I'm responsible for telling them. So this was a traditional statement that we put out there that said, if you think you should know something and you don't, go ask. And if there's something you know others should know about, go tell. So, We had things like that. We had coach instead of manager. You're not here to manage people, you're here to coach people. And I was pretty straightforward. I used to introduce myself pretty clearly as, g'day, I'm Gary Ridge. I'm the consciously incompetent, probably wrong, and roughly right chairman and CEO of WD-40 Company, and I need all the help I can get. And it's funny, once you let people know, You need help, they'll bring it to you. And we also create— you think about the business itself. Our purpose statement was very important. You would think as the company with a blue and yellow can, our purpose would be to do something. Now, your product is not your purpose. Our purpose as an organization was to create positive lasting memories. If anybody asked me what business we're in, I said, we're in the memories business. We exist to create positive lasting memories, solving problems in factories, homes, and workshops around the world. world. We solve problems and we create opportunities, which is much more engaging for people to say, hey, yeah, we're in the memories business. In fact, one of our values was we exist to create positive lasting memories with the people we serve, with the customers that we work with, the environment that we're given the permission to operate in, the community that we love, the shareholders that join us, the whole thing. So we are in the memories business. So again, you're right, you have to have, and that's why we also got pretty simple about the tribe and others. And the thing that I loved about the tribal concept, and it was in no way a reflection of any indigenous group, but the number one— I could describe the number one responsibility of a tribal leader was to be a learner and a teacher. So we were out there as leaders to learn as much as we could and teach as much as we could to those we had the privilege to lead.

In a healthy organization, cliques, silos, conflicts between departments and things like that, or especially in a huge organization like WD-40, they're bound to pop up. Were these the tools that you used to navigate those situations, or was there something else that you did once you became aware of an issue like that?

Yeah. Number one is, I used to say, some people protect their own comfort zone at the expense of other people's development. In other words, if we had an organization that was open and honest, we could do that. But the real foundation was our values. When I talked about the sun never setting on WD-40, it was because we ended up with the can in 176 countries around the world. Now you and I are talking today and it's whatever time it is here, it's 3 o'clock in London. The sun's going to set over there pretty soon. So I wanted to make sure we had a culture where people could make decisions, communicate with each other freely and openly without having to do what Ken Blanchard would say, quack up the hierarchy, look for the big duck. So our values were put in place so that people could make decisions and solve issues. Our number one value is we valued doing the right thing. So we would question, and each of the values had a written description underneath them of what that meant. So if someone had to make a decision in China, they would read the value and say, What does doing the right thing mean at WD-40? And if this decision was not aligned with that, then that's not a good decision. We value creating positive lasting memories. We value making it better than it is today. We value succeeding as a tribe and excelling as an individual. We valued owning it and positively acting on it. And we valued sustaining the WD-40 company economy, which was the value that was related to profitability. The other thing that was important about these values is they were hierarchical. In other words, the value doing the right thing had more power in the decision-making process than the one about sustaining the economy. So that empowered people to make decisions that were right, even if that decision didn't absolutely align with making more profit.

Yeah. When I heard you say that on another podcast, I was interested and one of my questions is why are they hierarchical? You know, what's, you know, and so it's really in the execution of them. It's this one matters more. And if it's satisfied, then that's the one that you go with.

Well, if not, people will cherry-pick and I'll give you an example. I can give you a real example. Okay. So it's a sunny day in San Diego. Jeff now works for WD-40 company. He's in the supply chain. He's responsible for making decisions around, you know, chemicals and components. And Fred from Acme Chemical Company comes in one day and says, Jeff, I'm gonna make you a hero today. You know, when I, after this meeting, you're gonna go see your CEO, you'll probably get promoted because you're a public company and I've got something for you that's really exciting. And Jeff says, tell me. He said, well, we've done some work and there's an ingredient that I know you use broadly in the products that you make. We make an ingredient that can replace that efficacy-wise. We've tested it and it's as good as what you're using right now. And our rough calculation is if you were to swap this product out for the one you're using, you're gonna take $4 million to your bottom line annually. Isn't that exciting? Your shareholders are going to love you. Well, if I didn't have hierarchical set of values, my 6th value, which was we value sustaining the WD-40 economy, I would point to that and say, this allows me to make that decision.

Right.

