436: Garry Ridge—Any Dumbass Can Do It

Summary

Podcast Summary: Episode 436 - Garry Ridge—Any Dumbass Can Do It

Title: The Way I Heard It with Mike Rowe
Episode: 436: Garry Ridge—Any Dumbass Can Do It
Release Date: May 13, 2025

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Introduction

In Episode 436 of "The Way I Heard It with Mike Rowe," host Mike Rowe engages in a profound conversation with Garry Ridge, the former CEO of the WD-40 Company and author of the insightful book, "Any Dumbass Can Do It." This episode delves into the intricacies of leadership, company culture, and the philosophies that propelled WD-40 to global success.

Garry Ridge's Background and Leadership Philosophy

Garry Ridge, hailing from Sydney, Australia, brings a wealth of experience from his 25-year tenure at WD-40. His leadership approach is deeply rooted in servant leadership, emphasizing the importance of prioritizing employees' well-being and fostering a positive work environment.

"[...] I truly believe that business has a responsibility and an opportunity to make a positive difference in the world."
— Garry Ridge [09:15]

Building a Positive Company Culture

A central theme of the conversation revolves around the exceptional company culture at WD-40. Ridge attributes the company's high employee satisfaction and engagement—98% of employees express pride in working there—to deliberate and consistent efforts in cultivating a supportive and inclusive environment.

"If we can put pleasure in a job, we're gonna bring perfection to the work."
— Garry Ridge [10:09]

Ridge emphasizes that building such a culture isn't instantaneous but rather a "crockpot approach," requiring time, patience, and unwavering commitment.

Employee Engagement and Retention

Ridge discusses strategies that WD-40 employed to maintain high engagement levels, especially during challenging times like the COVID-19 pandemic. By conducting pulse surveys and actively seeking employee feedback, the company ensured that their culture remained intact despite external pressures.

"We maintained very high engagement levels during the lockdown because we went in with a very high engagement level."
— Garry Ridge [15:52]

Adapting During the COVID-19 Pandemic

The pandemic posed significant challenges, but WD-40's pre-existing strong culture enabled the company to navigate through lockdowns effectively. Ridge recounts how the company's focus on safety, customer service, and business preservation contributed to their resilience.

"Our purpose in life is to make people happy. If we can't make them happy, at least don't hurt them."
— Garry Ridge [24:06]

Customer Engagement and Brand Strategy

Ridge elaborates on WD-40's approach to understanding and addressing customer needs. By listening to end-users and adapting their messaging, the company ensured their product remained relevant across diverse markets.

"Do you need me? Do you know me? How do I make you aware of me being able to solve your problem? And then can you buy me?"
— Garry Ridge [56:42]

A notable anecdote involves WD-40's successful entry into the Chinese market by rebranding their product to align with local needs, illustrating the importance of cultural adaptability in global business.

Lessons in Servant Leadership

Ridge underscores the essence of servant leadership—"it's about how do we bring the best out of other people." He contrasts the roles of managers and coaches, advocating for a leadership style that nurtures and empowers employees rather than micromanaging them.

"Great coaches spend a lot of time in the stinky locker room. And that's where you really build psychological safety and trust."
— Garry Ridge [28:06]

Overcoming Common Leadership Challenges

Addressing contemporary issues like the Great Escape—a rebranding of the Great Resignation—Ridge explains how toxic workplace cultures drive employees to leave. He emphasizes the necessity for leaders to focus on long-term cultural integrity over short-term gains.

"CEOs these days are pressured by what are you going to do for me in the next 90 days if it isn't working. Who are you going to lay off?"
— Garry Ridge [30:20]

Hiring Practices and Value Alignment

Ridge shares WD-40's stringent hiring practices, ensuring that new employees align with the company's core values. This alignment fosters a cohesive and harmonious workplace where everyone contributes to the shared mission.

"If you can't align with these [values], don't even apply because you won't fit."
— Garry Ridge [32:14]

Maintaining Brand Integrity and Innovation

The conversation touches on how WD-40 has maintained its market dominance through consistent brand integrity and continuous innovation. Ridge highlights the importance of understanding and anticipating customer needs to stay ahead of competitors.

"If you identify the need, number one, do you need me? Second thing, do you know me? How do I make you aware of me being able to solve your problem? And then can you buy me?"
— Garry Ridge [56:42]

Personal Reflections on Leadership

Mike Rowe and Ridge exchange personal anecdotes that shed light on the human aspects of leadership. Ridge shares wisdom on balancing toughness with empathy, asserting that effective leaders must possess both a "heart of gold" and a "backbone of steel."

"That's why we had that strong ethos within the organization."
— Garry Ridge [28:56]

Conclusion

Episode 436 offers a deep dive into Garry Ridge's philosophy on leadership and company culture. Through his experiences at WD-40 and insights from his book, Ridge presents a compelling case for servant leadership and the profound impact of fostering a positive, engaged workforce. For listeners seeking to enhance their leadership skills or build a thriving organizational culture, Ridge's lessons are both practical and inspiring.

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Notable Quotes:

• "If we can put pleasure in a job, we're gonna bring perfection to the work." — Garry Ridge [10:09]
• "Culture is not the product. The culture is the people." — Garry Ridge [19:12]
• "We are here to serve others. That success is simple, but it's not easy." — Garry Ridge [58:34]
• "Life's a gift. Don't send it back unwrapped." — Garry Ridge [66:16]

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This episode provides invaluable insights for leaders, entrepreneurs, and anyone interested in building a meaningful and effective workplace. Garry Ridge's blend of personal experience, theoretical knowledge, and practical application makes "Any Dumbass Can Do It" a must-read for those aiming to make a positive impact through leadership.

Transcript

[Mike Rowe]

Hey, guys, it's Mike Rowe. This is the way I heard it. Episode number. Oh, right. We don't do that anymore.

[Chuck]

Well, you know, we could, but.

[Mike Rowe]

400 something, at least. Yeah, it's. It's like.

[Chuck]

Yeah, whatever. It's a. Yeah, it's an episode, all right. With a number.

[Mike Rowe]

Good. Thank you, Chuck.

[Chuck]

Undisclosed at this moment.

[Mike Rowe]

I'll tell you what matters is the name. The name of the episode is fantastic. It's called Any Dumbass Can Do It. And it could apply to podcasting, it could apply to hosting, it could apply to virtually everything. But in this case, it applies to running a company.

[Chuck]

Right.

[Mike Rowe]

Gary Ridge is the author of a terrific book of the same title. He's very Australian, as he will prove shortly. And we've just had a great conversation about his extraordinary impact and run over at a little company called WD40.

[Gary Ridge]

Yeah.

[Mike Rowe]

I mean, the company itself, you could talk for hours about. They've got just a couple of products. They totally dominate the market. But the employee satisfaction and engagement levels, very high.

[Chuck]

Very high.

[Mike Rowe]

Suspiciously high.

[Chuck]

Yes.

[Mike Rowe]

It's hard to believe what these guys have done to build a culture in, like, 16 different countries. 6, 700 employees. They are a family. And it's just. I just wish I could do that here with you and Mary and Jade. And I wish I. I just wish I were a better leader.

[Chuck]

It would be great if you were, Mike. But I think. I think it's fair to say, too, that this was a very slick conversation.

[Mike Rowe]

Ooh, really? Do you think you're just trying to do a lubricant joke around WD40?

[Chuck]

I was trying to do a lubricant joke.

[Mike Rowe]

See, this is why we have no cohesion here at Microworks. People still think they can handle the jokes when they can't, and I have no choice but to shout them down.

[Chuck]

Oh, man.

