- Max De Pree, CEO 1980-87, Leadership is an Art
My father is the founder of Herman Miller, and much of the value system and impounded energy of the company, a legacy still drawn on today, is part of his contribution.
In the furniture industry of the 1920s the machines of most factories were not run by electric motors, but by
pulleys from a central drive shaft. The millwright was the person on whom the entire activity of the operation depended. He was a key person.
One day, the millwright died.
My father, being a young manager at the time, did not know what he should do when a key person died, but thought he ought to go visit the family. He went to the house and was invited to join the family in the living room. There was some awkward conversation--the kind with which many of us are familiar.
The widow asked my father if it would be all right if she read aloud some
poetry. Naturally, he agreed. She went into another room, came back with a bound book and for many minutes read selected pieces of beautiful poetry. When she finished, my father commented on how beautiful the poetry was and asked who wrote it. She replied that her husband, the millwright, was the poet.
In the many years since the millwright died, my father and many of us at Herman Miller continue to wonder: Was he a poet who did millwright's work, or was he a millwright who wrote poetry?
Published by Bantam Doubleday Dell. Used by permission of Max De Pree.