However, our number one value is we value doing the right thing. So the first thing I would ask is, okay, tell me more. And Fred or whoever from Acme Chemical said, well, there's only one thing you should know, Jeff, is that, and it's not illegal or moral or unethical, it's fine, is that if you swap, you just put a little little warning on your can that says in the state of California, an ingredient in this product is known to cause cancer. It's a Prop 65 warning, but don't worry about it, Jeff. You don't have to. Everybody does it. And Jeff says, oh gee, I was so excited, but I'm sorry, we can't take you up on your offer. I make decisions here based on values and our number one value is we value doing the right thing. And one of our decisions is we won't have cancer-causing chemicals. And our number 2 value fence, funny enough, is creating positive lasting memories. And cancer does not create positive lasting memories. But I'm not— so I can't take you up on your offer. And the guy says, Jeff, you don't understand. I need to go talk to your supervisor, your boss, or your CEO. This is a $4 million decision and you're a public company. And Jeff can confidently say, I don't care who you go to talk to because we use the hierarchical set of values to make our decisions. Anybody you take this will make exactly the same decision I've made, no matter where they are in the hierarchy of the organization. So how does Jeff feel? Empowered, make decisions. He didn't have to churn about anything. It was like, no, that's it. So this was very powerful and we didn't always make the right decisions, but if we used our values in making that decision, that's it.

Yes.

It was always supported.

Yeah. And your values, basically, you know, Texas-style leadership. You give people a big fence to run around in because they understand how decisions are made and the same decisions are going to get made by different people. And if you want to have a high concentration of A players, they generally want autonomy. They want to feel like they have control. They want to be making progress. They They want to know that they're, they have decision authority and you will get the great people by giving them a set of tools with which they can operate within.

Absolutely. I mean, they know their work matters because they can make the decision. Yes. They're empowered. Yep.

I'd like to get your feedback on something that I heard you say, and you said, you know, you can be 2 ends of leadership, really 2 extremes. One is you can be very Patton-like, you can be low empathy, you can be, you know, dictatorial. And then on the other end of it, you can be such high empathy that you don't actually give the people the feedback that they need. And I, I'm, you know, and I, I see the challenges in both. I probably lean towards the latter. So, you know, what encouragement can you give people out there that maybe are conflict averse When they know something's going on and they're known as a good guy, they're nice to work for, but yet they have an obligation to give people feedback and to help them along their careers. It's really the main part of their job is to develop other people. What experience can you share with those people or advice can you give 'em?

Yeah. So what you're talking about is the balance between being tough-minded and tender-hearted. And I say the genius is in the and in the middle. Because if you're too tough-minded, you become this command and control. If you're too tenderhearted, then you're not supporting the person. So the number one thing is, and this is where a lot of organizations fall down, is have we clearly defined what we expect from each other? And I wrote a book with Ken Blanchard called Helping People Win at Work. And the byline was, I'm not here to mark your paper. I'm here to help you get an A. So firstly, have we described what an A looks like? If we have, having that redirection conversation, it's not a reprimand, it's a redirection coaching conversation, becomes a lot easier than the one you have where you haven't really defined what we expect from each other. So the first thing is, do we know what we expect from each other? What do I expect from you? What do you expect from me? I expect you to make me aware of when I'm not meeting that, you need to do the same. And it was interestingly enough, I was in a situation a long time back where there was a conversation I needed to have. I needed to be a little more tough-minded with someone. And I was thinking to myself, oh, this is going to be difficult. And I was protecting my own comfort zone. And I said to myself—

Yeah.

Hey, Gary, Come on, you are out there telling people in the organization how much you love and care for them, but you're not brave enough to have this conversation?

Yes.

That's your obligation to do that. And it was true. And as long as the conversation is, hey, I mean you no harm. I'm your coach. I'm here to help you play a better game. It's like Simon Sinek, has a great example. Someone in the organization has missed their sales target for 3 months in a row. The autocratic manager runs in and says, hey Jeff, what's the problem? You're a lazy SOB. You haven't made your sales target. Well, that's not going to do Jeff any good. What about if you walk in and say, hey Jeff, you haven't made your sales target. Are you okay? Is something going on? Is there something getting in your way? How can I help you? That's the difference between the balance.

