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100 PART 3: THE PERSONAL SIDE OF LEADERSHIP
make people feel positive about themselves. Bob and Stan Lee, brothers who run
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a family-owned manufacturing plant that makes parts for machines that produce
cardboard boxes, are striving to incorporate this advice to improve their leader-
ship effectiveness.

IN THE LEAD IN THE LEAD Bob and Stan Lee, Corrugated Replacements Inc.
Corrugated Replacements Inc. (CRI) has been successful since the day Bob and
Stan Lee founded it in their family’s barn more than 25 years ago. But the indus-
try is changing, with consolidation in the paper industry and the outsourcing of
manufacturing to lower-wage countries. To meet the new challenges, the com-
pany requested the advice of experts about what internal changes they needed
to make.
Although the two top leaders were concerned mainly about strategic issues,
the team of consultants pointed out that one of the company’s biggest problems
was poor morale and alienation among employees. In a small, family-owned com-
pany, one might expect to find a warm, family feeling, but that wasn’t the case at

CRI. One staff member joked that it seemed the leaders feared that sales might
actually increase if they listened to their staff. Comments from the shop fl oor were
even more biting. “In the time I’ve worked here, the owner has said maybe two
words [to me and given me] no handshake when I’ve come through the door,” one
production worker said. Another added, “A pat on the back would go a long way
with me.”
The hazards of failing to make people feel appreciated became painfully clear
when the Lees moved CRI from the original plant in Atlanta to a new facility in
northern Georgia. More than 80 percent of employees, including a top-notch plant
foreman, chose not to make the move, forcing the Lees to hire a new and largely
untrained workforce.
Based on suggestions from the team of consultants, the Lees started holding
monthly management meetings to foster better communication, placed a sugges-

tion box on the plant floor, and boosted benefits. The biggest challenge, though, is

for the leaders to learn to be friendlier with their employees, such as by building
time into each workday to connect with shop fl oor workers.
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At Corrugated Replacements Inc., Bob and Stan Lee have begun their change
initiative with the more easily-implemented ideas, such as a suggestion box.
However, unless they can adopt behaviors that make them more agreeable and
likable, employees aren’t likely to respond positively to any of the other iniatives
aimed at improving morale.
Conscientiousness The next personality dimension, conscientiousness, refers to the degree to
Conscientiousness
the degree to which a person
the degree to which a person which a person is responsible, dependable, persistent, and achievement-oriented.
is responsible, dependable,
is responsible, dependable,
persistent, and achievement-
persistent, and achievement- A conscientious person is focused on a few goals, which he or she pursues in a
oriented purposeful way, whereas a less conscientious person tends to be easily distracted
oriented
and impulsive. This dimension of personality relates to the work itself rather
than to relationships with other people. Many entrepreneurs show a high level of
conscientiousness. For example, Mary Clare Murphy and Christie Miller started
FSBOMadison to help people sell their homes without going through a tradi-
tional real estate agent. As one of the country’s largest for-sale-by-owner Web
sites, FSBOMadison now lists almost 15 percent of all houses for sale in and
around Madison, Wisconsin. The two women stayed focused on their goal despite