[Mike Rowe]

I hesitate to say this was written for other CEOs, because I think the book has a lot of stuff in it that can apply to just about anyone. But I'll tell you what's. What's for sure, it's fun to talk to an Australian.

[Gary Ridge]

Right.

[Chuck]

I love listening to an Australian talk.

[Mike Rowe]

And it's not just the accent there.

[Chuck]

No.

[Mike Rowe]

Now there's an enthusiasm among the Aussies. There's a. Just like Hemingway used to say, you know, live all the way up. They're well traveled, they're passionate.

[Chuck]

Yeah.

[Mike Rowe]

You know, and they have a lot to say. But this guy beyond that has been there and done it. His book will be out by the time you listen to this. You should check it out. Any dumbass can do it. It's funny. He's funny. A couple of laughs and dare I say, chuck some some pearls of wisdom for those who pay attention.

[Chuck]

Yes, yes indeed.

[Mike Rowe]

And when it comes to paying attention, trust me, any dumbass can do it. Hopefully you'll help me prove that right after this dumb. Quick question. How long would you want to spend on a date with a person you knew you were never going to see again? If you said as short a time as possible, congratulations, you're sane. Likewise, how long would you like to spend in an interview with someone you knew you were never going to hire? If you said as short a time as possible, congratulations again. You're the kind of person who is going to love Zip Intro. Zip Intro is the best and latest way to post a job today and talk to a qualified candidate tomorrow. It's like speed dating. Zip Intro does most of the work for you, so you save time. And right now you can try Zip Intro for [e-mail] row all you do is pick a time and Zip Intro sets up a series of back to back video calls. Then you can choose who you want to meet. There's no faster way and no easier way to connect with great people. Just go to ziprecruiter.com row to try Zip Intro for free. That's ziprecruiter.com row To Try Zip Intro. Post a job today, talk to qualified candidates tomorrow.

[Chuck]

Well, ziprecruiter.com.

[Mike Rowe]

Rob wellziprecruiter.com SL roll the smartest way to.

[Gary Ridge]

H.

[Chuck]

Okay, I'm rolling.

[Mike Rowe]

You're welcome.

[Gary Ridge]

Yep, I see you got it. There you go. Thank you. That's it.

[Mike Rowe]

Just so you know, it's real. Very Ridge suit of armor. If it comes up, and it will.

[Gary Ridge]

It's amazing.

[Mike Rowe]

Yeah, I mean that is that the instant gratification Google is intoxicating.

[Chuck]

Now. Did you spell armor with you or not?

[Mike Rowe]

What am I, English?

[Chuck]

Just kidding.

[Mike Rowe]

British army.

[Chuck]

I mean they do that, do it that way in Australia as well, don't they?

[Gary Ridge]

Armor. I used to always get in trouble spelling armor all.

[Mike Rowe]

And under armour and.

[Gary Ridge]

Under armour and tire.

[Mike Rowe]

Why? Why did you guys wage war on the letter R?

[Gary Ridge]

I have no idea.

[Mike Rowe]

How did that happen?

[Gary Ridge]

I don't know. Well, you know, we're convicts. We were sent there by the best judges in England, you know, this is.

[Mike Rowe]

Gary Ridge, by the way, former CEO of WD40 and my guest for as long as he'll stay here. And we're Just talking. But clearly you're Australian.

[Gary Ridge]

I.

[Mike Rowe]

And the Australians have a moratorium on R. And yet your name, Gary, has two R's. Has two R's. You're the only Gary I know with two R's. Please explain.

[Gary Ridge]

I think I was named after a pub. There was a pub in Australia called the Gary Owen, and my name is Gary Owen Ridge. And my dad was born in 1907. My mum was born in 1914. So mum lived till she was 99 years and nine months old. But one day I was driving through a suburb of Sydney not far from where I lived, and I see a pub called the Garry Owen. And I went to my dad and I said, did you drink beer there, dad? He said, I might have had a, you know, a schooner there occasionally. And I said, was I named after that pub? And he denied it. Mike. But who knows?

[Mike Rowe]

Isn't Gary Owen a famous melody? A song?

[Gary Ridge]

Not that I'm aware of.

[Mike Rowe]

Wasn't. Chuck, I hate to ask you so early on to do actual work, but I think Gary Owen is associated with the 7th Cavalry, and I think it specifically with Custer's Last Stand. I don't know why I think that, but it would be great to know if I'm. If I'm simply hallucinating. What part? Where exactly is home in Australia?

[Gary Ridge]

Sydney. I grew up in Sydney, Australia, a little suburb called Five Dock, which was about seven or eight miles from the center of Sydney. Went to Drummond Boys High School, which was a great load of fun.

[Mike Rowe]

I love Sydney. I've been there twice. Reminds me of San Francisco, where I lived for a while. I think they're sister cities. In fact, they are.

[Gary Ridge]

It's a. We were talking earlier. You know, I live in San Diego now. San Diego is a lot like Perth, which is on the western side of Australia because it has the desert on the east. But Sydney is a little like San Francisco. It's a little like San Diego. It's the sweetest city in the South Seas. Mike.

[Mike Rowe]

It's so funny the way we. Oh, Chuck, was I right?

[Chuck]

It's a 7th Cavalry regiment of the United States army, which adopted the Irish tune, yes, Gary Owen as its official marching song.

[Mike Rowe]

Play it. Play it. Find a video and play that thing. I want to hear it. It's. It's like a. Now it's haunting me like a. Like a splinter in my mind.

[Gary Ridge]

My gosh. Something you learn every day. I'm. I'm a song now.

[Mike Rowe]

Well, I mean, is this. You're clearly a man who. Who has traveled and seen Some things done, some things does it all. Like, is your mind a cluttered desktop or a neatly ordered filing cabinet?

[Gary Ridge]

Oh, I'm a mess. I love the word discombobulated, and I think my mind is discombobulated. But then as I write in the book, there's an airport that has a recombobulation zone. So I think I'm discombobulated and recombobulated.

[Mike Rowe]

But you mentioned a book. It's called Any Dumbass Can Do It. You apparently have written it. Your name is on the front of it. I've read the synopsis that your publisher sent. So I'm not gonna pretend. Cause a lot of guys will do that. They'll read it and then they'll like that. I will read it. But I haven't yet. And I mean, I just. I don't think I've seen the world.

[Chuck]

Any dumbass can read it.

[Mike Rowe]

But I don't think I. I'm just trying to think of all the books I've seen with dumbass in the title. Now, is this just self deprecating or is it revelatory? Do you mean that? What's.

[Gary Ridge]

Yeah, I do mean it, Mike. I. I think, you know, if I want to be serious for a moment, which only for a moment, I mean.

[Mike Rowe]

If it goes on too long, he'll cue the music again and then it's the Irish pub.

[Gary Ridge]

That's it. Sure. I truly believe that business has a responsibility and an opportunity to make a positive difference in the world. And I know you believe that too, the way you support trades and young people and whatever. And in my 25 years that I was given the opportunity, and I'm so grateful for that opportunity to lead a company, I really learned that it's really about the people. And if we can. Aristotle said pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work. And if we can put pleasure in a job, we're gonna bring perfection to the work. And I think it's the job of businesses these days to build cultures where people go home happy because happy people create happy families, happy families create happy communities. Happy communities create a happy world. And we need a happy world. And if you look at some of the latest research, you know, Gallup came out in January, 31% of people who go to work every day in the US are engaged, which means 69% are disengaged. And the biggest proportion of people who are disengaged are under 35. The young people and leaders are creating these toxic cultures that people hate going to work. You know, I created someone called Alec, the soul sucking CEO.

[Mike Rowe]

He's in here.