Yeah. So we have a tool that we use and it's called rush to conflict. And, uh, I'll introduce it, uh, do it in our training with our franchise owners. And I'll say, I've got a tool for you. It's, it's, uh, it, it's 3 little words. And, and actually it's the same 3 words that convinced my wife to ultimately to marry me, which is, and then I'll say, lower your standards. But, um, she'll, uh, but, but I said, no, it's, it's, it's rush to conflict. And, but you have to combine it with this statement. The person who can most accurately describe reality without laying blame shall emerge as the leader.

Mm-hmm.

And so, you know, you have to be able to show up, but you have to learn to do it without the blowup. Yeah. I'm an emotional person, so I have to walk into a meeting and I say, keep your emotions in check, describe the situation, listen attentively, and let's see if we can, you know, disarm the situation and just move the ball because A lot of times it's really just a lack of clarity.

Absolutely.

You know, when people are unclear about what to do, they do one of 3 things. They either hesitate, they make something up, or they do nothing at all. So, you know, how many times when you have a problem with an employee or you miss a target, can you trace it back to the fact that, you know, it was actually my fault because I wasn't clear about what we were trying to accomplish? And, you know, at the, at the end of the day, you know, I've I've just learned that most problems in the organization were avoidable by me if I would've acted and behaved differently or paid closer attention.

Absolutely. And one of the big learning moments I had is for many years I asked this question, am I being the person I want to be right now? And so often we take our leftovers to people and people don't deserve our leftovers. And interestingly enough, I'll reach back here and I'll find it. But, you know, I have this scrappy old notebook that I've been carrying around for years, and on the front cover I have a little plaque on here. And this plaque says, am I being the person I want to be right now? And then it says, who is this person? And I have a list of who I want to be. I want to be grateful, caring, empathetic, reasonable, a listener. I want to be fact-based. I want to have a balanced opinion. I want to be curious. I want to be a learner. And I want to throw sunshine, not a shadow. And why would I need to carry this around? Well, because I'm not perfect. I am the dean of dumbassery and I need to remind myself not to take my leftovers to people because we're in a situation, we're in a meeting, we're doing stuff and we're running off to the next thing and we have to stop.

Okay.

I need to take to Jeff my full plate, not half of what I left in the other room. So I've been carrying this around for, I don't know, 20-some years on different notebooks and I have it on my computer and I remind myself, am I being the person I want to be right now? And when I am the person I want to be, I'm a much better person than the person I don't want to be. And you may have, you know, you may know, I invented a person called Alec, the soul-sucking CEO. This is Alec.

I do.

Or it could be Alice. And this person has, attributes. Number 1, they have a big ego and little empathy. Their ego eats their empathy instead of their empathy eating their ego. They're a micromanager. They're corporate royalty. They think that they're entitled. They want a fear-based culture. They're a master of control. They're a know-it-all. They have all the answers, even the wrong ones. They don't value learning. They must always be right. They hate feedback, avoid accountability, and blame others, and they don't keep their commitments. And those are the attributes of the leader that creates the toxic culture versus someone who's a servant leader who loves and involves their people. They're always in servant leadership mode. They're expected to be competent and they love learning. They're connected, spending time in that stinky locker room. They love learning moments because they know they're one action away from a discovery. They have a heart of gold, but they have a backbone of steel. That's that balance between tough-minded and tender-hearted. They're champions of hope. They know micromanagement. Management is not scalable. They do what they say they're going to do, and they treasure the gift of feedback. And there's the difference. Wow.

That is beautifully said. Before you held up your journal, I had wrote this question. Where did you get the energy and the inspiration to be who you needed to be over such a long period of time? Because if you listen to what we're talking about, and let's just say you're an early, you're a founder and your business is growing and they're going to listen to this and they're going to say, that sounds exhausting to me to be that plugged in, that dialed in. Where did you get your energy and where did you get your inspiration? Or is it just something that came naturally to you?

