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I KNEW KEN for more than 30 years, as we worked together at Digital Equipment Corporation, the computer company that he founded in 1957. The company grew rapidly and profitably for many years because of its excellent products and highly skilled workforce. Ken's leadership for more than 30 years was the reason for its success. He was a magnificent entrepreneur who created an unusual organization.
I joined the company in 1964, and he was my boss until he left the company in 1992. Every day that I worked for him, I learned something new. Whenever I had a knotty problem to solve, I could always count on him to have an original suggestion to help me figure it out. I loved my work because he created such a free and creative atmosphere. Everyone who worked there shared that feeling of being part of a wonderful company.
Ken melded his personal values into a set of principles that he practiced in leading the company. I have read many theories about successful leadership, and a multitude of articles defining it exist. In Ken's case, it was his fundamental belief in honesty, truth, and integrity. He put that into practice by insisting that everyone's ideas are valuable and should be tested by open discussion that would lead to the correct solution. The bright engineers who were attracted to Digital would spend hours debating a new product idea, and Ken was usually part of the discussion. From that debate would eventually emerge the correct way forward. Everyone was heard, and when the solution was reached, everyone accepted it. The process was often drawn out, but once a direction had been set, everyone was on board.
There was a strong sense of excellence in every aspect of the company Ken led. He insisted on excellent products, top-notch service for those products, and truthfulness in selling them. To promote that truthfulness, the company paid its sales force salaries so that the pressure of earning on commission would not encourage the sale of a product when it would not have been the correct solution for a customer's operations. One of Ken's favorite statements was that being a quality organization doing a quality job with quality products was the company's first objective,...