[Gary Ridge]

He's in there. So I wrote the book because after having that opportunity at WD40, I thought, I can pay it forward now by sharing the things that we learned over time that build a great culture. And at the company, you know, we had, and they still have very, very high employee engagement. 98% of the people say they love to tell people they work at the company, and we're not sexy. It's oil in a can, right?

[Mike Rowe]

Well, I love the company for reasons that you and I have discussed offline, and we'll get into that as well. But since you invoked Aristotle, I think he also said that the definition of a tragedy is that moment in the narrative when the protagonist comes face to face with the inescapable truth of his own self. And, you know, I realize that's a bit highfalutin, but I remember it word for word because to me, it's so poetic and poignant and grand, but common. And when you just think of, you know, you just hit me with some percentages. 31 and 69, they're not big numbers in and of themselves, but you're talking about many, many millions of people.

[Gary Ridge]

Many millions of people.

[Mike Rowe]

And if you got 69% of people walking around fundamentally disengaged with their work, then these people are about to come face to face with the inescapable tragedy of their own identity. And that sucks.

[Gary Ridge]

It sucks. I mean, and we don't have to have that environment. I mean, you can change that. You know, in business and in life, there's. I think there's three things that are really important. The first one is, do I belong? Do I feel like. And am I treated like I belong? Do I matter? Am I treated like I matter? And is what I do seen as being valuable? And thirdly, am I allowed to make choices? So can I make a choice in what I do? And if you have an organization where people belong and they feel like they belong, where they matter and they know they matter and they're able to make choices, then you create a culture where people feel rightly so that they're valued.

[Mike Rowe]

Is there a difference between belonging and feeling like you belong?

[Gary Ridge]

Yes.

[Mike Rowe]

What?

[Gary Ridge]

The way you're treated. I mean, you know, if you think about, do I feel like I belong? It's how you are treated within an organization. You know, how many times do people in organizations ask, mike, how are you today? What's on your mind? Is there anything getting in your way? How can I help?

[Mike Rowe]

You.

[Gary Ridge]

Or are they talking about, you know, why didn't you meet your sales target? And do I really care about what's going on in your home?

[Mike Rowe]

I mean, you know, that's a really interesting point. I think sometimes we do more harm than good when we ask somebody how they're doing. Insincerely.

[Gary Ridge]

Absolutely.

[Mike Rowe]

And because you hear it all of the time, and, you know, when somebody says, hey, how are you? That they don't really give a tinker's damn. And if you're really having a bad day and you've got some heavy stuff, and you say, hey, I'm glad you asked, and then you sit them down, and 10 minutes later, they're just going, my God, what have I done? So you have to. You have to really care. Like, you really have to give a damn if you ask somebody how they're doing.

[Gary Ridge]

Yeah. And that was something that became really interestingly clear to me when I moved from Australia to here back in 1994. I'd go through a checkout, and someone would say, have a nice day. And I think to myself, why do you care? You know, do you really care if I have a nice day? No, it was just that automatic reply.

[Mike Rowe]

It's time to make sounds.

[Gary Ridge]

Yes. So I think authenticity, Mike, is so important in that in an organization, you have to show that you really care. And that's where vulnerability comes into play. That's where, you know, taking the time to really understand people.

[Mike Rowe]

Well, with regard to authenticity, one of the things that did stick with me as I did the cursory research to create the illusion that I read your book was the satisfaction rate. The engagement among your employees during lockdowns versus other big organizations was so stark. You'll remember the exact numbers, I'm sure, but you were in the mid to high 90s.

[Gary Ridge]

93%.

[Mike Rowe]

Okay. While the average organization was, like, flirting with single digits, it seemed.

[Gary Ridge]

Yeah, well, certainly, you know, not in high past 30.

[Mike Rowe]

So how the hell did you do that? You are now an international organization. Right. You've got people suddenly working from home. How did you navigate that? And I'm asking for a friend. I have a tiny organization here, you know, and we're just trying to figure out, you know, is it a bad trade, what you lose from being together, what you gain from not spending two hours in traffic every day like poor Chuck has to do. Is it a fair trade? Is it a good trade? How do you navigate that?

[Gary Ridge]

Well, I think there's a couple of things. We maintained a very high engagement level during the lockdown because we went in with a very high engagement level. So, you know, you can't sprinkle fairy dust on an organization and change culture. I have a friend of mine, his name's Charlie Maloof. He owns a chain of Ashley Furniture stores out in North Carolina. And he says, what a story.

[Mike Rowe]

What a company that is.

[Gary Ridge]

Yeah, you should talk to him one day.

[Mike Rowe]

Sure.

[Gary Ridge]

And he says, you know, culture is not a microwavable event. It takes a crockpot approach. And that is so true. So we maintained high levels because we went in with high levels. And I'll tell you a story around that is we were. It was January 2021. So we've been one year into this thing that we're in. There is no sign yet, really, of a vaccination or a solution. So the world is topsy turvy. You know, we'd. We'd get in of a morning, and we'd be, you know, virtual, and we'd be checking which country are we actually. Is actually open today. So I said, I want to. I want to be sure that we haven't been draining our cultural equity in the last year.

[Mike Rowe]

Let me just jump in real quick so people understand. How many employers are we talking about and how many countries?

[Gary Ridge]

Sixteen countries, probably in our leadership group and the execution group, probably six or 700 people.

[Mike Rowe]

Okay. It's a chunk.

[Gary Ridge]

Yeah. So I said, let's go out and do a, you know, a pulse survey to see if we've. Our levels have remained where they were in March 2020, when we took the last serious pulse survey. So we went out and did a check in, and the numbers came back, and they were pretty much equal, which gave me some satisfaction that all that we've been doing in this past had kept us together. You know, we were doing fun things. We'd have a virtual comedian come in. Our French team would do virtual cooking classes for the whole organization. We were doing stuff. We'd have a virtual happy hour on a Friday afternoon. All of this stuff still wasn't as good as being together, but we were there. One number came back that really blew me away, and it was the answer to a question. I am excited about my place in the company and the future. And it came back at 97% of our people positively said that, which was higher than it was in 2020. And I said, this cannot be real. You know, people. Don't. They realize what's going on in the world, Go back and check it. So we went back and checked. It came back. It was real. I said, we gotta find out why. So we went out and we asked the question why? And it was a very beautiful answer. We got Mike. It said, I feel safe. I feel safe. We are living our just cause. And our just cause, openly stated, was a group of people that come together to protect and feed each other. And we were protecting each other and we were feeding each other. Because day one of COVID we said we have three objectives. And the number one objective is the safety and the well being of our people. The number two objective is to service our customers and our end users the best we can. And number three was to preserve the underbody of our business so that when this was over, we will thrive.

[Mike Rowe]

But nowhere in there is any mention of the product.

[Gary Ridge]

No. Because the culture is not the product. The culture is the people. So it's all about the people.

[Mike Rowe]

Dumb. I don't know about you guys, but if I have a choice, I prefer to do business with companies that actually stand for something. Which is why I switch from Verizon to Pure Talk. No offense to Verizon. I'm sure they stand for something, I just don't know what it is. PureTalk, on the other hand, that's a veteran owned company that supports our military and our skilled workforce in a big way. I appreciate that. Sure. I also appreciate unlimited talk and text and plenty of data for half the cost of the big guys. And I like being on America's most dependable 5G network for just 20 bucks a month. But what I really appreciate is no contract, no cancellation fees, and PureTalk's commitment to handle all of their customer service, all of it right here in this country. I saw it for myself. I actually went to Georgia, I got a tour of their headquarters, I met their CEO, and I talked to the same customer service folks that you'll talk to when you switch. In fact, if you switch Today, you'll save 50% off your first month at PureTalk.com PureTalk, a wireless company that actually stands for something. It's almost as though, if I can reach for a metaphor here, that your product, fundamentally a lubricant, applies to your people, to the culture. I mean, creating the right lubrication, creating, you know, to, to reduce the friction. Maybe. Yeah, I don't know. I'm not.