No, it didn't come naturally. I think a lot of it came from the learning I got when I went back to school. I was the CEO of a US public company and I went back to school. My gosh. The first class that I was in, I'd go to university once a month for 3 days and they'd say, why are you here? You're already the CEO. You've made it. I said, no, I haven't. I want to confirm what I think I know and learn what I don't know. And honestly, it didn't take a lot of energy because the reward was in the people that you had the privilege to lead. Some of the greatest moments in my life is being able to walk alongside someone and help them get to a destination they never thought they would get to. And that was really some of the most enjoyable things I've ever done. So it wasn't exhausting. It was very, very enriching and something that— and that's what I do, why I do what I do now is that, you know, I used to say, imagine a place where you go to work every day, you make a contribution to something bigger than yourself, you learn something new, you're protected and you're set free by a compelling set of values, and you go home happy. Happy people create happy families. Happy families create happy communities. Happy communities create a happy world. We need a happy world. And business touches more people every day than anything else. So if we can send people home happy by creating these environments where they know they they belong, they feel like they matter, they're being coached, not managed, and there's the opportunity to learn through learning moments, then we're going to make a positive difference in the world. And the data is really something that leaders should be ashamed of because less than 30% of people who go to work every day are engaged. And that's not— I've seen families destroyed because people work in toxic, workplaces, and we can do better than that. So that's what I do now. I coach leaders, CEOs, and C-suite leaders around how do we create cultures where people go home happy.

As I think about this is a product, it comes in a can, but as I think about the product, there's a memory that I have that's tied to working on a lawnmower with my son.

Mm-hmm.

And getting the, and, you know, trying to get this, trying to get this bolt undone that had been rusted, you know, and we, we had a little mini farm and we, we had all the, all the little toys and things and tractors and things. And I would say, get the WD-40 and you'd get the WD-40 and it worked like magic. And I just remember us, you know, you know, moving the project along, which would've been stopped. And, you know, it's, it's, it's not a stretch in any way, shape, or form to understand that this product is tied to some of the greatest memories Of overcoming an obstacle. And, and it's also a, a consumer product. I imagine that it's also a commercial product. I imagine that you sell it in garages and places like that. You know, maybe there's, maybe there's more competition for other brands and things like that in the commercial setting. But this is a, this is, this is a consumer product that's in our home that everybody understands exactly what it, what it does and when we need to reach for it.

Yeah. And that's why our— you've just described what our purpose was. We existed to create positive lasting memories, solving problems in factories, homes, and workshops around the world. We solved problems and we created opportunities. And interestingly enough, although it's in 8 out of 10 or maybe 9 out of 10 households in the US and in other countries, 60 to 70% of the volume is people in the trades and workshops. The guy going to Home Depot or Lowe's or wherever this morning, picking up his stuff, going to someone's house to do stuff, that's where the consumption is. It's used in manufacturing. It's used across the board. So we're not a consumer product. We're a product that's consumed by a broad range of end users is how I used to describe it when I was there. And there's a difference. And that's why it's available in so many different distribution channels. What is it? Is it a hardware product? Is it an automotive product? Is it an industrial product? Is it a marine product? Is it a farm product? All the answers to that is yes. And that's why distribution was so important to us. Now, at the time that I left, and I'm assuming it's still the same, we took it to 176 countries around the world.

Gary, was there ever a time when the way that you wanted to lead the company and your management style was questioned by the board and you had to go in there and you had to sit in front of the board and you had to say, look, I understand that maybe this doesn't help us hit the But I think it helps us win the war.

Absolutely.

And yeah. And what was that like? And then when did they come around to your way of thinking or did they kind of let you do it and see what happened?

I think as they got more, well, the 2 things happened. Number one is a board is not a constant thing. It rotates. So, you know, we, I didn't have the same board over 25 years. A lot of CEOs, given that the average tenure is 4 years, have the same board. And when I first started talking about culture, kind of it was like, yeah, sure. I mean, this was 25 years ago. And even in Wall Street, I used to go to do investor presentations and the first 3 or 4 pages of my presentation was always about the culture and the people. And I could see the frustration in the eyes of the Wall Street. Get to the numbers, get to the numbers.

Yeah. Show me the numbers.

Show me the numbers. However, I'll give you an example. We were going into, when was it? The great financial crisis, 2008 or 2009. The world was coming to an end, right? And people were laying people off left, right, and center. And I said, we will not lay anybody off. That's it. I mean, we're not going to take our most important asset, it and get it. This too will pass. This is an event, it's not a trend. But I said to the board, but we will do other things to ensure that we secure the company. Again, our last value was to maintain the economy of the company. And I said, it's better that a lot of us suffer a little than a few people suffer a lot. So we did things, we all took a little bit of pain instead of a few people taking a lot of pain. So yeah, there were those decisions and I'm sure I encouraged to do certain things and some of them I didn't do. At the end of the day, I would say, you've given me the opportunity to lead the company and this is what I'm going to do. And if it is that you don't want me to lead this way, then you should tell me to go do something else. And maybe I will if that's what you really want. But at the end, I ended up with a, as we continued and the track record was clear that the board were very, very supportive. And even if you look at the company today, just before I left, we had one of the most, and I guess it still is, diversified boards ever. We had about 50% of our board was female. We had ethnic representation. I think a board should should reflect your customer base. So we weren't a group of people that was a smoke-filled room of old guys. And I made sure that our board were very, very exposed to the company and to our people because they needed to understand that. So I think the board of that company today truly, absolutely respects the power of culture. Yeah.

