How Al Capone Inspired the Launch of a 95-Year-Old Family-Run Company

Creating our present The CEO Collection has allowed me to take a seat down with a number of the most modern and provoking enterprise leaders on the planet to get their insights on what it takes to launch, develop and maintain a significant enterprise.

This episode took us to Ozinga, the concrete and constructing materials powerhouse. They’re primarily based in Chicago and in the event you’re within the space, you are absolutely acquainted with their iconic pink and white vans. They’ve roughly 2,500 staff and I obtained to have a tremendous chat with the man who oversees all of it, Marty Ozinga, the fourth-generation CEO of this 95-year-old firm.

Beneath are some highlights of that dialog, which have been edited for size and readability. Watch the complete video above.

His strategy to management

“It isn’t the persons are working for you, they’re working with you. That is the way in which I used to be mentored and taught. All of us want one another. All of us have completely different roles and duties, however we’re working with one another.”

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Ozinga’s 95-year historical past

“Our household got here from the Netherlands in 1893, the yr of the World’s Truthful right here in Chicago. The household was at all times within the supply enterprise. Then in 1928, my great-grandfather was working with the Cook dinner County Sheriff’s Division throughout Prohibition and coping with the hazards of Al Capone and all of that. He had 5 youngsters at residence and determined, “You recognize what? I do not wish to combat Al Capone anymore.” So he began a coal supply enterprise. After which round 1950, prepared combine concrete grew to become the period’s disruptive know-how. Prepared combined signifies that it’s batched for supply from a central plant as an alternative of being combined on the job web site. And so Ozinga grew to become one of many first prepared combine suppliers within the area.”

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On their iconic vans

“We have equipped concrete to iconic Chicago landmarks like Soldier Area and Wrigley Area, so it is enjoyable to be linked to locations like that. And we’re actually happy with our vans’ pink and white stripes. I believe it was a mix of this eager sense of selling, but in addition of nationwide satisfaction. However there’s additionally some joke that they had been Dutch and really frugal and people had been the 2 paint buckets within the storage. So I like each these tales.”

The ability of peacefulness

“Our dispatch workplace is the nerve heart of the enterprise. It is the place all of the orders are available in from our clients, after which the place we dispatch the vans. It’s deliberately very quiet inside. We have tried to get it as quiet and peaceable as potential as a result of traditionally the dispatch workplace is a really intense, chaotic, loud and loopy place.”

Constructing and sustaining a legacy

“There’s an emotional connection for my household and this firm. We have been actually lucky that we get to embed ourselves in communities all through the Midwest. We’re dedicated to our staff and our clients — we wish to be right here for the following hundred years and longer. That is our intention. And whereas change is important so you do not get disrupted and die and exit of enterprise, there are particular issues that you simply should not meddle with. Our core rules are the muse for who we’re and why we do what we do — that ought to by no means change.”

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Try extra profiles of modern and impactful leaders by visiting The CEO Collection archives.