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Wallace Persons worked with Emerson Electric Company , a small company that made fans and motors, and transformed it into a multi-million dollar business.
Utilizing solid business tactics and strategies , he led the company slowly but surely into diversification that led to phenomenal growth and revenue.
Emerson has continued to prosper because of his timely leadership and insightful growth strategies.
Wallace Persons - Building Slowly But Surely
Wallace Persons is not a household name. But when he joined the Emerson Electric company , he had a solid game plan which worked with resounding success.
The Emerson Electric Company was founded by two Scottish brothers in 1890 in St. Louis, Missouri. Its primary products were electric motors and fans. It soon became the first retailer of electric fans in the US.
Yet, as the company grew, it soon realized it had to find a way to make more money instead of simply relying on a seasonal product. To address this concern and other issues, Emerson brought in Wallace Persons in 1954. As the company's new chief executive Persons immediately tackled diversification.
One of his strategies was steering Emerson away from solely making end products, instead focusing more on the manufacturing of components. He also instituted cost-cutting initiatives and sought to improve the quality of the products without compromising Emerson's track record and reliability.
Persons also helped identify some big and potentially lucrative markets that Emerson might be able to infiltrate and then bought companies and integrated them into Emerson so that the company might do well as it took on new target markets.
His strategies proved successful as the Emerson Electric Company went from two plants and a 4000-strong workforce in 1954 to a 31,000-strong workforce that operated in more than 80 sites in 1973. When Persons joined the company, it was earning about $50 million annually; when he retired nearly 20 years later, it was producing hundreds of products and earning nearly $1 billion a year. His dedication, planning, and sustained leadership brought massive growth and dividends that resonate to this day.
The Wallace Persons Quick Bio
Full name: Wallace R. Buck Persons
Birth date: 1909
Birth place: Missouri
Company: Emerson Electric Company
Industry: Fabricated goods
Key success traits: planning, firm management, decisive leadership, confidence
Additional:
Persons' reforms and leadership were the basis for future Emerson business dealings. He effectively laid the groundwork for the CEOs who followed him and the company carries on the tradition of diversification introduced by Persons back in the 1950s.
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