Stone Finch Inc.: Young Division, Old Division

Stone Finch Inc.: Young Division, Old Division

Stone Finch was a company that was created after the merger of Stone Water Products Inc. with Goldfinch Technologies in 2000. Stone Water Products manufactured products for the water/wastewater industry. It had built its reputation on the quality of its products as well as the excellent services that the company’s sales force provided. Goldfinch Technologies on the other hand, was a five-year biochemical firm that provided solutions for the water/wastewater processing market. It was considered a company with high perspectives and could serve as a great opportunity for Stone Water Products to add additional streams of revenue. After the CEO of Stone Finch retired Jim Billings, who was the former leader of Goldfinch Technologies and was running the solutions department of the integrated company, became the new CEO.

Jim Billings as a leader

As a leader Jim Billings had a clear vision and the ability to inspire employees. He was energetic and he was comfortable with taking risks. He believed in the power of innovation and the constant pursuit of new opportunities. Billings had played a key role in the profitable growth and the diversification of the new company but as a new CEO he lacked the ability to “merger” the two departments and built a common culture. He had also a participative leadership style as he was taking his employees’ opinions into account but he could not built a common culture for the defender part and the prospector part of the company. He wanted the company to take innovative steps but the water products division was not fully on board with this idea as its strategy and goal was to produce high quality products and product innovation was not a part of its business model. So Jim Billings was a very good leader for the solution department but as a CEO he had to take the old division’s perspective into account and build a common mission and a common culture; one that would define the company as...