Ilove stories about companies
whose first steps toward
success were stumbled onto
by accident rather than plotted
meticulously by design.
One legend goes like this: In
1878, a workman at a fledgling
soap and candle company left
for lunch and forgot to turn off
the mixing machines, leaving a
batch of a new “white” soap
inside. While the fellow ate his
lunch, air worked its way into
the mixture. and when he
returned, he found a white glop.
Instead of throwing it away,
the man spoke with his supervisor, who instructed him to pour
the mixture into the soap templates and let it harden. The
product was cut, packaged and
shipped. Soon, the fledgling manufacturer, Procter & Gamble, began receiving letters from buyers begging for more “soap
that floats.”
In the resulting
years, Ivory soap
became one of the
most successful
products in
American history
and launched P&G
toward becoming one of the
world’s most dominant consumer products companies.
This issue’s cover story subject, Shearer’s Foods, wasn’t
started by accident but certainly
wasn’t founded by design. The
snack-food company evolved
from the humble roots of now-CEO Bob Shearer’s parents’ grocery store. When the family
began making and selling its own kettle-cooked
potato chips, the
business began to
change. Over time,
the company became
Shearer’s Foods.
Today, Shearer’s
produces more than
60 million pounds of
snack foods each
year. Much like
William Procter and James
Gamble, Shearer wasn’t satisfied
to rest on accidental laurels.
Rather, he’s built the company
by investing in people, searching
for innovation and using a philosophy of inclusion motivation,
where the curtain is pulled back
and employees get to see all the
pieces of the corporate puzzle.
“A lot of people have a fear of
sharing sensitive information,” Shearer admits. “But I’ve always
been very straightforward.
That’s the key, so people know
what your vision and plan is
going forward, and everybody
can work in the same direction.”
Innovation, as Procter &
Gamble learned 130 years ago,
begins on the shop room floor.
Shearer and his company’s 700-plus employees would probably
tell a similar tale.
Even with years of double-digit
sales increases and more than
30 percent sales growth expected this year over 2007, there can
be little doubt that the Brewster-based snack-food company’s
best days remain ahead of it. <<
Contact Editor Dustin Klein at
[email protected]
