BUILD AN A-TEAM: Introduction, Being the Kind of Boss People Love to Work For

In San Diego, California, in 1953, a new startup set its sights on the Space Age. The Rocket Chemical Company had a small lab and just three people, but they could see a major opportunity in front of them. The aerospace industry was producing incredible new technology – missiles and rockets that could fly farther than any had before – but that technology had a major weakness: it was all made of metal, and metal rusts.

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Reprinted by permission of Harvard Business Review Press. Excerpted from Build an A-Team: Play to Their Strengths and Lead Them Up the Learning Curve by Whitney Johnson. Copyright 2018 Whitney Johnson. All rights reserved.

About the Author
Whitney Johnson is the CEO of WLJ Advisors and one of the 50 leading business thinkers in the world as named by Thinkers50. She is an expert on helping high-growth organizations develop high-growth individuals.

Photo credit: Macy Robison

Notes

1. “WD-40CompanyHistory,”FundingUniverse,accessed November 17, 2017, http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/wd-40-company-history/.
2. LarryEmond,“2ReasonsWhyEmployeeEngagement Programs Fall Short,” Gallup News, August 15, 2007, http://news.gallup.com/opinion/gallup/216155/reasons-why-employee-engagement-programs-fall-short.aspx.
3. Whitney Johnson, interview with Garry Ridge, Disrupt Yourself podcast, episode 13, March 10, 2017, https://soundcloud.com/disruptyourselfpodcast/episode-13-garry-ridge.
4. Ibid.

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