Foundational Leadership: Growth Doesn't Start at the Top - Hardcover

by Robert L. Griggs (Author)

Have you ever wondered how to lead your teams effectively? In Foundational Leadership, Robert Griggs shares the story of his encounter with Jack Stack, author of The Great Game of Business. This first interaction changed Robert's life and it formed the basis for an entirely different way to view leadership - one where leaders led with an open book and were willing to share the ins and outs of how a company was run. As Robert shares, this approach, while unsettling in the early days of its implementation at Trinity Products, completely changed the way he and his team did business. Through the utilization of concepts such as profit sharing, benchmarks, scoreboards, and continuous improvement, Robert has created a company that continues to grow from year to year.

Back Jacket

LEARN HOW TO LEAD FROM THE BOTTOM!

How do you lead your organization with the most important people in mind? In Foundational Leadership, Robert Griggs highlights his journey from being a young entrepreneur to becoming the founder and president of Trinity Products.

After the loss of his mother at an early age, Robert began work for a farmer when he was fifteen. Through this experience, he grew to understand what it meant to have a strong work ethic and be an effective leader. After graduating high school, Robert took a door-to-door sales job that did not earn him much of an income but awakened his passion for sales and gave him a glimpse of what he might one day accomplish.

Several years later, after being on the receiving end of a deceptive boss who cheated him out of a $5,000 paycheck, Robert launched his own company with the desire to do business the right way. And since its establishment in 1979, Robert has taken Trinity Products from a struggling start-up to a thriving company with over 150 employee owners that serve customers across the United States.

As Robert outlines, the secret to his success is no secret at all. Instead, it's focusing on the basics of hard work, doing business the right way, and empowering others to step up and lead with the heart of a servant.

Author Biography

A lifelong Missourian, ROBERT GRIGGS graduated from the University of Missouri, Columbia in 1977 with a degree in Agricultural Economics. He started Trinity Products in 1979 along with two other partners before buying the final partner out in 1993. Along with his lovely wife Shelly, he currently lives in St. Charles, MO. His two sons are University of Missouri, Columbia graduates, and currently are working for Trinity Products.

Robert has served as President and Treasurer of the National Association of Steel Pipe Distributors (NASPD), an international organization of more than 300 steel distributors and is involved with the CPTI (Committee on Pipe & Tube Import) which lobbies Congress on Pipe and Steel related issues. He has spent his entire career in the steel and fabrications industry and has seen Trinity's sales and manufacturing grow from a fab shop of $2.2 million sales in 1993 to over 250 million in sales in 2021.