André Thornton appreciates the value of team-work.
Thornton learned a lot
about being a member of a
team when he played for the
Cleveland Indians from 1977
to 1987. The lessons he’s
learned from that experience
have carried over to his
work as owner, chairman
and CEO of Mogadore-based
ASW Global LLC.
“Whether it’s business or
sports or any other endeavor,
having the right people to execute your plan is one thing
that is vitally important for any
organization to be successful,”
he says.
Thornton’s $25 million supply chain management company provides logistical and
warehousing needs worldwide
for Wal-Mart and other clients.
Smart Business spoke
with Thornton about how he
coaches his team of 250 winners to succeed.
Q. How do you find the right
people for your team?
I don’t think there’s any magic
wand for doing that. Finding
the right people is hard work.
It’s good evaluation, good due
diligence and making sure that
you do your homework.
You have to find people that
fit your culture, understand
your goals and are willing to be
a part of helping to realize that
dream. It’s a process that you
put in place by going through
that checklist of qualities and
abilities that you’re looking for.
Evaluating talent is always
one of the most difficult things
to do in any area because
there are so many variables
that come into play.
If you have the right people,
then you’re going to get the
right execution. Getting the
right execution of that plan
puts you in position to be successful.
Then, you have to have the
motivation and inspiration to
keep your vision fresh in front
of your people; to do that, you
need to have the right sort of
rewards that motivate your
people, and they’re not always
financial rewards.
Q. What characteristics
do you look for in the
people that you hire?
Our values, which
drive our culture, are
tremendously important.
You need good people
with good values, people that are dependable
and that have the
integrity of character.
You can’t lose when
you have talented people that have those
attributes and values
because you know that,
at the end of the day,
your client is going to be
served well. Those
things are vitally important to establishing the
kind of culture that is
important to me, our team and
our organization. That’s evident in our values statement.
Our enduring values are
trust, respect, integrity, excellence and diversity. Those are
things that we hope will establish the kind of culture that
makes it exciting and attractive to people who want to be
a part of this organization.
We all have a values statement
— whether it’s stated or un-stated — in what we do and
how we live. For me, my faith
sets the values in which I follow.