Richard Teerlink, Retired Harley-Davidson executive 2010 IW Manufacturing Hall of Fame Inductee
A Renaissance Man
When Rich Teerlink was named president and COO of Harley-Davidson's Motorcycle Division in 1987, Teerlink and a small group of executives partnered with organizational consultant Lee Ozley to build a new Harley -- driven by a fundamental principle.
"People are the only sustainable competitive advantage," Teerlink says. "And a leader's job is to create an operating environment for them to do great things."
Over the next decade, the group engaged in a sometimes-bumpy process of defining Harley's mission, values, philosophies, objectives and strategies. With input from union leaders and Harley employees at all levels of the organization, they created a roadmap for operational excellence that determined how Harley would handle everything from labor-management relations to communication to product development.
Perhaps most importantly, the process shifted Harley from a command-and-control management structure to a culture of collaboration, continuous improvement and shared responsibility.
An accountant by training, Teerlink says he always had an interest in manufacturing, thanks to his father, a Dutch tool-and-die maker who immigrated to the United States to start his own business. "Dad believed in people and that everybody should have an opportunity," Teerlink wrote in the book "More than a Motorcyle: The Leadership Journey at Harley-Davidson."
Teerlink joined Harley as CFO in August 1981 and went on to serve as president, CEO, COO and chairman in the 1980s and 1990s. In 1982, Harley posted an operating loss of $15.5 million on $210 million in revenue, and the company's share of the U.S. market for 651+cc (heavyweight) motorcycles was 15.2%. When he retired as chairman and CEO in 1999, the company posted an operating profit of nearly $416 million on $2.45 billion in revenue, and it commanded nearly 50% of the U.S. 651+cc market. It's safe to say that Teerlink steered Harley-Davidson in the right direction.
