We all know how big the demand was for hand sanitizers in the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Gojo Industries Inc., the Ohio-based maker of the Purell brand, found itself swamped in early 2020 and had to make quick moves to respond, including the move to make $400 million in capital investments, adding 500 employees and starting to mold its own packaging.
Now consider being faced with all those rapid-fire decisions in world-changing times and you've only been on the job for two weeks. Also, you're the first nonfamily member to be the CEO.
"We had to make the decision — before the virus had even come to the U.S.," Gojo CEO Carey Jaros told the Akron Roundtable at an event last week, as reported by the Akron Beacon Journal. "Do we turn all of our plants — and at the time there were two, now there are five — do we turn on that capacity 24/7 and start making stuff not knowing what's going to happen?
"I remember everyone was sort of turning to me and I was like, 'Why are you all looking at me?' I realized, 'OK, I actually have to make the call.'"
Jaros, 44, pointed to the company's "molecular leadership" system for having the people and expertise in place when needed, even as the situation on the ground changed almost by the hour.
Check out the link above to the Beacon Journal for the full story. It has been, as Jaros said, a "wild ride."