Henry Ford once said, “It has been my
observation that most people get
ahead during the time that others waste time.” Mary Petrovich, CEO of
AxleTech International, is living proof of
that philosophy.
Petrovich traces her talent for multitasking to her childhood.
“My mother, a hairdresser, was a widow
with eight children at the age of 30,” she
says. “Learning to be efficient was essential — it was a matter of survival for me.
There was no way I could meet my goals in
life without being highly focused.”
AxleTech International is a global manufacturer and supplier of axles and related
products for vehicles in various markets.
“Four years ago, we had a $150 million
business that was losing money on most of
its customer base,” Petrovich says. “Since
then, we have driven profits up 10 times
and sales up two times without an acquisition.”
Smart Business spoke with Petrovich
about the art of multitasking and the challenges of leading change.
Q: How do you lead change?
Get out from behind your desk and ask
as many questions as possible.
It is easy to recognize when your company is not operating to its potential. The difficult next step is to analyze where and
how you are falling short. You need to identify the issues driving performance and
determine the three to five things that need
to be done.
Then, develop a systematic plan and
stick to it. Much of this comes down to
pure discipline. Listening to peers, customers and employees is essential. You
have to figure out what it is you don’t know
before you can move forward.
Q: What was your most memorable
business mistake, and what did you
learn from it?
Not moving fast enough on the people
issues. If someone does not display results-oriented behaviors and a sense of urgency,
it does not matter how much customer and product knowledge or experience they
have … or how nice they are.
You have to be willing to make the tough
calls and not look back or question yourself. If your management staff cannot lead
and get results, you must get them out of
the way quickly. This is particularly true in
a turnaround or an organization requiring
dramatic improvement and cultural
change.
Q: How do you get employees to buy in to
your vision and help make it a reality?
First, you have to create a burning platform or reason to change. Then, you need
to lead by example and get some wins that
show your leadership style.
These successes will demonstrate that
the results under your watch are going to
be much different than in the past. The
people begin to trust you — you have to
earn that. Early success breeds confidence
and buy-in.
The culture had to change in order for
AxleTech to be a success story. There is no
pride in losing money. We had to revamp
our sales strategy early on.
As a smaller, more focused organization,
we had to move quicker and lose the large
corporation mindset, which can be sluggish.
Q: What advice would you give a new CEO?
Surround yourself with high performers.
Recognize your weaknesses and make
sure your team does not have the same
ones. For example, if you tend to overanalyze before making decisions, employ a
management staff that moves quickly and
is not paralyzed by data. Strive for a culture of execution and accountability, with
a high bias for action.
There is no magic formula for success.
It’s a matter of common sense and mastering the fundamentals like blocking
and tackling. However, the saying,
‘Common sense is not so common’ is
very true.
Great leaders have undying persistence and handle setbacks by coming
back twice as strong. They do not recoil
or lose confidence when things don’t go
as planned.
Direct and regular communication is
essential. I host town hall meetings with
a ‘State of the Business’ address along
with time for Q&As. I do this at both the
HQ and plant levels.
Q: How do you make decisions?
I manage by fact and make decisions
quickly with the right small group of
informed leadership team around me.
We make decisions much faster than our
competitors and move much more
aggressively. It is a true competitive
advantage for us.
We are responsive. We also keep things
simple: An attractive business opportunity is one that enhances our core competency and carries with it the potential
to make lots of money.
HOW TO REACH: AxleTech International, (877) 877-9717 or
www.axletech.com
The Women in Business series
is presented by Smart Business through the support of Comerica Bank.