Top Workplaces 2024: Celebrating Leadership Workers Can Trust
Some days, when he’s particularly excited, Mark Weisensee will literally run from his house to his pickup so he can get to the OpenRoad Global offices in Dallas, Ore. more quickly. His wife, Liz, who co-founded the supply chain and logistics company with him in 2004, wonders why he’s so eager.
“My wife thinks I’m – you know – silly,” said Weisensee. She asks, “‘Why do you do that? Why are you in such a hurry?’ And I’m like, ‘It’s actually just an expression of joy.’”
It appears that OpenRoad employees have embraced Weisensee’s enthusiasm. The company is among three winners of a special leadership award in The Oregonian/OregonLive’s Top Workplaces 2024 competition.
The winners were selected by Energage, the research partner of The Oregonian/OregonLive, which each year administers surveys on employee engagement and selects and ranks winners based on those survey scores. One section of the survey asked colleagues how well the leaders of their companies inspire confidence. Greg Mitchell of First Technology Federal Credit Union received the top prize for leadership at large companies. Monica Courtney of Visiting Angels-Gresham won for small companies. And Weisensee at OpenRoad won the leadership prize for midsize companies.
The question of leadership is a timely one. A recent Gallup analysis found that only 23 percent of American workers trust their organization’s leadership.
“Few employees trust the people in charge,” Gallup found. “This raises a serious question about morale in American businesses and coincides with a historic decline in employee engagement. Simply put, organizations have reason to be concerned – trust in leadership is dismal.”
There are myriad ways that leaders earn and maintain the trust. Gallup suggests the three keys are clear communication, inspiring optimism about the future and leading change.
Weisensee leads by example. He believes that OpenRoad’s growth and employee well-being are intertwined. Most of the employees at the headquarters have deep roots in Dallas, just as he does. He’s known many of them for decades, even before they were hired. His commitment to their shared future is palpable.
One OpenRoad employee called him “smart, engaged, open to new ideas, thoughtful.”
“His continuing reinvestment into the employees and business show his intentions,” another wrote.
The Weisensees built the company from scratch. For Mark, who’d been working in construction, OpenRoad was a side hustle until he made it his fulltime career in 2014. Together, they’ve built the company into a global operation with 225 employees and 15 offices that handle 2,200 shipments a week. Revenue for the current fiscal year is projected at $230 million.
“I’m eternally optimistic about the future for all of us,” Weisensee said. “We keep growing. And here we are in our 20th year. It’s phenomenal because it creates opportunities for all of us. It makes it fun to be on this ride.”
Originally published on September 29, 2024. Written by Steve BeavenThe Oregonian/OregonLive.
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