W.L. Gore

One the companies I admire most - along with the rest of the corporate world - is W.L. Gore. The company is recognized for its invention of GORE-TEX® fabric but it produces so much more.

Gore is an Incspiration on many fronts, often required for true success:

Culture - First and foremost, Gore has succeeded at building a culture that is truly innovative. Beginning with Bill Gore, the founder, the company has flourished with a "flat lattice" organization. Everyone is an associate, they have "sponsors" not "bosses" and leaders are defined by their "followership" - basically emerging as leaders of a group of their peers.

Design - Success at product development at Gore is really a function of the culture. If you have a good idea, you are basically allowed to run with it over a defined period of time and develop your own "followership" to bring it from ideation to market.

Leadership - Leadership at Gore was defined by Bill Gore's original four guiding principles and is followed today. In fact, Terri Kelly, current CEO rose from the internal ranks, having started out of college and maintains Gore's philosophies. They are:

• Fairness to each other and everyone with whom we come in contact
• Freedom to encourage, help, and allow other associates to grow in knowledge, skill, and scope of responsibility
• The ability to make one's own commitments and keep them
• Consultation with other associates before undertaking actions that could impact the reputation of the company

Gore is consistently on Fortune's "100 Best Places to Work For" list, ranking 5th in 2006 and 2nd in 2005.

Sources: www.gore.com, Business2.0 "Best-Kept Secrets of the World's Best Companies" April 2006