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Dialogue Days: Students profit from alum’s lessons in life and business
The College of Business Administration’s Dialogue Days brings together business professionals and students for a day of listening, learning, and networking. Now in its 13th year, the event is one of the college’s biggest annual meet-and-greet opportunities. In spring 2006 more than 50 business professionals participated.
Universal Forest Products Inc.
one of top U.S. manufacturers
As a Central Michigan University student, Michael Glenn, ’73, lived in a mobile home with a broken metal roof. Today, he is the president and COO of a company that has been distinguished as one of the “50 Best U.S. Manufacturers” by IndustryWeek magazine and, among other things, the nation’s largest manufacturer of trusses for mobile homes.
Glenn has come a long way. During his keynote speech at the College of Business Administration’s 13th annual Dialogue Days, he admitted he had not been the best student to set foot on CMU’s campus, but he’s since learned that a CMU business degree means respect in the business world.
“I’m proud of my CMU degree. My business classes gave me insight as to what direction I wanted to take,” Glenn told a packed audience of enthusiastic business students. “I’m proud to be invited back here and grateful for the many opportunities I’ve been given in life at Universal Forest Products.
Glenn helped build an exemplary
and “cool” firm
Glenn joined Universal Forest Products in 1974 as a sales representative in Pennsylvania.
“When I first went to meet the owner of what was then a small lumber company in Grand Rapids, he told me I wasn’t old enough to shave much less work for him, but I didn’t let him scare me away. I saw an opportunity and went after it,” Glenn said.
Later that year, he became a general manager at its Wisconsin facility. In 1984, he was appointed vice president and oversaw operations in Colorado, Texas, and Kansas. In 2000, he was named president and chief operating officer.
“Apart from my CMU business classes, traveling all over the Midwest in my car was the best classroom. I used the time to think, create, and strategize. I became good friends with our customers and forged relationships that enhance our company to this day,” Glenn said. “Today Universal Forest Products is the nation’s leading supplier of wood and wood-alternative products with 2005 sales of $2.7 billion.”
Finding the right people for the job
Crain’s Detroit Business and the Grand Rapids Business Journal recently named Universal Forest Products one of the 60 “Cool Places to Work” in Michigan. So what does it take to get a job there?
“It’s not about having a high GPA,” Glenn said. “There are a lot of people smarter than me, but no one can outwork me, and that’s what we look for when we hire new people – a positive attitude and someone who will be there first and leave last.”
Glenn and his wife, Glenda, also have helped create a culture of giving back at Universal Forest Products. Of the many community projects they support, each year company employees build a playground in an inner-city area.
“Generally, eighty percent of our people show up to help because they choose to give back and help build the community,” Glenda said.
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“My high school counselor told me I would never succeed at anything, so I’ve always worked hard out of fear of failure.”
– Michael Glenn, president and COO, Universal Forest Products Inc.
Michael Glenn, president and COO
of Universal Forest Products Inc.
and his wife, Glenda, have worked
together to create a workplace
environment of giving back to the community.
A few things the president and COO
of a $2.7 billion company learned
along the way:
- Taking risks leads to either success or a learning experience
- One of the hardest lessons to learn is that the customer is always right
- Opportunity often looks like hard work
- Hire people you trust and let them use their skills
- Relationships stay strong through
mutual rewards
- Be flexible
- You’re only as good as your word
- Love what you do
- Work hard and play hard
- Share everything – successes as well as failures – with your family
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