Here is an excerpt from an article featured by Texas CEO magazine in which TD Industries chairman Jack Lowe Jr. explains how trust and accountability are essential building blocks for success.

To read the complete article, please click here.

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What do these Texas-based companies have in common? USAA, NuStar Energy, The Container Store, Men’s Wearhouse, Whole Foods, National Instruments, Rackspace, and TDIndustries? They’re all on the Fortune magazine list of “100 Best Companies to Work For.” For TDIndustries, that’s nothing new. It’s been on the list for 15 years in a row.

“I think people take pride in the fact that they work at TD,” said Jack Lowe Jr., the company’s chairman. TD first made the Fortune list in 1997, when Lowe was CEO.

Fortune surveys the employees of companies for its list, and compiles the results based on 250-300 surveys. But TD takes it further.

“We survey everybody,” Lowe said. He maintains that TD’s 1,800 employees have more confidence in the complete results. TD uses the results as a form of feedback – they’re posted on the walls of each business unit. “It’s like going to the doctor and finding out what you need to fix,” Lowe said.

The Roots of Servant Leadership

Lowe took over as the CEO of TD Industries in 1980, after his father, Jack Lowe Sr., passed away. Lowe Sr. had started the company in 1946, and developed an interest in servant leadership soon after Robert Greenleaf started presenting the concept in the early 1970s. Lowe Jr. continued the philosophic approach to leadership when his father died.

“It’s a friendly state and it just fits our style,” Lowe said.

But it’s not all sweetness and light. “For a while we thought servant leadership was being nice to each other, rather it comes with a good dollop of accountability because over time, you need to perform,” said Lowe.

In fact, Lowe could be considered a “leader’s leader.” Not only does he subscribe to servant leadership, but he is a student of management guru Peter Drucker. Using that combination of philosophies, Lowe has led TD to its current position as one of the nation’s largest mechanical contractors and facility service companies. Its 2010 revenues were $308 million. Some of its bigger projects include Cowboys Stadium, the American Airlines Center, and the Ballpark in Arlington, as well as Lakewood Church in Houston.

The company is a leader in intelligent buildings, and has achieved LEED certification (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) for a number of buildings, including Sabre Headquarters in Southlake, the Botanical Research Institute of Texas in Fort Worth, the Ronald McDonald House in Austin, and the Plaza at Enclave in Houston.

Besides his role as chairman at TD Industries, Lowe is also Chairman of the Board at Zale Corporation, and serves on the boards of Drew Industries and KDC.

Ducker held that the first thing a successful leader must do is ask, “What needs to be done?” In the 1980s, the construction market collapsed in Texas. The effect on TD was so severe, the company lost half its revenue and laid off half its employees. Lowe knew the remedy would have to be drastic. He saw that the company’s pension plan, which was overfunded by a million dollars, would have to be scrapped if the company were to survive.

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To read the complete article, please click here.

RECOMMENDED RESOURCES

Robert Greenleaf’s Servant Leadership (25th Anniversary Edition)
Bill George’s Authentic Leadership and True North
Alan Deutschman’s Walk the Walk
David Horsager’s The Trust Edge
Erika Andersen’s Leading So People Will Follow