3 Hallmarks of a Successful Business
Heat Treat Today publishes twelve print magazines annually and included in each is a letter from the publisher, Doug Glenn. This letter from the April 2026 Annual Induction Heating & Melting print edition highlights three hallmarks common to thriving companies — prioritizing people over technology, people over profit, and a relentless commitment to continuous improvement — drawing on a visit to Induction Tooling in North Royalton, Ohio, as a real-world example of these principles in action.
Feel free to contact Doug at doug@heattreattoday.com if you have a question or comment.
Michele Schaller, one of Heat Treat Today’s excellent editors (we have three excellent editors), and I recently visited Induction Tooling in North Royalton, Ohio, near Cleveland, to talk with Bill and Sherry Stuehr regarding their company’s 50th anniversary. I make it a point never to promote one company over and above other companies in this column because 1) our mission is to get good information to our readers as objectively as possible without showing preference to any one company, and 2) it would be bad business.
Meeting with the Stuehrs, however, did allow me to meditate a bit on what makes a company a good company…of which there are many in this industry. If a company is successful, the following will undoubtedly be true about that company.
1. People Over Technology
It is almost certain that the most successful companies prioritize people, both clients and employees, ahead of their technology or product offering. This may sound like heresy to some, but I’m convinced that it is true — as counterintuitive as it may appear. Ultimate business success is dependent on finding and keeping the right people employed and finding and keeping clients.
Finding and keeping competent employees is one of the most difficult business challenges in today’s world. Manual labor is not seen as something desirable. In fact, as Bill Stuehr said during our recent visit with him, “Industrial Arts” is not a thing at institutions of higher learning anymore. When Bill said those words, “Industrial Arts,” it was the first time our 30-something-year-old editor, Michele, had ever heard the words. This is telling. Kids just aren’t being educated or encouraged to go into industrial vocations. That makes finding and keeping them all the more important.
And while having a technology, product, or service that meets the client’s needs is critical to success, it is not the most important thing. Having an organization that remembers that “clients are people too” and treats them with respect and dignity is even more important in the success of a company.
Induction Tooling lives out this trait quite well, and it is Heat Treat Today’s desire to do the same. I frequently remind our team that while we are an industrial trade publication, we are first and foremost helping people and hopefully making them happy as our “Why Statement” asserts: We believe people are happier and make better decisions when they are well informed.
The bottom line is successful companies understand that they can have the best technology, product, or service in the world, but if they are not prioritizing their people — employees, vendors, and clients — they will ultimately fail.
2. People Over Money
As with technology, money (i.e. profits) should not be sitting in the driver’s seat either. Profits are important. Profits are good (more about this in my Publisher’s Page from the Aerospace Heat Treating, March 2025 edition). But truly successful companies will regularly sacrifice profits to please their employees and/or clients. A previous employer of mine became a “spreadsheet” company as opposed to a “people” company and has suffered because of it. Companies who are willing to sacrifice profits to keep their clients or their employees happy have a vastly better chance of being a successful company.
3. Better & Better
The final characteristic that seems to be common among successful companies is the desire to advance and never be content. Lethargy and complacency are the enemies of success. You are either growing or dying; there is no neutral. Treating clients better, providing a better service, doing things more efficiently, thinking of new ways to be helpful, spending less and less on necessary expenses, finding ways to be easier to work with or for — all of these are ways that successful companies strive to be better. Companies who become complacent will ultimately fail.
Some people are naturally change-averse. That’s difficult. In business, the one constant is change and successful companies find a way to encourage and embrace continual change, continual improvement.
Embrace and Influence for Good
If you are looking to make your company successful, if you are in a position to influence the direction and culture of your company, I recommend that you encourage your company to embrace these pillars of success. There are many companies in the North American thermal processing industry that do and are successful including the good folks over at Induction Tooling.
Publisher
Heat Treat Today
For more information: Contact Doug at
doug@heattreattoday.com
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