[Gary Ridge]

Friction, reduce friction and increase flow. We, we use that a lot. You know, our purpose statement, you know, when I asked people what do you think the purpose of, of our company is? Right. If I ask someone now, when I'm. Even though I'm not there, I'm out speaking on the, on the, you know, around the world about culture. And someone will say, W40 purpose. Stop a squeak, you know, stop moisture. I said, well, that's what it does. But here was our purpose statement. We existed to create positive, lasting memories, solving problems in factories, homes and workshops around the world. We solved problems and we created opportunities. We're in the memories business. Our second value at the company was we exist to create positive, lasting memories. So we could ask that question all the time. What positive, lasting memory did that behavior create? What positive, lasting memory did our new delivery system deliver to our end users? What positive, lasting memory did we create for the community, for the tradespeople that we service? So it was always on top of mind that that's why we're in business. So, you know, don't get your purpose mixed up with your product. Your purpose is a little different. And that's why we had that strong ethos within the organization.

[Mike Rowe]

For whom did you write the book?

[Gary Ridge]

I wrote it for the leaders that are out there that can make a difference in the world if they're brave enough to do it. And why I say brave is that building a great culture in an organization is simple. It's not easy, and time is not your friend. When I was a young lad back in Australia in my high school science class, my science teacher gave me a petri dish Mike. And they said, what we're going to do is we're going to grow culture in this petri dish. And the science teacher said, what's important is the ingredients that you put in the dish. And how are you going to take care of those ingredients as the owner of that petri dish to grow the best culture you can. So if you know the ingredients to put into the dish as a leader to build a great culture, and you're brave enough to reward and applaud the good ingredients or the good behavior and brave enough to treat the toxins, you will build a great culture over time. But it takes time. Consistency is so important.

[Mike Rowe]

I mean, you were at WD40 for 25 years.

[Gary Ridge]

35 years, 25 years as CEO.

[Mike Rowe]

Now, is that the kind of time you're talking about to create the kind of results that are potentially there? I mean, do you need that long? Because most CEOs don't. Don't make it 25 years.

[Gary Ridge]

No, they don't.

[Mike Rowe]

They don't make it 10.

[Gary Ridge]

No, no. I think that you have to start the process. It probably took us three to five years to gain the momentum of what we're all about. You know, when I. The story behind how this came about, if you're interested, is that, you know, in 1997, I became CEO. For some reason, the board of directors of a US public company thought this dumb ass from Australia might be okay. And I knew with the help of those around me, how to make the brand aware and make it easy to buy for people around the world who needed it. It just took time to do that.

[Mike Rowe]

Was something broken at that point or was there merely room for improvement?

[Gary Ridge]

There was room for expansion. 90, 85% of our revenue was in the U.S. when I left, 65% of our revenue was outside the U.S. because we knew there were lots of places around the world to go. So, you know, we opened these 17 offices and built the brand. So I think we knew over time how to build the brand. But what was clear to me was the sun was never going to set on that can now because it was going to be somewhere around the world. At any time during the day we would be doing something. And I didn't want people based in Barcelona or Beijing or wherever having to quack up the hierarchy to get some answer back in San Diego. But I didn't know how to do it. So I'm flying on a Qantas 747 from Los Angeles to Sydney. It's 1998. And as you do when you travel, you take stuff to read. And I read something that was attributed to the Dalai Lama. Our purpose in life is to make people happy. If we can't make them happy, at least don't hurt them. I thought, wow, that's pretty cool.

[Mike Rowe]

Hippocratic oath.

[Gary Ridge]

And then I read the quote from Aristotle. Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work. I thought, that's pretty cool. I wonder how you could build that. I still didn't know how I got back to San Diego. And I was reading something in the Union Tribune and it was about a master's degree in leadership at the University of San Diego that was put together by Dr. Ken Blanchard, the one minute manager and the University of San Diego.

[Mike Rowe]

You wrote a book with Ken?

[Gary Ridge]

I did. And he wrote the forward to my new book.

[Mike Rowe]

What was the book with Ken?

[Gary Ridge]

It's called Helping People Win at Work.

[Mike Rowe]

Ah.

[Gary Ridge]

And the byline is don't mark my paper, Help me get an A.

[Mike Rowe]

That's great.

[Gary Ridge]

Ken's 85, 86.

[Mike Rowe]

He's terrific, by the way.

[Gary Ridge]

He lives close to me. We are very, very dear friends. I love him so much. We talk more than often.

[Mike Rowe]

And he lives near you in Australia?

[Gary Ridge]

No, in san Diego. Oh, 15 minutes away. So. But I was just. I was at his 85th birthday, and it's just. I love that guy to death. Anyhow, I listened to him, and he said, most leadership is about getting people in the head. We got to get people in the heart. And that's what this program's all about. So here I am. I'm the CEO of a US Public company. Two years. And I went back to school. I went and did a master's degree in leadership. Ken was one of my professors, And I learned the essence of servant leadership, and I started to implement it in the company. And that was where it all started. And from then, we gained the momentum of, you know, now. Back then, what I talked about, people, their eyes rolled. You know, you're drinking too much of Ken Blanchard's Kool Aid. You know, I remember going to board meetings, and I'd be talking about culture. And they began, what is this culture thing about? Now, today, culture is a big topic that, you know, we were early beginners on it, but it was really about. And that's where I learned that it's not about me. It's about how do we bring the best out of other people. You know, we changed the name of manager in the company to coach. Why? Well, the word manager in some dictionaries means manipulator. So I come to you and say, good morning, Mike. I'm gonna manage you. How do you feel? No, what am I here to do? I'm here to coach you. And if you think about great coaches, have you ever seen a great coach run onto the field and actually take the ball and try and score? No.

[Mike Rowe]

I've seen him accept an award.

[Gary Ridge]

They never go to the podium to pick up the prize.

[Mike Rowe]

That's right.

[Gary Ridge]

But what do bad leaders do? They micromanage. They run onto the field. They want to take the ball. When something great happens, they're up there taking the prize. If things go wrong, it's your fault. If things go right, it's my fault. And the other thing that's so important, Great coaches spend a lot of time in the stinky locker room. And that's where you really build psychological safety and trust. You get to know your people well.

[Mike Rowe]

That was the third thing you said. You have to have, like, for real engagement. I think people need to believe. Know that they can move the needle right and that they'll. And the only way you do that.

[Gary Ridge]

Is leave them alone and coach them to play their best game. So, you know, you have to redirect, play Occasionally, yeah. But, you know, if you want to go on there and play the game all yourself, you'll just become exhausted and you'll never get a team that wins.

[Mike Rowe]

So, I mean, do you feel that something fundamental has changed in the broader culture and the broader society? And I say that because it just sounds like they're. There's so many bad habits that so many CEOs have employed for so long that something must have existed that allowed them to get away with it. You know, maybe it was. Maybe recruiting was easier, maybe there was just a more of a baked in understanding of, well, this is what an employee does, this is what an employer does. But it feels like something fundamental shifted. And maybe it was during the lockdowns, maybe it was when people came back in after having some time away that they realized that something really fundamental was missing that went beyond the right. Just the job of it. It's a bad job of articulating it, but it.

