Built to Race
Making great bikes demands speed and versatility
As president and CEO of Trek Bicycle, a leading designer-manufacturer based in Wisconsin, John Burke (CGS’82, BSBA’84) aims to not only build the best bikes in the world, but also use them to combat problems like poor fitness and urban congestion. If you want his job, you’ll need to:
Fail the right way. “As long as you clean up the failures fast, it’s much better to keep pushing and keep moving than to worry about making mistakes.”
Be transparent. “At Trek, the employees are shareholders. They spend a good part of their lives here, so they deserve to know what’s going on.”
Encourage healthy employees. “We’ve made some major changes to our health program, centering on really caring about the health of our people. We’re demanding, and people love it.” [Employees must get a minimum score on a mandatory biometric screening to receive the full company contribution to their insurance premiums. Trek offers wellness programs—and a bike-to-work scheme—to help employees improve their scores.]
Build your company “bus.” “We follow the saying here—‘Right people, right seats, awesome bus.’ Do you have the right people? Are they in the right seats doing the right job? And is it an awesome place to work?”
Add value for customers. “Talking to our bicycle retail customers 10 years ago, we discovered their biggest problem was their point-of-sale systems. A lot of people would look at that and say, “Well, I’m in the bicycle business, so that’s not my problem.” We looked at that and said, “Hm. Maybe we should go out and buy a point-of-sale system.”
Live and breathe the product. “I think it helps your credibility. I’m riding 6,000 miles a year, I’m seeing a lot of our customers ride their bikes, and I notice a lot of trends when I’m out riding.”
Know when to stop talking. “You’ve got to have a plan. But then, let’s move. Let’s do something.”
