Derek Volk Inducted Into Manufacturers Association Of Maine Hall of Fame Derek Volk, Owner/CEO of Biddeford, Maine based Volk Packaging Cor- poration, a family-owned independent, was recently inducted into the Manufacturers Association of Maine Hall of Fame. He accepted the award with humility, sharing with his audience the secret to his success: “Every- thing I Know about Business I Learned from Coaching Girls’ Softball.”
Packaging ERP Algorithmic Scheduling Web-Based Access Online Customer Portals
Paperless Workflows Mobile Sales Systems Digital Signage Production Monitoring Mobile Logistics Management Analytics & Reporting Cloud Hosting IT Management Services Cyber Security Management
700+ Plants 60,000 Users North America Latin America Europe
Derek Volk, Owner/CEO of Volk Packaging Corporation
1. Surround yourself with great people : No coach can win games alone. He (I’m going to say he so I don’t have to say he/she the whole time) needs to have smart and hard-working people around him. He needs capable assistants, helpful parents, and, of course, high quality players. And, for me, the most important person, a supportive spouse who has your back no matter what, even if it is to tell you that you made a bad decision on the field or at the office. Thank you, Amy, for always being that person for me. At Volk Packaging I am blessed to work with some of the most amazing, talented, smart and hard-working people that I have ever known. Without them, I couldn’t accomplish much of anything. 2. Listen to your coaches: Very few leaders can rise to great success if they only listen to their own advice. Hitler was the most powerful and influential leader on the 20th century, until he stopped listening to his gen- erals. Watch any last out of a big baseball, basketball or football game and the first thing the head coach will do is high five or hug his coaching staff. A good leader knows that although he may love every one of his ideas, some of them suck. You need to be willing to listen to the people you have on your team and trust that sometimes, even if your name is on the build- ing, you don’t have a monopoly on good ideas. 3. People perform better when they feel good about themselves: At a softball convention I attended many years ago, Sue Enquist, the 11-time National Champion and winningest softball coach in D1 history said, “Girls play good when they feel good.” This sentiment holds true in the business world. If the people working for you feel good about themselves, and they feel like they are a contributing factor to the team’s success, they will per- form better. Yell, scream and put people down and you will find that the results your company achieves are greatly diminished. CONTINUED ON PAGE 14
12
www.boardconvertingnews.com
November 8, 2021
Made with FlippingBook Digital Publishing Software