New Executives--Leading by Example

More recently, McDermott has headed up the development team on both sides of the Atlantic, focusing on both new and existing operations. Another area of focus will be on what McDermott calls "soft assets"—the people and marketing rather than "hard assets" such as the plants and equipment.

"We've done a lot of investing over the years, but the places where it has shown great success are at the facilities where the employees are 'switched on' to make it successful." McDermott continues by adding, "One of the incentives is profit-sharing and empowering people at the local level. Ultimately, this is what motivates. While the 20 percent growth rate achieved over the past 10 years has been fueled by the acquisition of other companies, the best investment is generally achieved by doing so in the existing businesses."