Leadership Lessons from a UPS Driver: Delivering a Culture of We, Not Me

UPS is a household name and one of the most highly regarded American corporations by customers and investors alike. Who hasn’t been delighted by a right-on-time delivery, one of the 18 million UPS makes every day? Founded over a hundred years ago, UPS has moved steadily up the Fortune 500 as so many other corporations have dropped off. So what’s the company’s secret? Just ask a driver!

Ron Wallace was a UPS driver for six years before he rose through the ranks to become president of UPS International. In other companies that might be extraordinary, but for UPS it’s par for the course. UPS has a unique people culture. It’s like a family. Package loaders call executives by their first names and vice versa. The company almost always promotes from within. Lifetime employment is common. Most employees own UPS stock. Wallace credits this spirit of “we, not me” with the company’s success—and his own. As he puts it, working at UPS gave him a PhD in teamwork.

Instead of writing a typical business memoir that celebrates the leader as celebrity, Wallace shares vivid stories that focus on the people he worked with, the challenges they overcame, and the simple principles and practices that make up the UPS way. He exhorts his fellow leaders to grow their people, not just their business plans. The leadership style described in this book is simple and direct—and it works. The straightforward and easy-to-understand lessons provide a blueprint for an individual or company to build on past successes and adapt to future challenges. This is a must-read for anyone aspiring to become a great leader.

About the Author

Ron Wallace is the former president of UPS International, where he was responsible for UPS in more than 200 countries and territories and had more than 60,000 people under his direction. He also served on the corporate management committee that oversaw the day- to- day operations of UPS and its 435,000 employees. In addition, he served as chairman or cochairman of 33 boards of directors of highly successful companies around the world.

Shortly after retiring from UPS, Ron was appointed by the governor of Georgia as chairman of the governor’s commission and was charged with forming the city of Milton, Georgia. In 2008, Ron and a friend established the famous Olde Blind Dog Irish Pub in Milton. In 2015, it was named the best Irish pub in the world, making it the first pub in the United States to win the award. In his earlier days, Ron was a professional race car driver 146 About the Author and later played semipro American football in Europe. He has been in law enforcement for more than twelve years since retiring from UPS. He is currently a police officer near his hometown as well as a director on several boards, political advisory committees, and charitable foundations.

In addition to overseeing several businesses and real estate developments that he owns, Ron is a campaign consultant and author of the book Power of the Campaign Pyramid. In 2014, he and Bob Meyers published a 336- page coffee-table book titled Irish Pubs in America: History, Lore, and Recipes. It won the prestigious Indie Book Award. Portions of the book are being made into a TV series, for which Ron serves as executive producer.