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Creating our show The CEO Series has allowed me to take a seat down with some of the most modern and galvanizing business leaders in the world to get their insights on what it takes to launch, grow and sustain a meaningful business.
This episode took us to Ozinga, the concrete and constructing material powerhouse. They’re based in Chicago and when you’re in the area, you are surely conversant in their iconic red and white trucks. They’ve roughly 2,500 employees and I got to have an incredible chat with the guy who oversees all of it, Marty Ozinga, the fourth-generation CEO of this 95-year-old company.
Below are some highlights of that conversation, which have been edited for length and clarity. Watch the full video above.
His approach to leadership
“It isn’t the individuals are working for you, they’re working with you. That is the way I used to be mentored and taught. All of us need one another. All of us have different roles and responsibilities, but we’re working with one another.”
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Ozinga’s 95-year history
“Our family got here from the Netherlands in 1893, the 12 months of the World’s Fair here in Chicago. The family was at all times in the delivery business. Then in 1928, my great-grandfather was working with the Cook County Sheriff’s Department during Prohibition and coping with the hazards of Al Capone and all of that. He had five kids at home and decided, ” what? I don’t desire to fight Al Capone anymore.” So he began a coal delivery business. After which around 1950, ready mix concrete became the era’s disruptive technology. Ready mixed implies that it’s batched for delivery from a central plant as an alternative of being mixed on the job site. And so Ozinga became one of the first ready mix providers in the region.”
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On their iconic trucks
“We have supplied concrete to iconic Chicago landmarks like Soldier Field and Wrigley Field, so it’s fun to be connected to places like that. And we’re really proud of our trucks’ red and white stripes. I feel it was a combination of this keen sense of marketing, but in addition of national pride. But there’s also some joke that they were Dutch and really frugal and people were the two paint buckets in the garage. So I like each those stories.”
The ability of peacefulness
“Our dispatch office is the nerve center of the business. It’s where all the orders are available from our customers, after which where we dispatch the trucks. It’s intentionally very quiet inside. We have tried to get it as quiet and peaceful as possible because historically the dispatch office is a very intense, chaotic, loud and crazy place.”
Constructing and sustaining a legacy
“There’s an emotional connection for my family and this company. We have been really fortunate that we get to embed ourselves in communities throughout the Midwest. We’re committed to our employees and our customers — we would like to be here for the next hundred years and longer. That is our intention. And while change is needed so you do not get disrupted and die and exit of business, there are specific things that you mustn’t meddle with. Our core principles are the foundation for who we’re and why we do what we do — that ought to never change.”
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Try more profiles of modern and impactful leaders by visiting The CEO Series archives.