When Jim Hensler joined Horsehead Holding Corp. (Nasdaq: ZINC) in 2004, he was charged with leading the zinc producer as it emerged from bankruptcy. Then, just as the company reached its strongest financial hold in years, the recession hit. A steep cost drop in the price of zinc was the primary reason Horsehead filed for Chapter 11, and Hensler was tired of seeing the company fall victim to the commodity price fluctuations that rock the markets during challenging times.
So in 2008, Hensler, chairman, president and CEO, led a charge to heavily invest in growth strategies and eventually diversify the business to make it less subject to cyclicity and commodity price fluctuation.
Horsehead’s leadership team came to two conclusions: One, there wasn’t going to be more room for growth in the area the company was in, and two, it still had significant exposure to fluctuation in zinc prices. So Hensler and his team headed to the drawing board to create a strategic plan that would involve looking for new growth opportunities.
“You’re always better off sticking with what you know and what you’re good at and trying to maximize that, so that’s what we did,” Hensler says. “Then once we got to the point where we didn’t feel we could do much more there, we redefined what we thought we were good at. … We tried to redefine who we are to allow us to broaden the scope of the business and provide career opportunities for growth.
“As long as you’ve got growth opportunities in front of you that are sticking to your basic strengths, then keep following those. When you get to a point where the current direction you’ve been on for a while doesn’t have the growth potential that you felt it did two or three years ago, now you have to take a look at other areas for potential growth in the business.”
