Joe McKee did indeed hold the title of president at Paric Corp., but it wasn’t a role he felt too comfortable with just yet.
“I was somewhat insecure in my position and just hoping people would believe in my leadership and want to stay around,” says McKee, reflecting back to 2001 when he was appointed to lead the construction management firm.
McKee’s confidence didn’t exactly surge when his father and company founder, Paul Joseph McKee Jr., got up and spoke to the employees not too long after he took charge.
One of McKee’s first projects as president was to clearly define the core values that Paric employees were expected to follow in their work. McKee was pretty proud of the efforts of his team, and as it turned out, so was his father. But the words his father used to express how he felt left McKee breaking into a cold sweat.
“‘These are wonderful,” the elder McKee said, speaking to a gathering of the entire company. “If you don’t believe in these values and you’re not willing to dedicate yourself to these values, you can get up and leave now.’”
It wasn’t quite the way the younger and still tentative McKee would have put it. But less than 24 hours later, he saw the wisdom in his father’s words.
“I started thinking about it, and by that night, lying in bed, I realized he was so very right,” McKee says. “You can’t be afraid to say that. It’s no different than when you’re raising your family. You can’t be afraid to say to your kids, ‘Hey, if you’re not going to live by my values or my rules, once you reach a certain age, you’re going to have a choice to make.’”
It drove home the idea for McKee, now Paric’s president and CEO, that you have to follow your convictions and say what’s on your mind if you’re going to be successful in business. It’s what has helped him guide the firm to nearly $300 million in revenue today.
“It really starts with you as the leader of the company,” McKee says. “If you have a set of values and you don’t live them, people know. We talk a lot about core values and we’re not afraid to talk about them. I know a lot of people have them on cards and have them on their walls, but they don’t ever talk about them. We really try hard not to do that.”
McKee knew he needed to engage his employees and speak to his customers about the things he felt the company needed in order to be successful.
“Where people fail is being afraid to lead,” McKee says. “I love sports and what I have found is like most things in life, if you play not to lose, you’ll lose. If you play for the love of what you’re doing and you try to do your best and play with reckless abandon, you’ll do a great job. Too many people in today’s world play not to lose, so they never end up leading.”
Here’s how McKee played to win by being himself and, in the process, developed stronger ties with his customers and his 250 employees to help Paric succeed.