[Gary Ridge]

No, I know where you're coming from. And I think certainly Covid for all of us was a smack up the side of the head around a lot of things. But I wrote an article around Covid time. They were talking about the Great Resignation. It wasn't the Great Resignation, it was the Great Escape, the Great Escape. People were escaping toxic cultures. They said, I've had enough. And again, you know, you and I could probably sit here and write a really good strategic plan about launching something. You know, you've spent so much of your life in marketing and what you do. And we take that strategic plan along to some smart professor and say, mark this up. They say, great strategic plan, Mike. 70 out of 100. But if only 20% of the people who go to work every day are passionately executing against that plan, 20 times 70 is 1,400. But if 80% of the people are executing 20, 80 times 70 is 5,600. So, duh, why don't you get it now? I think a lot of it is short term thinking. You know, CEOs these days are pressured by, what are you going to do for me in the next 90 days if it isn't working? Who are you going to lay off? Wait a minute, you're gonna let your brain drain go out the door? You've spent all this time developing these people. Why are you doing. You know, in my 25 years at WD40 company, we never laid anybody off at any time now.

[Mike Rowe]

Never.

[Gary Ridge]

Never. Now, we did share some people with competitors if they weren't really wanting to be with us. But in any Economic. We never laid anyone off because we said it was our people that were the asset, that the will of the people was so important to drive our strategy.

[Mike Rowe]

Well, then how, how do you hire? What do you look for in an individual? Right? I mean, because these ideal employees that you're talking about, they don't. They don't come out fully formed. They need to be coached. So what's the. What's the bare minimum? Where's the benchmark for a good values?

[Gary Ridge]

If you were to go on our website, and I know what, I don't know what it says now because I haven't looked lately, but when I was there, and I think it says exactly the same. If you went onto our careers page, the first thing that pops up at you is, here are our values at WD40 company and here's what they mean to us. If you can't align with these, don't even apply because you won't fit. You will get voted off the island.

[Mike Rowe]

So are you allowed to do that? I mean, I do the same. Mine's hanging on the wall there. It's called a sweat pledge.

[Gary Ridge]

There you go.

[Mike Rowe]

Right now, if you're going to apply for a scholarship for my foundation, this is it. Well, we can still be friends if you don't agree with this, but I can't help you.

[Gary Ridge]

Yeah, exactly.

[Mike Rowe]

But it feels like so many CEOs today, so many companies are under so much pressure. You can't really have that conversation.

[Gary Ridge]

Why not?

[Mike Rowe]

Well, because.

[Gary Ridge]

But you can test it. Like, let's say our first value is we value their first value. At WD40 companies, we value doing the right thing. So what does that look like? Or the second one was, we value creating positive, lasting memories in all of our relationships. That was the second one. So someone comes in to the organization and they visit the. The front desk. Who? The person there that we call the. The person of first impression. And they don't treat them with respect. Do you think they're going to create positive, lasting memories? There it is. It says it's a special place.

[Mike Rowe]

Well, it says it right, but how do I know it's not bullshit? Like to our earlier point? Have a nice day. Hey, how you doing? It's easy to say the words. It's easy to write the words. It's easy to take actors or maybe your real employees. I'm guessing those are your real employees.

[Gary Ridge]

They're all employees.

[Mike Rowe]

Let's see them against you.

[Gary Ridge]

Okay. They're real people. Each one of them, I know each.

[Mike Rowe]

One of their names are they really that happy? What's happening here? Well, these guys look like they just hit the greatest lottery of all time.

[Gary Ridge]

98% of our people say they love to tell people they love at the company. From the, from our surveys, 98% of our people say, I love to tell people I work at WD40 company. 97% of them say I respect my coach. Now their coach is their manager. Most people leave organizations because they hate their boss. And when we ask them, why do you respect your coach? Answer was always very similar. Because the coach is here to help me step into the best version of my personal self. They're here, they care about me, they want me to do my best job, and they're willing to help me grow.

[Mike Rowe]

How important is it for an employee or what do you call them, caretakers of the brand or something like that?

[Gary Ridge]

Well, I used to call them tribe members.

[Mike Rowe]

Really?

[Gary Ridge]

Yeah.

[Mike Rowe]

I'm sure you can get away with that in Australia. You start calling people tribal over here, there's going to be l to pay.

[Gary Ridge]

But it depends. Tribe goes back thousands of years. I'm not talking about any indigenous group. I'm talking about human behaviour.

[Mike Rowe]

Ah, okay.

[Gary Ridge]

I'm not wanting to tread on anybody's indigenous background, but UG the Caveman was a tribal person. You know, books have been written about the power of tribes or clans. Let's call them. Let's be Scottish, let's call them a clan, if you like.

[Mike Rowe]

Fine.

[Gary Ridge]

But the number one responsibility of a tribal leader is to be a learner and a teacher. That's the number one responsibility. That was our now, you know, that was me when I was there. What they call themselves now, I don't know.

[Mike Rowe]

Okay, then maybe, maybe what I'm getting at, because my recent conversation with Gene Simmons is still on my mind. He doesn't want to be called a Democrat or a Republican. He wants to be called an American. That's how he thinks of his tribe. Now, that requires assimilation, the kind of culture you're describing at a specific company, in this case WD40. My question is, does it. Are you hiring people who need to assimilate, or do you just look for people who are already lined up so squarely with your values that there's really no friction? Dumb. Hey, parents. I don't know if you've noticed this, but times have changed since you and I were in high school. This generation of kids are facing a level of student debt that we never experienced, along with a rising cost of living and stagnant wages. But we still want our Kids to have the best chance to be financially stable on their own. Which is why I recommend K12's tuition free online public schools and their career in college prep program. With career and College Prep at K12 powered schools, students can explore high demand industries to equip them with relevant skills and actual hands on experience. They can build connections with professionals through internships and apprenticeships and networking opportunities and even get assistance with job placement including the basics like crafting a resume and preparing for an interview. If your student chooses to go to college, K12 can help them with every step along the way from finding the right schools for their needs to providing expert guidance on applying for scholarships and financial aid. Plus, students can get a head start by earning college credits and dual enrollment programs while still in high school. Go to k12.comrotoday Learn more and find a K12 powered school near you. That's the letter K the number 12.comroe k12.comroe well, of course there's friction.

[Gary Ridge]

You know, I'm neither an American Australian, I'm a human. I have a heart, I care. And that's what we were about at WD40 is we care. I don't care whether you're, what color you are, what side of the street you walk on. But you know, I'm a human and it comes down to that part of it. You know, life's a gift. Don't send it back unwrapped. You know, we have too much to do here. So if we treat people with respect and dignity and whoever they are, that's who they are. I mean, I'm a human. I'm.

[Mike Rowe]

I heard you say something once.

[Gary Ridge]

Because.

[Mike Rowe]

I actually did do some research. I'm not that blase about my guests. You said what would you do if you weren't afraid?

[Gary Ridge]

Yeah.

[Mike Rowe]

And since you mentioned fear three times already and bravery twice, drill down on that for a second. I think get closer to the microphone because it looks like you're trying to say something really important. I want to make sure everybody.

[Gary Ridge]

And in fact, that comes from a friend of mine, Tracy Fenton. She has an organization called World Blue. And it's a wonderful question to ask is what would you do if you weren't afraid now what would you do? And fear is this disabling emotion that you have and you have to think about it because in most circumstances it's the fear that stops us from doing anything. So it's a great question to ask. Now sometimes the answer is something that you don't want to accept. You know, it's like, I can't do that. I can't. But it's a great question to ask, what are you afraid of? And what would you do if you weren't afraid?

[Mike Rowe]

It's a bit passive aggressive, right? I mean, it presupposes you're afraid. Are you still beating your wife? Presupposes the beatings have, you know, been going. Been ongoing. But. But I. But I like it anyway, in. In spite of its. Right. Because it does. It does force you to think a little differently about the difference between, say, worry, which is adjacent to fear, and concern. Right. Which is adjacent to responsibility. But either of those things can tip. And when you're afraid. Well, that's adjacent to paralyzed.

