How Stanley Black & Decker built trust in their new CEO

One of the best ways for employees to get to know a new CEO is through introductory messaging that reveals more about the leader as a person. During Ragan’s Employee Experience Conference last month in Nashville, Alyssa Winterstein, senior communications manager at Stanley Black & Decker, told the audience that her team keyed in on a story from their new CEO about his first job. he took the time to fix his grandfather’s broken lawnmower before using it to cut grass. That type of story helped add a sense of relatability for employees.

Winterstein also said that not every get-to-know-you answer as part of an introductory Q&A needs to make the final cut that employees see. She cited an example in a previous role in which a leader made several references to vacations on the French Riviera, which wasn’t the most relatable anecdote for the audience. The lawnmower anecdote worked better because it revealed more about the person behind the job and how willing they were to fix things.

“He intended to borrow that lawnmower and return it in better condition than he found it,” Winterstein said, recalling the CEO’s anecdote. “And that’s how he treats the CEO role, that he’s going to return this company to its employees in better condition than he’s receiving it now.