WD-40 Does $380 Million in Sales a Year, Its Secret Sauce is Notably Simple

If you want your company to be free of squeaks, create a society that lives by its values, encourages learning, and sees mistakes as educational moments.

WD-40 Company, the maker of the iconic spray that stops squeaks and makes parts run smoothly, knows something about creating a society that is happy to come to work. This company has pulled in $380 million in revenue last year and bombasts an employee satisfaction rate of 92 percent. Like its iconic product, the company has figured out how to minimize friction so that its people can go about doing their work with ease.

Here are Garry Ridge’s (WD-40's CEO) tricks for creating a company that we can call his "smooth operation":

1. Be a learner and a teacher

The No. 1 responsibility of a leader is being a learner and a teacher. "The three most powerful words I ever learned are: I don't know," Ridge says. To commit yourself to learning, Ridge has put together a WD-40 Maniac vow, below, which he describes as a pledge to become a "learning freak":

“I am responsible for taking action, asking questions, getting answers, and making decisions. I won't wait for someone to tell me. If I need to know, I'm responsible for asking. I have no right to be offended that I didn't ‘get this sooner.’ If I'm doing something others should know about, I'm responsible for telling them.”

Ask yourself this question that Ridge asks himself: When's the last time you did something for the first time?

2. Cuddle mistakes as learning moments

As said by the CEO of WD-40, the 40 in the name WD-40 comes from the 40 attempts it took the product's creator to get it right--this is a company that sees mistakes as educational moments.

For this to work, Ridge sets the example himself. He is humble. His humility comes from knowing that "leaders need to exercise good judgment, but that good judgment comes from experience, and experience comes from poor judgment."

Too often, people are afraid to learn because they're afraid of making mistakes. Let the society know part of learning is making mistakes. Set an example as the leader that it's OK to make mistakes, and show that even you are not perfect, and can and are open to still learn.

3. Live your ethics instead of visiting them

In the WD-40 website, you will come across this note:

"Please, only consider employment with WD-40 Company if you feel as strongly about our values as we do:  We live, breathe, and play by our values every day." In other words, if these are not your values, don't apply.

Ridge sees values as the description of the only acceptable behavior in a society. And a society is people gathered around one purpose.

Here are WD-40's company values:

• Doing the right thing
  
• Creating positive, lasting memories in all our relationships
  
• Making it better than it is today
  
• Winning as a society while excelling as individuals
  
• Enjoying it and passionately acting on it
  
• Helping the WD-40 Company economy
  

98 percent of WD-40 employees feel that their opinions and values are a good fit with the company culture. Ask your society the same question, and you will know if you're living or just visiting your values.

4. The Secret Of Marketing WD-40

Being a big brand globally, it's not that big in any particular sales channel. They don't position themselves as a lubricant or a de-penetrant or as a water displacer or as a rust-preventive product. They position themselves as a multi-use product, which means they can go anywhere they want.

One can buy WD-40 in an automotive store, a hardware store, a grocery store, a drugstore. That's the secret part of their success.

Strange ways people have used WD-40, like removing a python from the frame of a bus.