[Gary Ridge]

Yes, that. We talk about the deer in the middle of the road. You know, Mike, fundamentally, I believe we are just these basic human beings bumbling our way down this pathway of life, right? And in the bushes are these thieves, and they're the thieves of anger and greed. And, you know, and they come out and they grab us off this path and they take us into the bush. And for a minute there, we think, oh, well, maybe. Maybe I feel okay here. But if you stay in that bush, you will never, ever get to your destination. So we have to pull ourselves out of there and get back on the path. So the question we need to ask ourselves all the time is, am I being the person I want to be right now? And who is that person? And why that's so important is that you could be in a meeting or some sort of gathering or something with someone, and it ends, and let's say you leave and you're a little agitated, and now I'm coming to see you, don't I owe you my best self, not my leftover self from the last interaction. So as a CEO, as a leader, you've got to have that discipline to say, I need to center myself to be my best self because I owe it to the person that I'm now going to interact with. Because I don't want to take my leftover self to Mike. I want to take my best self.

[Mike Rowe]

That's interesting. You know, I. Because I've heard the argument also posed that you. It's not that you owe the other person, although you do, it's that you owe yourself.

[Gary Ridge]

True.

[Mike Rowe]

First.

[Gary Ridge]

True.

[Mike Rowe]

You know, I remember an essay, I think Tom Wolfe wrote it, where he. It was a rumination on not why some people are good and some people are bad. It was why. It was the different reasons why good people do good things. And it's pretty nuanced, but I thought it was great. He said that today, if a good parent is in a store and their kid steals a candy bar and they see it happen, they take their kid to the side, walk up to the manager, tell them what you did, and then you have this teachable moment.

[Gary Ridge]

Yeah. Learning moment.

[Mike Rowe]

Right. You have a learning moment, and you say to the kid, look, this is wrong, because if everybody did what you were doing, the merchant would go out of business, and it's not fair. Right. And you'd make the case. And that's what good people do. 100 years ago, same exact scenario. It's just whap on the side of the head, and it's like, hey, man, you do that, you go to hell. You understand? You are robbing from yourself. You're compromising your own soul, the future of the essence of you. You just. You just gave a piece of that away. I'm interested in that and the way our motivation might have evolved over time through the lens of why do the good thing? The answer today feels a little different to me.

[Gary Ridge]

Yeah. I think back, you know, my mom, and there's a chapter in the book, and I think you mentioned it before, even the Queen sits Down to Pee.

[Mike Rowe]

It's one of my. It's one of my very favorite chapters.

[Gary Ridge]

And my mom, you know, in Australia, we have a thing called the Tall Poppy Syndrome.

[Mike Rowe]

In New Zealand as well, Phil Keegan told me all about that. The host of the Amazing Race. Okay, I love that. Explain it again for me.

[Gary Ridge]

Yeah, well, you get too big for your boots, and, you know, people knock you down and. But they do it in a way that's caring, sharing, and loving. Oh, yeah, of course.

[Mike Rowe]

Yeah. It's nice when that machete just glides through your stem.

[Gary Ridge]

But, you know, I think that, you know, what mom used to tell me was, you know, don't overthink that you're the biggest and best in the world, because you're really here to help those that you have the opportunity to help. And. And I think that was really important. And, you know, as I said, my mum lived till she was 99 years and 9 months old, three months away from getting a letter from the Queen. Maybe she would have told us she sat down to pee at that time. I'm not sure. But, you know, I think that, you know, in life, it's. You can choose. You can choose to do good, or you can choose not to do good. And leadership is tough because you've got to have a heart of Gold. But you've got to have a backbone of steel as well. It's a balance between being tough minded and tender hearted. And if you go to either end of that spectrum, you're not a very good leader. A really tough minded leader doesn't care about their people. It's all about me, me, me. That's Alec, the soul sucking CEO. The tender hearted one isn't brave enough to have that conversation because they're protecting their own comfort zone at the expense of someone else's development. But if as a good leader, if you go into a conversation with, I mean you no harm, you know, I'm here to help you step into the best version of yourself. And here's why. And you prove that through your actions over time, you build trust and you build that trust with the people you have the privilege to lead. And that's important.

[Mike Rowe]

What kind of competition do you guys have on a practical level? What other companies are out there with a very competitive product at a competitive price, making your life difficult?

[Gary Ridge]

Well, you know, we're in the consumer business, so we're competing against, you know, razor blades and whatever else is out there because it's shelf space that we're after. But if you really mean product. Yeah, there's, there's lots of products out there. But Mike, I spent a lot of my time making sure you don't know the name of them. So I guess what I'm not gonna.

[Mike Rowe]

Well, the reason I ask is that I just wonder if you, if you run an organization that is essentially in a knife fight in a phone booth where your margins are so skinny. Well, like razor blades, right? That's a. I don't know, like if I need WD40, I'm not going down a rabbit hole to see if there's a better option. I know there's not.

[Chuck]

Why?

[Mike Rowe]

Well, in part because I'm fascinated by the company in a way that presupposes this conversation. I think Norman Lawson's story is really interesting and the way it came out of the old Rocket company. And I just like the history of your company and I like the way innovation informed it. And then I really admire the way some smart marketing people spun that into something golden. And I wonder now if, because all those things went that well, you have a special advantage to spend this much time making websites with genuinely happy people and writing books like this and talking about all this. Is it because you were able to so dominate the space that you were able to focus on this? Or is it because you focused on your people and Then dominated the space.

[Gary Ridge]

As a result will of the people times the strategy. It's not an either or, it's a both. And. And if you were to ask our end users at WD40 why do they buy WD40? You're an honest product, you do what you say you're going to do and you're easily available. And you know, that's one of the strengths of the WD40 brand. We never positioned the product. Is it an automotive product? Is it a hardware product? Is it a marine product? Is it a household product? Is it an industrial product? Is it used in trades? Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. In Walmart, you can buy it in four different departments. Why? Because we never said this is an automotive lubricant. So here's the essence. Do you need me? Is the first question to ask in any new market. I have a story in there that I love. Back in the 80s, when I was based in Australia, I was responsible for taking WD40 into mainland China. Back then, the only way to get into mainland China was from Hong Kong and to by train into Canton. And there was no currency and whatever. But anyhow, I ended up at an automotive trade show and I had some samples of WD40. And WD40 was built basically on here's my product. Please try it. If you like it, please buy it. So the. The Chinese word for sample is yangping, and the Chinese word for lubricant is lun wa. So here I am at a trade show, an automotive trade show, sampling artisans and tradesmen with my lubricant. Yangping lunwa. Yangping, lun wa. Yang bing, lun wa. I'm in the. In the hallways of this trade show, nobody's paying any attention to me. I asked my Chinese mates, is my pronunciation basically, no, you're okay, Mike. I look out of the corner of my eye, and over there, I see a line of people lined up at what looked like a Toyota motor stand. And they are all walking away with a little brown paper bag with a handle on it. And they're lined up to get it. What the hell is in that bag? They don't want my WD40, but there's something in that bag they want. So I go over, I look in the bag. There's nothing in the bag. What's going on? So here's the learning moment. That bag was something that they needed. It was the size of bag that they take down to their local store to bring rice back, and they had a value. So my big learning moment is, well, there was a need. So why don't they need my product? So we do a little huddle and we work out that they don't need a lubricant. They got dirty diesel oil, that solves that problem. But what they do need is an anti rust oil because rust and corrosion is something that is getting in the way of them doing their work. So we immediately change the communication, just not saying here is a lubricant sample, but here is a sample of anti rust oil. Within minutes we had to have security guards on the stand to stop pushing us over to get that product. Same product, different message, different need, different need. So if you identify the need, number one, do you need me? Second thing, do you know me? How do I make you aware of me being able to solve your problem? And then can you buy me? How can I make it easy for you to buy my product? And that was really the essence and still is of WD40 around the world is we are ubiquitous. We are available in so many different places. We're a distribution driven product. And if the automotive buyer says he doesn't want us, that's okay, we'll go over and sell to the other guy. And in fact, in San Diego it all started that way. They used to start to sell the product out of the back of their car and they go to the auto shops and their pricing didn't work. So they went to the hardware stores and sold it there or they went to the sporting goods stores and sold it there. So again, it was that determination of making it easy to buy.

