In light of the recent passing of Barry-Wehmiller Chairman Bob Chapman, we’re shining a spotlight on our most recent interview with him and new company CEO, his son Kyle, as they share their company’s commitment to the principle that all team members ‘are somebody’s precious child.’

Bob Chapman, chairman and former long-time CEO of Barry-Wehmiller, experienced a powerful revelation about leadership at the wedding of his friend’s daughter. Looking at the bride and groom, he thought, “Oh, my goodness, that is somebody’s precious daughter and son that we are worshiping today in terms of how wonderful it is they’re coming together. All 12,000 of our global team members are somebody’s precious child.”

It was this people-centric philosophy that helped him scale the company. After taking the helm of the private company at 30 years old, he grew the Barry-Wehmiller into a $3.6-billion global capital equipment powerhouse, leading the company through more than 150 acquisitions over 40 years.

Along the way, he developed what he calls Truly Human Leadership, designed to make employees feel valued, cared for and an integral part of the company’s purpose.

“When we see people as functions, engineers, accountants, receptionists, we treat them accordingly,” he says. “We may be a nice guy, we may treat them nicely, but it’s an economic relationship, not a human relationship. But when you see them as somebody’s precious child, knowing that the way you treat them is going to profoundly impact their health and the way they go home and treat their family, it changes everything. And the lens through which we see people is profoundly important.”

Leading in this way was uncharted ground for much of the time he led the company, but he made no apologies, seeing that it was not only the right thing to do but helped with everything from profits to employee retention. “The way we see people impacts the way we treat people,” says Chapman.

Bob’s “precious child” epiphany led to changes in every department and at every level of his wide-flung enterprise. His leadership style prior to that had, essentially, followed the traditional “it’s not personal; it’s only business” philosophy of standard business education. But, as he relates in his book Everybody Matters, his new approach toward business leadership began much earlier in what was already a series of business acquisitions:

Hayssen packaging company was that acquisition, and, on a visit to its facility, Bob registered the employees’ change in attitude at the start of their day as the clock ticked to the official “start of business” time. So, he devised and initiated a game for the customer service team – and made the eye-opening discovery that adding “fun” to their work improved not just morale but boosted sales by 20% in just a few months. And he relates, “This experience showed me that the creative gifts of our people were being suppressed by classic ‘management’ practices.”

That was part of his journey chronicled in Everybody Matters, where — after explaining why he got rid of time clocks and began treating the machinist employees with the same trust and respect the office staff enjoyed — he also encapsulates his philosophy: “We’re in business so that all our team members can have meaningful and fulfilling lives.”

Chapman’s son Kyle joined the business in 2008 after a career in private equity, bringing an emphasis on performance from that career, and is currently president and CEO. Together, they are working to “redefine what success looks like in business” by providing that “human and economic vibrancy can exist in harmony,” says Kyle.

Bob and Kyle spoke with Chris Benguhe, founder and president of the Dave Alexander Center for Social Capital, defining a shared view of leadership and future of Barry-Wehmiller companies. Click on the link below for their revealing conversation.