Everybody Matters, Bob Chapman
Everybody Matters, Bob Chapman
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Everybody Matters
The Extraordinary Power of Caring for Your People Like Family

Author: Bob Chapman, Raj Sisodia

Narrator: Steven Menasche

Unabridged: 8 hr 51 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Ascent Audio

Published: 07/01/2016


Synopsis

“Bob Chapman, CEO of the $1.7 billion manufacturing company Barry-Wehmiller, is on a mission to change the way businesses treat their employees.” – Inc. Magazine

Starting in 1997, Bob Chapman and Barry-Wehmiller have pioneered a dramatically different approach to leadership that creates off-the-charts morale, loyalty, creativity, and business performance. The company utterly rejects the idea that employees are simply functions, to be moved around, "managed" with carrots and sticks, or discarded at will. Instead, Barry-Wehmiller manifests the reality that every single person matters, just like in a family. That’s not a cliché on a mission statement; it’s the bedrock of the company’s success.

During tough times a family pulls together, makes sacrifices together, and endures short-term pain together. If a parent loses his or her job, a family doesn’t lay off one of the kids. That’s the approach Barry-Wehmiller took when the Great Recession caused revenue to plunge for more than a year. Instead of mass layoffs, they found creative and caring ways to cut costs, such as asking team members to take a month of unpaid leave. As a result, Barry-Wehmiller emerged from the downturn with higher employee morale than ever before.

It’s natural to be skeptical when you first hear about this approach. Every time Barry-Wehmiller acquires a company that relied on traditional management practices, the new team members are skeptical too. But they soon learn what it’s like to work at an exceptional workplace where the goal is for everyone to feel trusted and cared for—and where it’s expected that they will justify that trust by caring for each other and putting the common good first.

Chapman and coauthor Raj Sisodia show how any organization can reject the traumatic consequences of rolling layoffs, dehumanizing rules, and hypercompetitive cultures. Once you stop treating people like functions or costs, disengaged workers begin to share their gifts and talents toward a shared future. Uninspired workers stop feeling that their jobs have no meaning. Frustrated workers stop taking their bad days out on their spouses and kids. And everyone stops counting the minutes until it’s time to go home.

This audiobook chronicles Chapman’s journey to find his true calling, going behind the scenes as his team tackles real-world challenges with caring, empathy, and inspiration. It also provides clear steps to transform your own workplace, whether you lead two people or two hundred thousand. While the Barry-Wehmiller way isn’t easy, it is simple. As the authors put it:

"Everyone wants to do better. Trust them. Leaders are everywhere. Find them. People achieve good things, big and small, every day. Celebrate them. Some people wish things were different. Listen to them. Everybody matters. Show them."

Reviews

Goodreads review by Josh on December 30, 2015

Interesting book but could use more detail This book is part of a very important trend toward conscious capitalism and people centric businesses. But as I read the book I found lots of great one liners but quite a bit of CEO centric talk about how successful he has been. Most of the practices here ar......more

Goodreads review by Bruce on February 25, 2017

Correct principles, then too many examples. You can learn the concepts from this book rather quickly. I just thought the book ran on way too long to give it a higher rating. Near the end, it seemed to self-promoting and too inward focused. If it was 100 pages instead of 250, I would have highly reco......more

Goodreads review by Yetta on July 04, 2020

Looking forward to implementing over the next couple of years......more

Goodreads review by Lisa on July 19, 2017

"We measure success by the way we touch the lives of people."......more

Goodreads review by Westminster on April 28, 2020

I loved this book! It is full of real life examples from a variety of businesses, both private and public. Chapman shares his journey of finding ways to make his employees feel trusted, valuable and needed and strives to make each employee feel fulfilled not just in their work but in their home, fam......more