Management Lessons from Maxey Jarman
Maxey Jarman was a shy, redheaded young man who was intrigued by science and was raised to be a devout Baptist. He enjoyed working with radios and automobiles while attending a public high school in Nashville, Tennessee, which had an engineering and technology program. Maxey also helped start the first radio station in Nashville, 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 return to his Tennessee home and help him open a new shoe store, eliminating his former partner who had made unethical stuff.
His father made 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 on how to do it. He changed the name from the Jarman Shoe Company to the General Shoe Company during the depression and moved into retail. In Michigan, Maxey “bought a tannery,” produced shoe boxes, and supplied his manufacturing plants with chemicals, cement, and finishes. He bought out other companies and expanded his shoe line to include children’s and women’s shoes and clothing. He increased profits by selling his products through the retail stores that the General Shoe Company bought.
In 1959, the 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 a mentor to Zig Ziglar and Dr. John Maxwell.
What are Maxey Jarman’s 5 Leadership Lessons You’ll Want to Remember?
1) Maxey Jarman “listened respectfully” and “emphasized” clarifying ideas by putting them in writing. When a problem arises, 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 up with a list of problems that he saw in the company. Mr. Jarman said after hearing 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 put the 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 it. what you say and improve the condition”. Bacon said: “Writing makes a man exact.” Mr. Jarman worked on his personal development by making a list of things he wanted to work on each year. write to be specific and clear. In his company, he said: “Emergencies were evidence of poor planning.” He had few emergencies. He was reading to acquire new knowledge every day and to 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 reports 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 develop that make me most proud.” Mr. Jarman was always helping others. He said, “Don’t try to strengthen people in 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 he wishes everyone here would believe that and act 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, it was decisive. Fred Smith said: “Mr. Jarman was quick to review 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 be to the point and clear and decisive. His conversations were always about 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’ll have a stronger company with happy employees.