How Michael Werner drove innovation at Globe Union Group Inc.

Enable open minds
Werner wanted to come up with a faucet brand that would stand out from the competition. It wouldn’t be easy.
“There are about 300 faucet companies offering products in North America,” Werner says. “So how do we create Danze so it’s not just another faucet company?”
It started with a simple premise.
“Most companies can provide a satisfactory level of service or product,” Werner says. “What you need to do is figure out how to go beyond satisfaction and truly delight them. If you can delight them, then everybody prospers. Satisfaction equals survival and delight equals prosperity.”
Werner starts by giving his employees a blank canvas on which to work toward this goal of delighting the consumer.
“Our approach is, we say to ourselves, ‘Rather than being constrained by what is, what if you could do anything? How would you create it differently?’” Werner says.
His philosophy in part stems from the book, “Ban the Humorous Bazooka,” written by his friend, Mark Sebell.
“Part of his thinking is that you have to really enable people to have flights of fancy,” Werner says. “When they come up with ideas, you can’t have the humorous bazooka, which is where you just explode it and shoot it down. You can’t have an idea that is so buttoned down that by the time the senior person gets it, all they can do is whack it and kill it because they can’t develop it. We try to have these innovative sessions where we say, ‘OK, how do we take this opportunity and pretend we’re creating a new company around it?”
Your goal is to foster an environment where people won’t be afraid to say anything if they think it’s a good idea. If you can do this well, you’ll also avoid getting ideas at a point where it’s too late to offer your own thoughts and input that can help your team.
“I actually get frustrated with my people when they want to present something to me when it’s completely finished because at that point, I have two options: Thumbs up or thumbs down,” Werner says.
“You’re much better off with an interactive process. In most businesses, the leader didn’t get there because they were born there or because they were anointed. They earned it. They have good ideas and they can provide good input. In my case, I am highly creative and I can think outside the box.
“So I’d much rather work with my people as they are developing something and have regular updates and be able to problem solve with them and help them solve their problems rather than get something when it’s all wrapped up with a bow around it and you either love it or hate it.”