s strong managing skills. A top management position requires motivation to achieve, but this motivation may be directed to achieving personal, rather than organization goals. Feuerstein believed the role to top management should be to manage and the most important resource they must manage is the people that work at all levels of an organization. Their role should not be "to rule", but "to lead". Feuerstein also understood that employees form the foundation of any organization, and that all of them have unique strengths that can help in achieving the companies goals. In return, employees will feel useful and are placed in a position to self-actualize or attain one's potential. When Feuerstein was asked what sets him apart from other CEO's, he responded: "The fundamental difference is that I consider our workers an asset. Not an expense. I have a responsibility to the worker, both blue-collar and white-collar, I have an equal responsibility to the community. It would have been unconscionable to put 3000 people on the streets and deliver a deathblow to the cities of Lawrence and Methuen. Maybe on paper our company is worthless to Wall Street, but I can tell you it's worth more. We're doing fine." "Other CEOs feel I'm sort of a stupid guy who doesn't know what to do with his excess money," he says. The quality of Polartec is what I'm selling. By treating the people the way I'd want them to treat me, they make that quality. When you do the right thing, you'l1 probably end up more profitable than if you did wrong." Feuerstein did not throw his money away. It was a well reasoned and sound leadership decision to invest millions in Malden Mills most critical asset, its workers. The contrast between this Feuerstein and the currently celebrated CEOs making 30, 60 or 100 million dollars a year by eliminating jobs and moving plants is simply astounding. How much are you willing to wager that every company that closed a plant in recent years to...
