001: Rules For Highly Effective Leadership | John McFarland - a podcast by RvR

John McFarland is the former CEO of a Fortune 500 company and current board member of Weldon, Williams, and Lick.  He credits his ongoing record of success to the people around him and the leadership principles he practices.  In this episode John shares his rules for highly effective leadership.

- How effective leaders define reality for their team.
- Why effective leaders create simple goals and repeat them often.
- How effective leaders create value systems based on honesty, integrity, and fairness.
- How effective leaders don’t let ego get in the way – theirs or someone else’s.
- Why they are realistic, optimistic, honest, and always faithful to the team.
- Why they don’t blame others for their failures and always credit the team for their success.
- How they effectively criticize a team member.
- Why effective leaders understand life is more than reaching goals – It is about reaching potential.

And many more valuable pieces of wisdom.

McFarland began his career with Baldor part time while in his first year of college at Westark College (now the University of Arkansas Fort Smith) in 1970. During his nearly 42-year career at Baldor, he held a number of positions in marketing, sales, and administration including Vice President of International Sales, Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing, and finally President, CEO, and Chairman of the Board of Directors. Over this period, sales increased from $21 million in 1970 to $2.1 billion in 2011. The company was profitable in every year. Baldor Electric Company was a publicly-traded company (BEZ) from 1976 until being acquired by ABB Ltd of Zurich, Switzerland in 2011. During its time as a public company, the value of its stock grew at a compounded annual rate of approximately 19%. McFarland led the integration effort for Baldor until retirement.
During McFarland’s career the company made approximately 15 acquisitions. McFarland negotiated and led the integration on 5 of these including Reliance Electric Company, an acquisition that more than doubled the company’s sales, profits, employees, and number of facilities.

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