Management Lessons from Maxey Jarman

Maxey Jarman was a shy, red-haired young man who was intrigued by science and was raised to be a devout Baptist. He enjoyed working on radios and automobiles while attending a public high school in Nashville, Tennessee that had an engineering and technology program. Maxey also helped start Nashville’s first radio station, WSM. After high school, he became an electrical engineering student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MIT. When he was finishing his junior year at MIT, Maxey’s father, James Franklin Jarman, asked him to come back to his home in Tennessee and help him open a new shoe store, eliminating his previous partner who had made unethical things.

His father had Maxey work for a year as a laborer at the Nashville plant so he could learn the shoe business from scratch. Later Maxey worked in the shoe store of the new Jarman Shoe Company. After 9 years learning the shoe business, Maxey Jarman became president and his father became president of the company.

Maxey saw an opportunity to expand his shoe business and decided on a logical step-by-step plan for how to go about it. He changed the name of the Jarman Shoe Company to the General Shoe Company during the depression and went into retail. In Michigan, Maxey “bought a tanning plant,” produced shoe boxes, and supplied his manufacturing plants with chemicals, cement, and finishes. He purchased other companies and increased his footwear line to include children’s and women’s footwear and apparel. He increased profits by selling his products through the retail stores purchased by the General Shoe Company.

In 1959, General Shoe Company changed its name to Genesco, Inc. By 1968, Maxey’s Jarman’s Genesco, Inc. had reached $1 billion in sales with 83,000 employees worldwide.

Maxey Jarman, president and CEO of Genesco, was a devout Baptist who pursued many philanthropic Christian causes. For many years, Mr. Jarman taught Sunday School classes at his Baptist church.

Fred Smith, Sr. came to work for Maxey Jarman at his General Shoe Company when he was 20 years old. Maxey became his mentor and friend for over 43 years. Fred Smith, Sr. became the mentor of Zig Ziglar and Dr. John Maxwell.

What are the 5 leadership lessons from Maxey Jarman that you will want to remember?

1) Maxey Jarman “listened respectfully” and “emphasized” clarifying ideas by putting them in writing. When a problem comes up, he writes it down and writes a solution to solve it. When Fred Smith had been working for Mr. Jarman for 3 months, he came in with a list of problems that he saw in the company. Mr. Jarman said after listening to Fred’s list, “Fred, I want you to take the next three weeks and write down solutions for each and every thing you found wrong.” When Fred saw Mr. Jarman again 3 weeks later, he had no solutions to the problems. Fred Smith said, “Mr. Jarmen stuck his long finger in my face and said, ‘We want you here and we want your suggestions, even criticism, but never criticize anything until you have a better way of working on paper.’ to prove what you say and improve the condition.” Bacon said, “Writing makes an exact man.” Mr. Jarman worked on his personal development by making a list of the things he wanted to work on each year. specific and clear. In his company, he said, “Emergencies were evidence of poor planning.” He had few emergencies. He was reading to gain new knowledge every day and develop his mind.

2) Mr. Jarman was motivated by responsibility, discipline and getting results. You could always count on him. Mr. Jarman’s “favorite story” was how Jeb Stuart would sign his report to General Robert E. Lee, “Counting on You”, (YTCO). When Jeb Stuart wrote it, he meant it, as did Maxey Jarman.

3) Mr. Jarman always looked for opportunities for the future. He said, “Be thankful for all things.” He told Fred Smith, Sr. “It’s not the plants we’ve built, but the people we’ve helped build that I’m most proud of.” Mr. Jarman was always helping others. He said, “Don’t try to strengthen people on their weaknesses; it’s less productive than using their strengths.”

When someone said something about another executive saying, “He acts like he owns the place.” Maxey responded, “I’m glad he believes that, and I wish everyone here believed and acted that way.” Fred Smith said, “He wanted everyone to have a genuine sense of ownership because he knew the motivation that develops.”

4) Before making a decision, I had an open mind. Once he made a decision, he was decisive. Fred Smith said, “Mr. Jarman was quick to revise a decision when he thought it involved a moral error. He once opened the books only to give an employee a $2.85 refund because “The question is not how much of a problem, but whether I must?” Mr. Jarman was honest, full of character and integrity.

5) Mr. Jarman did not believe in wasting time. He always stayed on topic and liked people to get to the point and be clear and decisive. His conversations were always business and stayed on topic.

What was Maxey Jarman’s mission statement for his company? “Genesco’s mission is to become the most customer-focused company in the footwear industry, consistently performing in the top quartile as measured by market share, sales growth, return on assets employed and operating income.”

By following Maxey Jarman’s 5 Leadership Lessons, you will have a stronger company with happy employees.

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