Being a leader can be a very lonely proposition, says Roderick K. Rickman. The founder, chairman, president and CEO of Minority
Pollution Solutions Group Inc. says that as a result, it’s important for leaders to talk to their peers and share best practices and
lessons learned. And one place Rickman gets that is from his business partner of almost 10 years, Adam Soave, whom Rickman
has known since he was a teenager. Being open to advice from others has helped Rickman lead MPS Group — which serves the
automotive and truck manufacturing industry — to $80 million in revenue last year and more than 250 employees. Smart
Business spoke with Rickman about how he serves the community and keeps a personal life without losing focus on business.
Set priorities. You want to say, ‘I’m going to
spend five hours Saturday, quality time
with my son playing baseball.’ Just don’t
get too far off of it. If it wasn’t Saturday, try
to make it Sunday. If it isn’t Sunday, then
definitely make it on Monday, and make it
six hours. Make up for the day lost. Spend
time at home. Turn the business off. Don’t
turn it off and lock it away, but you have to
hand it off or pass it along and spend that
down time. I call it deleting some of that e-mail that is built up in your database
because your database is overtaken.
There’s a lot of stress in day-to-day work.
The right answer is to be able to turn it off
and on at the right time, but that becomes
a challenge. It’s knowing the right amount
of quality time you need and make sure you
fit that in your life.
Watch for continuous improvement. I’m an
owner/operator, so I work on my business
every day. As I send down messages, I want
to see continuous improvement as it
relates to cost savings. I want to make sure
we have improved our process by going
back and reconfirming it and sampling it
for effectiveness by actually going in and
being hands-on to it.
Typically, when you get too hands-on,
your managers will push back because that
tends to be teetering into micromanaging,
when you find yourself spending 25 to 30
percent of your time doing something that
is not in your direct responsibility.
Oversight is something you should be able
to do in what I call a monthly operation
review between your management staff.
Learn to let go. It’s like when your child goes
to school. You have to, one, as a leader,
identify a vice president or general manager that has your similar disciplines and
likes. From a culture standpoint, you guys
align. That gives you some comfort when
you know you have to step back and let
your operating officer operate. I have a
daughter, and it’s important for succession.
It’s exactly the same thing. That’s my succession plan, and you have to let them get in there and get their oars wet to be able to
make some of those decisions you make
every day. The more times you do it, the
more comfortable and confident you get.
Remember that you aren’t perfect. Sometimes
you can just get burnt out and be too close
to things. So take that back to training and
identify where shortcomings and gaps
were and build strategy to close them and
to shore them up.
Move quickly, and then get back in there.
It’s not to the point you made a mistake, it
was how fast you fixed it to move on.
It takes maturity. It never gets easier. You
get more mature and are able, from an
external standpoint, to manage better. It’s
still tough to have a bad decision and feel
bad when you do something wrong. There
was no intent or malice, you just have to go back and re-evaluate it again and make the correction.
Get involved in the community. There is a certain amount of charities that we do every
year. We try to rotate them. There is not
one we don’t look at.
For new ones, I have selected a committee that will consist of 12 people that will
be the giving committee, who will go in,
look at them and vote who gets the budget.
We have a budget of annual giving and we
make sure we get all of these well-worthy
501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations and charitable organizations well-needed funding.
Another way is to advocate and communicate to my peers who may have not been
giving to get them involved, too.
For me, it’s where I come from. I’m from
that community. It’s what is needed for the
more fortunate to give to the less fortunate.
It sets a perfect example for the kids of the
community.
One of the requirements is that I do it
anonymously. I want you to use MPS
Group because we are a good service
provider, not because I give to the Boy
Scouts or adopt a child.
Create a positive corporate culture. We have
incentive programs and plans. In 2004, we
gave a 2004 Harley Davidson away. We give
away trips. We have recycling programs
where the winner gets dinner out for six or
their staff gets to have dinner out. They get
an upgrade in a hotel for a business travel.
A happier employee is a more productive
employee. If they know the direction and
future of the company, they are more adaptive to make a change.
As well as you can communicate to your
employee, the more informed he is and the
more comfortable he’ll feel. Annual and
quarterly reports, newsletters, company
picnics, team-building things; they are the
good, successful programs that drive good
culture and good service.
HOW TO REACH: Minority Pollution Solutions Group Inc., (313)
841-7588 or www.mpsgrp.com