Helping People Win at Work

When Ken Blanchard was a college professor, he always gave his students the final exam at the beginning of the course and spent the rest of the semester helping them answer all the questions so they could get an A.

Garry Ridge, CEO of WD-40 Company, heard Ken tell that story and thought, "why not do the same thing in business?" So he threw out the old performance review system. In its place, he created a process where people received helpful feedback that lifted them up instead of labeled them. Since instituting the system, WD-40 Company's sales and earnings have soared.

Together Blanchard and Ridge have written a book that will teach you how to:

Stop building failure into your mentoring of employees
Set goals using the SMART approach: specific, motivational, attainable, relevant and trackable
Help people move through all four stages of mastery
Create a culture that shares knowledge and encourages nonstop learning

If your company is not achieving the results you hope for, maybe it's time to throw out your performance review system and replace it with a process that actually helps people "get an A." Because when your people win, your company wins.

Ken Blanchard, one of the most influential leadership experts in the world, is the coauthor of the iconic bestseller, The One Minute Manager, and more than 60 other books whose combined sales total more than 21 million copies. His groundbreaking works have been translated into more than 42 languages and in 2005 he was inducted into Amazon’s Hall of Fame as one of the top 25 bestselling authors of all time. He is also the cofounder with his wife, Margie, of The Ken Blanchard Companies^® , an international management training and consulting firm in San Diego, California.

Garry Ridge is chief executive officer and a member of the board of directors of WD-40 Company, responsible for developing and implementing high-level strategies, all operations, and the oversight of all relationships and partnerships for the company.

Garry is passionate about the learning and empowering organizational culture he has helped establish at the WD-40 Company, and his vision and leadership have positively impacted the WD-40 Company in both measurable and immeasurable ways.

Garry joined WD-40 Company in 1987 and has held various management positions in the company, including executive vice president and chief operating officer, and vice president of international. He has worked directly with WD-40 Company in over 50 countries. In 1997, he was appointed president and chief executive officer of WD-40 Company.

A native of Australia, Garry served in advisory roles for the Australian Marketing Institute and the Australian Automotive Aftermarket Association. Currently, he serves as a member of the board of governors of The San Diego Foundation, and the advisory boards of TrendSource Inc. and the University of San Diego’s School of Business Administration.

Garry is an adjunct professor at the University of San Diego where he teaches leadership development, talent management and succession planning in the Master of Science in Executive Leadership program. Garry holds a diploma in retail and wholesale distribution from Sydney Technical College and a Master of Science in Executive Leadership from the University of San Diego.

Helping People Win at Work

"How does a company manage to achieve its best year in sales in its 57-year history—by a big margin—during one of the most stubborn recessions in decades? By not judging, controlling, or rank-ordering its people."

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