Pete Gordon is president and CEO of SB Specialty Metals, headquartered in Liverpool. The company is primarily a distributor of tool-grade steel and other high-alloyed specialty steels, but also has operations that cut and grind.
SB Specialty Metals traces its roots to Crucible Service Centers, a distribution company created in 1989 as a division of Crucible Materials Corp. When the Great Recession hit, Crucible was forced into bankruptcy, and the company and its divisions were sold.
Satish Gupta of Dallas bought the service centers, and formed SB Specialty Metals, a division of SB International, his privately held company in Dallas.
Gordon had written a business plan for the service centers, hoping to save the business and jobs. He was wooed from Crucible to run SB Specialty Metals. A number of former Crucible employees stuck with SB Specialty Metals, which now employs 120 people at seven locations around the U.S.
Were you in leadership roles growing up?
I know you ask this question each week, and I wanted to come up with something profound, but I can't pinpoint anything. As a kid, I loved to read, and I wrote for the school newspaper. I played sports, but I was never a team captain.
I had two younger brothers, so I guess I was the leader from that standpoint, and I coached soccer. Neither one of them is on my resume, but that's as close as I came to leadership roles growing up.
I grew up in Boston and majored in marketing at Western New England University in Springfield, Mass.
I learned to be successful in business you need good writing skills. In today's world, where we're using texts and email, you need to be concise and precise. But I still write business letters. I still send a hand-written note to people on their anniversaries. When you get a hand-written card in the mail, it's not the same as an emoji. The personal touch is lost in the digital world.
I joined Crucible in 1987 in the Massachusetts office. On my first day, we were having a retirement party. Dave Yates was the vice president of sales. Dave and the Crucible president at the time, Frank Petro, came to our office from Syracuse.
Dave came right up to my desk and said: Pete Gordon! Dave Yates.
And he shook my hand.
It was coincidence that my first day was on a farewell party, but Dave Yates knew who I was, knew where I went to school, knew my background, and he walked right up to me and said: Welcome aboard.
I was already thinking: Man, I like working at this place.
When I was getting married in 1995, Dave and his wife cut short a vacation in the Greek islands to attend our wedding. My father-in-law still talks about that.
How hard do you work for a guy who does stuff like that?
I try to make people feel the same way he made me feel on that very first day - that I belong here, that I'm recognized.
What's your advice for effective leadership, for someone stepping into a leadership role?
Compassion and empathy are number 1. I don't think you can build a team without them. It's an overused phrase, but your people are your most important resource.
Integrity and credibility. These are things that are easy to lose and very hard to get back.
What I learned going through bankruptcy at Crucible was valuable. I was head of procurement. I was getting a lot of phone calls from vendors asking the same question: When am I going to get paid?
I never lied to vendors; I never made up stories. I did everything aboveboard. That's something I instill in my company.
When we started this company from the Crucible bankruptcy, it was a terrible recession. Our business had gone to all these other distributors. I got back all the experienced people I could from Crucible, and we went right back after our former customers. For the most part, we were successful.
I told our people: We don't attack anybody else. We don't talk about the competitor. We talk about SB. We defend SB. We remain positive. This is how we present ourselves in the marketplace. Take the high road.
Lead by example. Be the first one in the office. When I started working at Crucible, I was on the inside sales desk. I'd get there at 7:30 every morning, the first one in. I was the last one out the door.
My dad (Paul) was an important person in my life. One day I said to my dad: This kind of stinks. I'm the new guy, and I'm in here before -
He cut me off: You just keep doing what you're doing. That will come back to you. Pay attention to what you're doing. Don't worry about what other people are doing.
Another important thing in leadership: Listen to everyone in an organization. Business needs to be in a mode of continuous improvement, and ideas are sitting in the heads of your employees. If you sit and talk to people, you'll learn they have more ideas going through their heads on how to do their jobs than you'd ever know.
So, listening to people is how you figure out how to improve. Right?
I think so. That's important.
The other thing: Be able to leave your comfort zone and take risks. We've had a bunch of successes; we've had some failures. But I don't believe you can ever attain growth without taking risk.
Then, treat others the way you want to be treated. Put your phone down and talk to people face to face.
You need to possess or learn strong interpersonal skills.
I don't believe you can be good in a leadership position if you don't have strong interpersonal skills.
When you see a good leader, a leader you admire, what are the qualities you see?
They listen. I'm always impressed by a leader who doesn't have to impress everybody with their knowledge. Someone who listens carefully and is thoughtful in response.
A sense of humor is important. It's part of strong communication skills.
Good leaders know what they're good at and know what they're not good at.
One quality of leadership is learning from your mistakes and not repeating them.
In my trials and tribulations as CEO of this company, I've made some brilliant moves, and I've made some bad moves along the way. But I learned from them.
What should the leader do when somebody makes a good-faith mistake, when they take a risk and fail?
My philosophy is: The only people who don't make mistakes are the ones not doing anything.
I also think there's a ratio: The busier you are, the chances are the more mistakes you're going to make.
Human error happens. You ask: Why did it happen, and what can we do to keep it from happening again?
Some people might say you should reprimand and punish people for mistakes. That's something to consider if they make the same mistake over and over. But I look at mistakes as a training opportunity. What can we do to prevent it?
Mistakes are related to risk.
Make sure risks are calculated. I make sure if it doesn't go the right way, it isn't going to put us under or hurt anybody.
If your business doesn't change, you're not going to make it. You have to continually change and adapt to the marketplace.
Let me flip my question. What attributes do you see in leadership that's not effective?
A CEO or president who doesn't take the time to do what I described. They don't get down on the floor or get out in the warehouse or go out with one of the salespeople to visit a customer.
Those leaders aren't engaged with their company, their people, and their customers.
I see it in some publicly traded companies. A big-time CEO comes in, makes a ton of money, and they get more money when they're fired. You just wonder: What was that?
Those CEOs are not engaged, they are close-minded to employees' ideas or comments. They're not aware of their own shortcomings or weaknesses, and it leads to bad decisions.
What's your advice for the leader to spark innovation in an organization?
This is a great question for any business.
SBSM was formed with 86 former Crucible employees that had long-term service. Getting out of the that's-the-way-we've-always-done-it mode means changing a culture and engrained behavior. It's difficult.
We write a three-year business plan every year. It's a living, moving document. It can change year to year; it can change week to week. It's a work in process.
There are always variables that will come at you, that can throw a curve ball at you. You have to maintain flexibility.
You need to have intestinal fortitude when you need to take risks - and when you need to stick to your plan.
Part of innovation is getting people out of their comfort zone.
I tell our people I want to be the Amazon of steel. I want customers to take their phone out of their pocket, order steel from us in a few clicks, and tomorrow that piece of steel will show up at their door.
The weekly "CNY Conversation" features Q&A interviews about leadership, success, and innovation. The conversations are condensed and edited. To suggest a leader for a Conversation, contact Stan Linhorst at StanLinhorst@gmail.com. Last week featured Laura Serway, who talked about the importance of facing fear in leadership.