[Mike Rowe]

So interesting. You know, I guess you have to choose early on if you're going to, to your point, what's the question? What's the need? And so you know, Apple would have a different answer than, yeah, than Netflix, two very successful companies. But neither have your name recognition. Apple probably does, but I bet it's close. Yeah, but I, but I bet you there's more cans at WD40 now.

[Gary Ridge]

Well, we're in the U.S. we're an 8 out of 10 households. We're in more, more houses than Coca Cola.

[Mike Rowe]

Just that then you're in more houses than Apple.

[Gary Ridge]

Probably, but our consumption of course isn't that high.

[Mike Rowe]

It's like stepping on gum with you guys, man.

[Gary Ridge]

Well then use some WD40 to take the gum off. It removes gum from the bottom of the sole of your shoes. That's true. Shameless Plug.

[Mike Rowe]

Let's start with the promo code. It's Carl, you should write that down with a C like my Granddad's name? Carl Noble. That's the promo code to get a free tube of orange bitter infused sugar cubes. People love these things. I'm talking about a shortcut to a perfect old fashioned. What you do is get some Noble Tennessee Whiskey [e-mail], put a couple ounces into a glass and muddle it up with one of these orange bitter infused sugar cubes. I don't know how they do it. Some sort of alchemy, some kind of chemistry, but poof, you got a perfect old fashioned. Full disclosure, I'm trying to replenish the coffers. We'll be giving away 3 million dol from microworks in this next round of work ethic scholarship. So it's time to, you know, raise a little daksan jingle. And you can help by going to noblespirits.com you spend $100 over there, get some of my grandfather's whiskey and we'll send you a tube of nine sugar cubes orange bitter infused sugar cubes for free. I'm telling you, they do the job. Just make sure you use my pop's name. That's Carl with a [e-mail] thank you very much. Soon may the nobleman come to bring a bottle for everyone. One day when the waitin is done we'll take a drink and go. Just how all purpose did the big brains in the old days know this was like, did they understand what Lawson and his team had invented?

[Gary Ridge]

Probably not. Probably not. You know, back in the year 2000, we ran a really interesting program. We went out and we asked our users, we were searching for the 2000 most popular uses of WD40. So we did a sweepstakes or communication. And this was, you know, back then that sort of media was not big time. Anyhow, we actually started a fan club, a WD40 fan club. We had 130,000 members of the fan club, but we had over 200,000 entries in the United States of people telling us their most favored use for WD40, which is now on the website. There's a list of the two things thousand identified uses for that blue and yellow can given to us by our end users.

[Mike Rowe]

So then I'm starting to see some corollaries. You write about the importance of keeping your employees engaged, but that's an example of keeping your customers engaged. So is there a difference in the way you think about it or does one necessarily just lead to the next?

[Gary Ridge]

Well, if you think about the second value that was in place at WD40, we exist to create positive, lasting memories in all of our relationships. That relationship is with our end users, those we have the privilege to serve with our employees, those that work for us, with our communities, that give us the right to be there with the environment that allows us to do it, and even with our competitors. You know, Simon Sinek has a great.

[Mike Rowe]

He'S pretty great man.

[Gary Ridge]

He is. He's a great guy. I've known Simon for 15 years. We met at a, at a conference we were both speaking at. And he gave me an award. And I'm privileged, I think, to call him a friend.

[Mike Rowe]

What was the award? And get close to the mic when you say it because you're gonna brag now. I mean, and believe me, if this gets tall, poppyish Chuck pops up machete, and down you go.

[Gary Ridge]

It was an achievement award. It's actually on my website. And he gives out one a year to people he think who make a difference, I guess. So it was pretty cool of him. But he talks about not competitors, but worthy rivals. And I think that's so important because if you look at the people that you're competing against as a competitor, you're playing behind the game. But if you look at them as a worthy rival, you're playing in front of the game.

[Mike Rowe]

That's why I asked about your competition. Iron sharpens iron, right?

[Gary Ridge]

Right. So, you know, we are, you know, like our delivery systems that we developed, I mean, we developed those because we listened to our end users who told us that we would be more valuable to them if we could do certain things. And we listened to them and we took it to them. And I remember when we first brought out that, you know, easy reach delivery system, I was still, you know, in full time employment with the company and.

[Mike Rowe]

Where's the can? I know you brought one.

[Gary Ridge]

It was here a minute ago.

[Mike Rowe]

Where's it? Oh, I'm sorry, it's right here. I took it. This is what he's talking about.

[Gary Ridge]

Yeah, that's it.

[Mike Rowe]

It's just, it's basically, I mean, a layman would call it a nozzle. That's it.

[Gary Ridge]

But you, that, that was millions of dollars worth of investment to actually get that to where it is now. You know, one of the things that's interesting about it, we had to make sure, we had to make sure that the product didn't leak out of the, the, the tube.

[Mike Rowe]

Right.

[Gary Ridge]

As it went along, you see how it's. And the, the tube idea came from the microphone that you see on, on, on headsets sure. So, but anyhow, you know, again, we listen to our end users, but as Simon says, you've got these worthy rivals that keep you in front of the game, which is so important.

[Mike Rowe]

Well, you know, the reason Dirty Jobs has been on the air for 22 years, there are a couple things that happened, and I'm not a marketer. Instinctively, I'm fascinated by that.

[Gary Ridge]

You can sell pencils, you are a marketer.

[Mike Rowe]

Well, I mean, look, yes, I can tell a story, but I didn't know at the time how important it was going to be to ask viewers to program the show. And after I ran out of the ideas that I had for the initial run, you know, I started inviting people to go to the website and let me know if, you know, somebody's got a dirty job, blah, blah, blah. And then I started to read their letters on the air and thank them and then tens of thousands of suggestions. So the show was essentially programmed by the people who watched it. It was also really hosted by the people who watched it because I showed up not knowing anything and let the expert be the expert. Right. That mattered. And then of course, the behind the scenes cameras that we used, all those things mattered. And I wasn't thinking really at the time. Like, I wanted that behind the scenes camera because it made my life easier. But what it also did was it showed the viewer. Oh, warts and all.

[Gary Ridge]

Yeah.

[Mike Rowe]

And so it really elevated trust. So there's a lot of stuff in this book that translates outside of your industry.

[Gary Ridge]

Yes.

[Mike Rowe]

And I guess maybe that's just a long way of setting you up to ask the question. Like I ask, who's this for? Is it for other CEOs, or would you think about the knowledge, the insights, the learning moments in the book? Can they apply to TV hosts or garbage men or anyone?

[Gary Ridge]

You know, I think the essence of the book is that servant leadership is a key to longevity in life. We're here to serve others. That success is simple, but it's not easy. It takes work. And that, you know, culture is truly a competitive advantage. And I, you know, I think that I've just completed my 25 year apprenticeship in leadership and now I want to share my learning moments around that, which I think is so important. So that's why I wrote the book. I want the world to be a better place and I think there's some learning in there that can help do that. If we can get 100 people to just act a little differently, it'd be a nice thing.