Gary, I'd like to talk just a, a few minutes about the product. It was developed in the '50s, I think Rocket Chemical Company, and it was evolved. I'm, I guess it was 40 iterations on it, and the 40th iteration is the one that they went with. So they called it WD-40. How has the product evolved over time? Is it, is it the same product, same formula? And then of course you've got that beautiful can. With that nozzle delivery system that was, and I didn't know if that, I think that was under your tenure.

Yeah.

And, but what, you know, just maybe talk broadly about the product, how it evolved and how, you know, it, it, it was some, it was a vehicle that allowed you to expand this distribution to 106 countries around the world, 176 countries around the world.

Yeah, sure. Yeah, you're correct. It was the, the final product was formulated on September 23rd, 1953 in a little lab in San Diego, the result of 39 tries. And it was developed to stop condensation and corrosion in the umbilical cord of the Atlas space rocket. The core concentrate of the product, it's a bit like Coke, is a secret formula. We never patented it and the secret formula is still in place. And the secret formula has a number of ingredients and most of those ingredients are the same ingredients that were used back 70-some years ago.

Do you know the formula, Gary? Do you know the formula?

I couldn't tell you what it was. I did know it. I mean, it's interestingly, it's written on a styro— styro notepad in pencil in a brown paper envelope locked in a bank in San Diego. I actually took the formula out of the bank for our 50th birthday and I flew the formula to New York to open the NASDAQ Stock Exchange. And I got dressed up in a suit of armor and actually rode a horse into Times Square at 9 o'clock in the morning carrying the formula as the knight guarding this formula. So that was a lot of fun, I must admit. Now, there has been changes to it because there is delivery systems and then carriers. It's been adapted to reduce the volatile organic compound in it as regulatory and as we found safer, better ingredients. And then of course, we did a lot of work delivery systems. You're right, the Easy Reach and the Smart Straw we developed, that was millions of dollars worth of investment. But those developments came from asking our end users. We would do research, we'd go into mechanics' workshops and we'd watch them use the product and then we'd ask them, how could we make this memory better for you? And they'd say, if you could develop it so it was easier to get to that nut behind that manifold. And we said, well, maybe we can do that. And we ended up doing And then of course in the later years we expanded the brand into a range of product called WD-40 Specialist. So there is the core product, which is WD-40 multi-use product, and now there's a range of what we call WD-40 Specialist products. So WD-40 is a good lubricant penetrant, rust prohibitive product, but sometimes you need a different sort of lubricant like a silicone, or you may need a white lithium grease, or you need a penetrant that is more of a penetrant and less of a lubricant. Or we developed a a gel product. So people said, can you give us a product that doesn't drip? And we said, well, maybe we can. So we took it and we formed a gel product. So now there's a whole range of products. But the interesting thing is, and again, the blue and yellow can with the little red top has never changed. Anywhere you go in the world, it looks the same. And that was very deliberate. And over my tenure there, I don't know how many times I had smart advertising agencies come to me and say, you need to refresh the trade dress. I say, why would I want to do that? We've just spent billions of millions of dollars making people aware of it. You want me to change it and then spend more money to do that? And now it's one of the most recognized trade dresses in the world alongside things like the Coke bottle. You can put a blue and yellow can with nothing on it in front of the end user, and in most cases they'll say, I know what that is.

Yeah, I think it's perfect. Gary, what are you doing now?

I'm doing a couple of things. My purpose is I help leaders build cultures of belonging where love, forgiveness, and learning inspire a happier, more connected world. That's my purpose. I'm coaching. I coach CEOs and C-suite leaders on becoming less of this and more of a servant leader. So I'm doing that.

Is that public and private companies?

