Name: Michael Gagliardo
Background: Gagliardo, 36, and his sister, Paulette, run Columbus Foods Co.,, a business started by their grandfather. She serves as treasurer, and he is president and chief executive officer of the medium-sized firm that packaged and distributed about 125 million pounds of vegetable oils and shortenings nationally in 1990. A Chicago native, Gagliardo has been married six years and is the father of 2-year-old twins.
Years as a CEO: 9
As a CEO of a medium-sized business, I have a variety of
responsibilities. I arrive at work at about 6:45 in the morning and turn on the lights and the copy machines, make the first pot of coffee, see that everything is in order and write a ”things to do list” for the day. A CEO in a larger company wouldn`t have these ”hands-on” things to do, but I like to get here early and get things started.
Then I leave my desk and go into the plant. I make sure that everybody is on the job-production employees, truck drivers, everyone. If someone such as the production assistant isn`t here, I become the production assistant or at least lend my support. I also check maintenance to make sure everything is in order. Then I come back to my office and check in with my office staff.
Then I go to the sales office and set the cash markets for soybeans, corn, cotton, peanuts-all the crops we`re concerned with. This simply means giving the sales people a base figure to sell off of, depending on what the market is doing. Soybeans might be at 21 cents, corn at 29 cents, cottonseed at 27. Based on those figures, I set the pricing structure, not the actual prices. I give the sales manager the guidelines for the day, based on what the market did the previous day.
After that I consult with the clerical help, answering questions about credit or other problems that may have come up the day before. Then I begin calling the market and collecting data and buying oil. I buy oil between the hours of 9:30 a.m and 1:15 p.m., basing my purchases on what the sales force is selling and what I think is a good buy.
I also work with production and sales. I know what orders have come through, and I`ll call down to production and shipping to make sure that they know what`s going on. I work constantly to maintain long-term and short-term plans for production. I keep my list of goals right here at my desk, and I`m constantly adding to them or changing them when necessary. I`m always looking for ways to increase the quality of our products or increase the service to our customers.
I also work directly to solicit new business, making the initial contact with potential new customers. I make that first step because sometimes buyers won`t open the doors to salesmen, and I`m not so big that I can`t do it myself. After I get the ball rolling, I move it on to my sales manager.
My work day usually ends at 6:30, except on Saturdays, when I quit around 1 in the afternoon.
I think of myself as a shepherd of a flock. My responsibility is to take care of everybody here and make sure that Columbus is successful. I don`t make this company grow alone. I guide it. That`s what every CEO does, no matter what the size of the company he heads.
The CEO intermingles with the various divisions of the company, quality assurance, research and development, sales, whatever. A CEO is guiding from high up, letting people know what he wants. In a larger company there are more layers of executives, whereas I interact directly with all departments. A CEO of a large corporation wouldn`t be doing the buying of one of their major ingredients. He or she would be looking at the numbers, at the charts, at the computer printouts.
The difference is, they`re fatter and we`re leaner. If a sales manager does a good job, I go over there and tell him. In a large corporation, the sales manager might know who the CEO is when he walks down the hall, but he doesn`t have a personal relationship with him.
What I like best about my job is the variety of the work I do. If I don`t want to sit at my desk one day, I don`t have to. I can go down to work with maintenance or production. Actually, I have three desks. I have one in my private office, one in the plant and one in the maintenance shop. I have phones all over the place and a portable I carry in my back pocket. So if I finish one job, I can go somewhere else. And that`s what the fun part is. It`s never boring.
There are very few things I don`t like about my job. About the only negative is being the warden. I hate to have to portray the role of the boss. I love being happy, but sometimes around work I have to be stern-faced, and I don`t like that. I guess I hate to be the one who has to set the right example all the time. And that would apply to CEOs at any level. I always have to be the one who`s giving 105 percent. And if I make a mistake, I`m always the one who`s noticed first. If I make a bad call, they let me know.
There have been plenty of instances of my stepping in and making a decision that a CEO at a large corporation would never have to do. We had a good customer in Pittsburgh, for instance, who ran out of our product and needed it in a hurry. He called me and asked what I could do. It was 3 p.m. I called down to the traffic department and said I wanted a truck to Pittsburgh right away. I called all the drivers up to my office and asked who wanted to go to Pittsburgh right now.
I dismissed all the married guys because I`m a firm believer in family. One of the single guys volunteered, we loaded his truck, someone ran to the store and put together a travel bag for him with food and shaving cream and everything, and within six hours he was at the customer`s door.
A CEO has to be adaptable. I have to be able to get along with all types of people. And it takes all different means to motivate people. I have to be pretty versatile. I have to be able to communicate with people. I had 2 1/2 years of child psychology in college, and I think it paid off.
