Cover Story
Abdicating the throne
How Gary Reeve let go of day-to-day operations to take MMS to the next level
By Mark Scott
Smart Business St. Louis | August 2008
Page 1 of 4
Gary Reeve has been in business for too long to expect that he’ll
ever have it all figured out.
“There is always something unknown that is going to pop up,”
Reeve says. “Even though you plan so much or so well, there is
always going to be something that you don’t have control over.”
Five years ago, it was the cost of insurance that skyrocketed
after the terrorist attacks in the United States. More recently, it’s
been the rising cost of fuel that has forced companies, such as
MMS — A Medical Supply Co., to tighten their budgets.
Reeve, the co-owner, president and CEO of MMS, says the key to
good leadership through uncertain times is having the ability to
respond to a situation both promptly and without panic.
This is much easier to do when you share the leadership of
your business. By spreading the responsibility for running your
company to others, you open the door to a wealth of solutions
you may not have come up with on your own.
“You can have the greatest quarterback in the world, but if
you don’t have a team, that line will never protect him,” Reeve
says. “Business is no different. If you have a good team surrounding you, a lot of problems are handled long before they
hit management.”
Reeve has taken MMS from a $35 million company in 1996 to
$336 million in 2007 and now has 450 employees.
As the company has grown, he has not only had to assess
how involved he should be with day-to-day problems but also
whether the people under him are the right ones to keep the
company moving forward.
The key to managing through such growth is to stay in touch
with what your business needs. By doing so, you’ll know which
of your employees have what it takes to grow with you.
“In some cases, you’re going to have to end up rocking the
boat,” Reeve says. “You make some decisions and you move
ahead.”
Here’s how Reeve abdicated many of his day-to-day responsibilities to focus on long-term strategic decisions and used his
own knowledge of his people to figure out where they fit in the
big picture.
