In 1996, the WD-40 Company had annual sales of $108 million. At that point, we were a single-product company focused on doing one thing. We had done that one thing magnificently for forty-three years, and that was to build a brand around WD-40, a product that became an icon around the world.

In 2003, our sales were more than $216 million, and we had some of the highest profitability ratios in any industry. What happened? First, we tried implementing a number of traditional growth-oriented strategies, things like acquiring complementary product lines and developing our distribution and sales network worldwide. Then, we created a culture of learning within our company. This culture quickly grew into an environment in which our best employees see themselves as learning maniacs, and mistakes are known as learning opportunities. These changes have enabled the WD-40 Company to look beyond its historically narrow focus into a future of virtually unlimited growth opportunities.

But getting there was not easy. In 1997, I started serving as CEO at the WD-40 Company after working with the brand since 1987 in various capacities. Throughout the late 1990s, we were faced with a number of challenges, from sluggish sales to stagnating stock prices. We knew that we would have to make some big changes if we wanted to thrive past the company's fiftieth anniversary.