Yeah, yeah, public and private companies. Actually, most of them today are private companies. I'm on the board of Gorilla Glue, great company based out of Cincinnati. So if it's stuck, use WD-40. If it's not stuck, use Gorilla Glue. And I'm on the board of another company called Eastridge Workforce Solutions. And one of the things I really love is I'm on the board of trustees at National University, a wonderful university based in San Diego that is really focused on educating what they call ANDers, And an ANDER is a student and something else. If you think about the normal student, you think about a 19-year-old guy walking across a quadrangle. Well, these are people that are working every day. There are a lot of military. And I was an ANDER. When I went back to school, I was an ANDER and I didn't realize that. I was a working professional and a learner at the same time. So I do that. And then I speak on culture around the world and Yeah. So I often said I've just completed my 25-year apprenticeship in leadership. Now I need to put it to work.

Do you still have family back in Sydney?

I do. And in fact, about 48 hours from now, I'll be on an airplane heading down over to the sweetest city in the South Seas. So I'll be down there to see my daughter and a couple of grandkids and some family. And I have family here in in California as well. So yep, I'll be heading down there in about 48 hours.

Yeah, it's a wonderful thing. So do you spend a lot of time over on the road traveling in Europe, anything like that? Or wherever the opportunity takes you?

Yeah, I'm actually October, I'm speaking at a conference in Krakow. Are we going to Greece at the same time? And then we spend a reasonable amount of time in Hawaii. We have a house, we're building a house in Kauai, and eventually that will become our forever home. So, but we have a place in Princeville and we go there. So yeah, I spend still a reasonable amount of time enjoying the thrills of travel, which have gotten less thrilling over time, I must say.

Yeah.

Yeah, it has.

Well, Gary, this has been amazing. I've got a couple closing questions for you. I got a curveball and then I got a fast ball straight down the middle. Oh, there you go. Right. And so before we do that, is there anything else that you'd care to share or share your contact information where people can get in touch with you or where to get the book or anything like that? Anything you want to promote?

Yeah, please follow me on LinkedIn. And if you go to LinkedIn, join my school. It's called the School of Dumbassery. And that's where common sense gets a master's degree. So I post leadership learning moments on that. And I have a LinkedIn page that I post on regularly. So do that. You can check out my website. It's www.thelearningmoment.net or garyridge.com, G-A-R-R-Y-R-I-D-G-E.com. And then of course the book, Any Dumbass Can Do It. A lot of people have asked me about the title of the book and why did you ever wonder why my book is called Any Dumbass Can Do It? Well, the word ass is not referring to someone's posterior or bottom. It's really talking about a donkey. And donkeys get a bad rap. People think they're just stubborn or slow. But here's the truth. Donkeys are steady. They'll keep going long after others give up. They're loyal companions. You can count on them when the road gets rough. They protect and are calm and are surprisingly brave when it matters. They're practical, not flashy. They know how to conserve energy and get the job done. And while they might not always rush into things, their caution often keeps them safe. So when I say any dumbass can do it, what I really mean is You don't have to be brilliant to be a great leader. You just need a bit of courage, a lot of care, and the humility to keep learning because like the donkey, leadership isn't about showing off. It's about carrying the load, sticking with the journey, and helping others to get to where they need to go.

That's beautifully said. That's incredible. Um, okay. So learningmoment.net, learningmoments.net or .com?

.net, thelearningmoment.net or garyridge.com.

garyridge.com, thelearningmoment.net. Got those down. I will be sign— and then go to LinkedIn and sign up for the dumbass School of Dumbassery.

School of Dumbassery.

Yes. Which we all need. Awesome. Okay, Gary, here's the curveball. Gun to your head, you've gotta start a business in the next 30 days. It can't be something that you're currently doing. Based on your view, where is the opportunity that you see in the market? If you had to start a business today, what would that business be?

Oh, it would be what I'm doing right now, which is helping people build great cultures in an organization because it's the power of the people.

Got it. Awesome. Okay. Last question. Fastball straight down the middle. If you had one sentence to make an impact in somebody's life, what would that be?

Life's a gift. Don't send it back unwrapped.

Perfectly said. Gary, thanks for being on Unemployable today.

Thank you. And thanks for what you do to get the word out there. It's an important word that we need to make the world a better place.

Well, I appreciate that. And the curiosity, it is always about being radically curious in the learning of it. And I will listen to this interview over and over again. So thank you very much. I'm Jeff Dudan here with the incredible Gary Ridge, and we have been on the Unemployable Podcast. Thanks for listening.