Tom Frey knew the questions were coming before the announcement was even made.
It was October 2009, and the severest economic environment Frey had seen in his 40-plus-year career had slashed Universal Trailer Corp.’s annual revenue from about $400 million to about $200 million and forced him to gradually cut his staff by half, which finally leveled off with 1,175 employees. Still, in the depth of the recession, the manufacturer stayed true to its commitment to growth and made an acquisition.
UTC bought Wells Cargo Inc., the nation’s original cargo manufacturer, which happened to have headquarters in Elkhart, Ind., home of one of the highest unemployment rates in the country.
Frey knew his employees would ask: “How can you go make an acquisition when we’ve reduced employees and the size of the company?”
His answer: “We’re not going to lose sight of our long-term goals, our vision, creating competitive advantage and a better, stronger company for the future — for our employees and our customers — just because we are in difficult times. But we are going to adjust to those difficult times.”
You have to be realistic and make changes to your business as the environment dictates. While facing difficult times, you can’t abandon the building blocks and goals that drive your organization.
“When an organization faces a severe downturn, it’s pretty easy to drift away from those fundamentals and forget about them,” says Frey, president and CEO. “The first thing that we should all remember as leaders is, in a downturn, don’t forget what you’re trying to do and don’t forget what your strategy is.”
Here is how Frey led UTC out of the deepest part of the recession while keeping the manufacturer’s mission, vision and strategy in front of the entire company.
