Townsend Leather exec focuses on people
President strives to keep manufacturer’s workplace informal, fun, personal
When Jared Eckler began working in production at Townsend Leather in 1997, he didn’t anticipate it would become a career. He was in between college semesters and dating Sarah, the woman who would become his wife, current head of sales and marketing, and granddaughter of company founder Red Kucel.
“I just joined to get beer money for that summer,” Eckler joked.
But he “fell in love with the company,” which manufactures leather for everything from Air Force One upholstery to New Balance sneakers, and stayed. By 2009, Eckler became the third president in the company’s history when his fatherin-law Terry Kucel retired.
For 55 years, the Johnstown-based manufacturer has not only attracted big clients but also a dedicated workforce thanks, in part, to the company culture fostered by Eckler, this year’s recipient of Top Workplaces’ leadership award for midsize companies. He last won this award in 2019.
Q: How would you describe your approach to leadership?
A: My focus is on our people. … I write handwritten anniversary cards to everybody throughout the year, and people tell me they look forward to that … I learned from my mother-in-law. I remember seeing her do it many years ago when I first joined the company … I said to myself at that time, “If I’m ever somebody who’s important in this company, who it would matter if I sent them letters, I’m going to totally do that.”
I know more people in the company than anyone else in the company. That’s unusual in a company where the president is that personally and professionally involved in everyone’s development and their lives. … When I’m writing a card to employees, or if I’m posting pictures and notes of them on our workplace or social media internally, it’s personal and professional. I’m not saying, “Hey, thanks for all your hard work, another year down the tubes.” I’m able to tell the whole company what this person does and why it matters.
Q: Could you talk a bit more about what the culture is like in the workplace, and how you and your employees work together to foster it?
A:
On my journey to becoming president, when my father-in-law and I first started talking, I asked, “Do I have to dress like you do? Do I have to talk in certain ways?” … I grew up in production, and I didn’t want to change the way that I dressed when I had a position of authority. I’m the guy who wears jeans and T-shirts every day and has made that the company feel ... It’s very informal. It’s very fun. Even when we have customers — and that’s often — we don’t turn into serious people. I want everybody in the company to know the most important thing is that we can be ourselves.
Q: Anything else to add about Townsend Leather or its company culture?
A:
A big thing for us is values. In our recognition here, we capture things in the moment if someone does something awesome or there’s a project that gets done on time or it looks great. We’re always spontaneously recognizing people. We defined (our) values like teamwork and grit and selflessness. There’s 15 or 20 major themes that we recognize over the year. We actually vote as a company for people to win these awards. When we talk about values, what it means to us … we love to take it and make it actual. This is what this (value) looks like in a person. That person’s face should symbolize what it means to be someone who gets work done.