Midwest Entrepreneurs traveled to Burlington, Iowa to the headquarters of Winegard Industries. Randy Winegard is widely regarded as the premier entrepreneur is Southeast Iowa. He successfully grew a television antenna company his father started into a leader in satellite technology/receiving equipment, launched a successful golf course, numerous real estate developments, restaurants, hotels, entertainment venues such as Fun City, Catfish Bend Casino and many other companies. He believes a leader is someone who is humble, teachable, a good listener, and fair. He believes in rewarding his best people and trusting in good management. “I do not pretend to do all of our major deals or reinvent our manufacturing processes, but I believe in making steady improvement and rewarding those who do”.
Randy took great interest in the entrepreneurs in our class including Will Zimmerman. He asked Will to provide him with his contact information because he wanted to visit his new Grain Bin operation in Avon, Illinois.
Randy has been the President and CEO of Winegard Inc. for over 30 years, after taking the riens from his father when he was 29 years old. “I was given authority over the hotel complex next door after graduating from University of Iowa. I made a lot of mistakes. I did not know a lot but I listen to good people and I learned a lot. I continued that listening and learning into my ventures in other industries. I do not think I have had to go to work a single day in my life. I am passionate about what I do and showing up was never a chore.”
Randy provide a copy of Out of the Crisis to each student. Mr. Winegard believed Deming was brillant and inspirational to him in how to run his company. It changed the course of his life. He went to a seminar in 1984 with W. Edwards Deming. “I became passionate about the process and innovation connected with manufacturing. I do not believe America cannot compete with lower wage nations. It is our job to find a way to reduce the cost or improve the process or product in order to compete.”
Check out the link for more information on Winegard Industries:
http://www.winegard.com/about/index.php
