Wayne Williams is the President and CEO of Telect, Inc., a privately-owned global manufacturer of telecommunications equipment. Telect was founded in 1982 and has manufacturing facilities in Plano, Texas and Guadalajara, Mexico, with its headquarters located in Liberty Lake, Washington. In short, they are a family-owned manufacturing business that offers products and services that aim to simplify networks and data communications.
Mr. Williams began his 30 year career as an entrepreneur and developer with Telect after graduating from Harvard's Owner/President Management Program. However, he started out painting walls and hanging wire for the company. Since then he has earned two patents, which in turn have earned Telect over $500 million in revenue. In addition, Wayne and his parents were named Ernst and Young's Northwest Entrepreneurs of the Year in 1997 for Grabbing Gears, LLC, a company they founded together.
Mr. Williams has lived and operated in a way that parallels his mantra, "grab another gear." This saying, which originated from a long-time friend who died in a motorcycle accident, has been an inspiration and encouragement to Mr. Williams to persevere through the hard times and make adjustments when the unexpected happens in life.
Following a childhood filled with high expectations set in place by his father, Mr. Williams grew to be an innovator and achiever at Telect. When the company was founded on September 13, 1982, the overarching motto was to abide by the golden rule (treat others the way you would like to be treated). This was to be specifically demonstrated in three ways: love people, create top quality products, and provide service that surprises with greatness.
Mr. Williams has actively carried out these important values and sees them as being crucial to the company's sustainability and success in the future. It is very apparent that he brings passion to the work place and he strives to create a supportive and encouraging environment which enables employees to thrive. Visiting the Telect offices, you see examples of this support and encouragement everywhere; inspiring quotes on the wall, a brainstorming room called "The Foundry" which has an enormous whiteboard, and a culture of optimism and perserverance through adversity.
Mr. Williams offered the following advice on how to have a succeessful future:- Don't be afraid of the adversity you will face.
- As one of the driving forces in his life, Mr. Williams encouraged the class to work through difficult times. They will leave you wiser and stronger.
- It is best to not spend time in regret.
- Along the same lines, mistakes create wisdom. You cannot change what you have done in the past. You can only react to where you are currently and look to the past for guidance. Learning from mistakes enables you to avoid making the same mistakes again. "There's a reason why the windshield is bigger than the rearview mirror."
- Never stop learning.
- In today's environment, technology is changing rapidly. In order to stay relevant and marketable, you need to keep pace and learn everything you can.
- Be quick to stop doing what isn't working.
- It may be difficult, and often times there are politics involved, but the best thing for everyone is to cut out the things that are not successful.
- Be transparent.
- "Tell the truth, you have less to remember." In being transparent, you build a legacy of honesty and respect for your brand.
- It is who you know that gets you the look, it is what you show that gets you the work, and it is what you do that lets you keep it.
- People you know will always have enough time to help you, but the work you do will ultimately be the deciding factor in your career.
- If you want to be extraordinary, try seeing beyond the obvious.
- Appealing to the entrepreneur in people, this message is a good reminder that in order to truly stand out, not just in business, but in life, you need to be innovative.
Thank you Mr. Williams for the insightful wisdom and sound advice!
Student Contributions: Tyler Coopman and Tyler Rawson
