Leadership is not about the leader. On the other hand, leadership is all about the leader. Garry Ridge, CEO of the WD-40 Co., knows this lesson firsthand.

In 2008, at the start of the Great Recession, when Ridge would travel from office to office and country to country, people would ask him how he was doing. At first, he thought people were asking about his welfare and how he was holding up. Later, it dawned on him that people were really asking, “How are we doing?” They were looking to Ridge for answers, for clarity, and for hope amid crisis.

A native of Australia, Ridge has the bearing of a no-nonsense guy who loves nonsense. That is, he’s down-to-earth and fun-loving and passionate about helping people do their best to achieve for themselves and for the company. His fundamentals are people, purpose, strategy, execution, and freedom. People know their jobs, learn on those jobs, enable others to plan and execute, and have the space to experiment.

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