[Mike Rowe]

You ever been a Coober Pedy?

[Gary Ridge]

No, really, I have never been a Cooper Pedy.

[Mike Rowe]

Been Adelaide.

[Gary Ridge]

Absolutely. In fact, going to Adelaide again in August. Yeah.

[Mike Rowe]

Well, all you have to do is drive about three hours north.

[Gary Ridge]

North, yeah.

[Mike Rowe]

On the road to Coober Pedy, which really, I don't recommend it. It's a. It's an absolute crucible of disasters. I actually. I stopped and wrote a song on the way because there was so much exotic roadkill.

[Gary Ridge]

Oh.

[Mike Rowe]

And I thought they deserved to be recognized. Something. Yes, we all just want to be recognized.

[Gary Ridge]

Exactly.

[Mike Rowe]

That's what Dirty Jobs was about. And that's what good leadership is about. And so where do you go from here? Do you go back to Australia or back to San Diego? Where's home now?

[Gary Ridge]

San Diego's home. I have a daughter in Australia.

[Mike Rowe]

Why do you still have the accent then? You're over here.

[Gary Ridge]

Yeah, well, when I go back to Australia, that's not what my mates say. I tell you, they give me a hard time.

[Mike Rowe]

Do they?

[Gary Ridge]

You know, Australia is my homeland. You know, it's my country. Where I live is where I am right now. And I have a son that lives here with a couple of grandkids, and I have a daughter that's there with a couple of grandkids. And, you know, we have other family here and have a place in Hawaii that. In Kauai, which maybe will end up there eventually because it's only 10 hours from Sydney in five hours from subscribers.

[Mike Rowe]

Great place to stop on the way home.

[Gary Ridge]

Yeah. But no, and. And, you know, I. I really. One of my dear friends is Marshall Goldsmith. And Marshall was the number one executive coach in the world. And he wrote a great book called what Got yout Here, Won't get yout There. He was coach to Alan Mulally from Ford and, you know, whatever. And. And Marshall gave me some really good advice as I was getting ready to refire. I haven't retired. I refired.

[Mike Rowe]

No, that's clever.

[Gary Ridge]

And he said, gary, don't float into a void. And I said, what do you mean by that, Marshall? And it's the last chapter in the book. And I think it's really important for people who are going through seasons in life. He said, you've been the CEO of a US public company for 25 years. It is actually you. And unless you decide how you're going to pay it forward after that, on September 1st, when you are not the CEO anymore, don't wake up without a purpose because you will not know what to do next. And I said, you're right, Marshall.

[Mike Rowe]

What Was the quote again, don't go into the void.

[Gary Ridge]

Don't float into a void.

[Mike Rowe]

Don't float into the void. That's terrific. Can I tell you two super quick CEO stories?

[Gary Ridge]

I'd love it.

[Mike Rowe]

So John Hendricks is my favorite. Or, well, he's certainly in the top two. He invented the Discovery Channel and he did it basically from his garage and twisted like John Malone's arm and got some satellite transponder space and then licensed some documentaries from Australia and just started beaming them down. He had no money, he mortgaged his house, he did the whole thing. And his whole brand was built on a. Like, to your earlier point about, like, who are you? Like, what is the point? Distill it right? His was satisfy curiosity. My second was, I did a few hundred commercials back in the day for Ford and Alan Mullally, since you invoked his name, had taken over around the same time they hired me. And I'd been there about a year and of course everything went to hell and, oh God, the collapse. And you'll remember all the CEOs sitting there before Congress and I was home watching this. And this is the first time, really I got agitated and in a positive way, like, this is the first time I said to myself, with the possible exception of John Hendricks, I want to work for this man. And the fact that I already was didn't matter. But when he sat there, Gary, and they went down the. Like, these guys, they literally were kissing the ring, right? Like, they had to give their salaries back in order for the government to bail their companies out at Chrysler and GM and so forth. And so they kept a dollar in salary and so forth. They finally got to Alan and he said, nope, I'm going to go ahead and keep my salary. You go ahead and keep your money. If the Ford Motor Company can't make it on its own, we don't deserve to make it. Now, I'm not a sentimentalist. I'm a little cynical, truth be told. But that hit me like a ton of bricks, man. I wanted to work for that guy when I heard that. And I was so glad that I sort of was. But my business partner Mary reached out and said, look, we're all in with this company right now. Because I'd never been around a company that bet on itself and its own people at that moment in time to that degree. And, you know, they're not WD40, but there is. You talk about values and you talk about character. You never know where you're gonna find.

[Gary Ridge]

Him, you know, And I've had The privilege and honor of being in the presence of Alan many times because he's a dear friend of Marshall's and his byline is love em up, love your people up.

[Mike Rowe]

It's so true, man.

[Gary Ridge]

And one of the great leaders of all times. And I've learned so much from Alan.

[Mike Rowe]

All he did was save aerospace and then save the automotive sector.

[Gary Ridge]

Absolutely, absolutely.

[Mike Rowe]

I was giving a talk, a keynote speech to 100,000 Boy Scouts on the occasion of their 100th anniversary. And I was about to go on stage and I just had a meeting with Alan. We had dinner, it was terrific. And I remember that he had been a boy Scout. He had mentioned it to me and I just called him real quick and I said, hey, I'm going to go talk to 100,000 Boy Scouts right now. You know, do you have a message for him? And he said, buy a Ford. And I laughed and I said, no, seriously, is that a message? And he said, well, I mean, there's so many ways to go. And I said, well, let me ask it like this. I'm going out with the message. A scout is clean but not afraid to get dirty. And he said, mike, that's. That's one of the smartest things I've ever heard. And my chest puffed up. It was such a compliment. Yeah, I guess really the place to land the plane here is just to say you really don't know what your words will do. Right.

[Gary Ridge]

So true.

[Mike Rowe]

Because you don't know who's listening and you don't know who needs to hear what, when. So you write your book and you give your speeches and you say your thing and then you hope it lands.

[Gary Ridge]

Yeah. I mean, again, I really believe in what I said to you earlier. Life's a gift. Don't send it back unwrapped. And you know, if we can't make a difference in the world, you know, Ken Blanchard often says, you know, It's. It's that 80, 90 year old you and who will remember you and why. So, you know, be a little kinder, be a little gentler and have a heart of gold and a backbone of steel, but make a difference in the world.

[Mike Rowe]

He's got two R's in his name, but don't hold it against him. It's Gary Ridge. He talks funny too, but I think he's got a lot of great things to say. I love the title. Any dumb ass can do it. And I love what's between the covers as well. Congratulations, big life.

[Gary Ridge]

Thank you for letting me come and share with you today. And the other thing I'm really grateful for is my co writer, Martha Finney. She's a huge fan of yours.

[Mike Rowe]

Oh, is she?

[Gary Ridge]

Yeah. So she, she's just did a wonderful job in helping me with this.

[Mike Rowe]

Well, Martha Phinney's got great taste. Let's send her a picture when we're done here.

[Gary Ridge]

Absolutely. She would love that.

[Mike Rowe]

And a bill. We'll cover the picture with WD40. It'll be a one of a kind. Thank you again, Gary Rich. I appreciate it.

[Gary Ridge]

Thanks.

[Mike Rowe]

If you leave some stars could you make it five and before you go could you please subscribe? If you leave some stars could you make it five and before you go before you go could you please subscribe? If you leave some stars could you make it five and before you go before you go could you please subscribe.

[Chuck]

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[Mary]

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