Leadership Studies

Posted: December 10th, 2013

M&D Supply Case B “Adopt an Attitude”

“In any moment of decision the best thing you can do is the right thing,

the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing.”

 – Theodore Roosevelt, 26^th president of the United States.”

Case Description

Entrepreneurial beginnings can be circumstantial.  It’s the 1970’s and a soon-to-be widowed homemaker, charged with re-starting a business, is thrown into a male dominated business world she’s not prepared for! 

INTRODUCTION

Late one evening, after M&D Supply had closed for the day, Bernice Dyson put her head on the steering wheel of her ‘72 green Ford Galaxy and wept.   She was faced with a seemingly insurmountable pile of worries and obstacles.

Her husband Jack’s year-long battle had taken a turn for the worse and he was dying. Her adolescent son Jeff was about to lose his dad and Bernice worried about how the loss would affect him.  Bernice’s daughter Carol was going through a heart-breaking divorce.  Carol had two sons to support and Bernice was concerned about their well being.

M&D Supply, Jack’s business, dream, their livelihood, would soon be hers to steward.  The company, having been recently rebuilt after a devastating fire, was deeply in debt.  Bernice, a soon to be female CEO in a male dominated industry, had little business experience.  Bernice desperately needed to retain Harry Doyle.  Doyle was the company’s operations manager.  Doyle wanted to own M&D.  Bernice wanted to keep the business in the family but could not afford to run Doyle off.

ISSUES

Things looked bleak.  In her helplessness, Bernice reflected on her upbringing.  Daughter of an alcoholic father, her mom chose to separate from her father and raise Bernice and her siblings on her own.  She remembered her mom’s favorite prayer and recited it:

Grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.

Bernice’s instincts about how to proceed were right on the mark.  She had a strong internal locus of control.  She thought “If M&D Supply is going to make it, if I am going to make it, I must develop parameters and boundaries and come to a clear understanding of what I can control and influence and what I can’t. I’ve got to focus on the things that I can control, can change and I’ve got to adopt an attitude”.

“I am in a situation.  Situations call for situational leadership.  Therefore, I must rely on resilience, resoluteness, and attitude.   Those are the attitudes I must demonstrate.  You cannot be a leader without a positive attitude.”

Bernice possessed the same grit and determination as Jack, and she had never given up before.  So while friends, family (and sometimes Doyle) begged her to dump the business while she could, to stay home and raise that rebellious teenage son of hers she dug her heels in and learned the business.  She masterfully engaged Doyle and his male ego while dedicating her life to serving the community’s hardware needs.  The market was changing.  The agriculture industry from which M&D Supply had built its customer base was declining while the energy industry, driven by the recent Arab oil embargo, was rapidly expanding.  This created a proliferation of high income blue collar jobs.

Bernice recognized an emerging customer trend.  Many of these affluent customers were buying and upgrading their homes, and do-it-yourself was in demand.  They desired to engage in a broad array of do-it-yourself projects but lacked the skill and confidence.   Addressing their knowledge gap would require consultive selling.  There were social changes.  Two income families were emerging and more harried.  Bernice determined that saving the customer time would be an important component of M&D Supply’s value equation.

Most hardware stores during the 70’s were dark and cluttered and staffed by grumpy old men.  Dealer owned buying cooperatives, such as Ace Hardware, encouraged modernization and began to market themselves as national brands.  They afforded members such as M&D Supply the buying power to compete with retail chains.  Bernice liked Ace’s direction and instructed Doyle to implement Ace’s recommendations to make the store friendly and attractive.  Leveraging resources provided by Ace Hardware, Doyle improved the store’s lighting, and emphasized order and cleanliness.  He pared down the agricultural related inventory and broadened and deepened the do it yourself hard goods inventory.  The advent of new materials such as PVC pipe made it easier for homeowners to do their own work.  Product packaging was carefully selected with the do-it-yourselfer in mind.  Bernice and Doyle developed training and mentoring programs for employees to ensure that customers received proper consultation.

Bernice’s true passion was to satisfy customers, both internal and external.  Bernice determined that if she wanted an organization that excelled at customer service, she should focus on the company’s internal customers, its employees.  Bernice strived to make the store a fun place to work and held frequent discussions with employees about customer service issues and opportunities.

But she possessed the same grit and determination as Jack; she shared his vision of what M&D could become.  And she didn’t know how to give up.  Quitting was not in her vocabulary.

Assignment 1 Questions:

1. Consider Habits 1 and 2.  What evidence of these habits do you see in Bernice’s chosen response to her circumstances?  Limit your response to two pages.
2. Consider Habit 2.  What values did Bernice clarify that she would honor as she led the business (What was her intent)?  Limit your response to one page
3. Consider Habit 3.  Where do you see Bernice exemplify the habit of integrity and execution?  Limit your response to one page.

Assignment 2 Question:

1. How was Bernice’s approach to the Harry Doyle Dilemma an example of Habit 4?  How would you approach a win-win agreement in a similar situation? Limit your response to one page.

EPILOGUE

Jeff Dyson becomes the company’s second generation owner/ manager and enjoys immediate success. Excitedly, he expands the business, but soon finds himself in over his head when the bottom suddenly falls out of the regional economy.   Family dynamics come into play when Bernice, the major shareholder, decrees Jeff should hire Bob, recently married to his sister and unemployed, to “co-manage” the business.    Jeff marries Pat, the woman of his dreams, and inherits an adorable seven-year old stepson.  Joyfully, he and Pat make plans for adding to their family, not knowing the sadness that looms on the horizon.