Garry Ridge – The Culture Coach
Founder of The Learning Moment www.thelearningmoment.net
Chairman Emeritus WD-40 Company
Marshall Goldsmith Certified Executive Coach
Named Among Top 10 Most Admired CEOs in the World – Inc. Magazine
Global Gurus 2023 Top 30 Organizational Culture #13
LeasershipHum Power List 2023 of the Biggest Voices in Leadership #12
If I can accomplish one thing, it would be to help companies create a workplace where people can go to work every day knowing that their efforts make a contribution to a cause bigger than themselves, where they feel safe, protected, and set free every day by a compelling set of values, learn something new, and try new things without fear. This makes happy people. And happy people create happy families and communities. Happy communities create a happy world. And we need a happy world.
Garry Ridge spent 25 years as CEO building one of the world’s most beloved and recognized branded companies – WD-40 Company – starting with creating a culture of leaders and individual contributors who are genuinely joyful in their work. He refers to this time of his career as his apprenticeship. And now, he fulfills his life’s purpose by transforming his learnings into teachings, extending his guidance as a coach to companies and executives worldwide.
“Creating a workplace experience where people gather as a tribe, where they support, protect, nurture each other, is simple, but not easy,” he says. “This goal is within anyone’s reach. You have to want it absolutely more than the typical rewards that come with the usual C-Suite. More than status, elitism, division, all those usual things we find in companies that want to enjoy the benefits of tribal culture but don’t want to sacrifice the ego amenities.”
Garry’s ideal coaching clients have these attributes in common: 1) A sincere desire to create a workplace environment that promotes psychological safety, belonging, and happiness in the work. 2) An eagerness to replace ego with empathy. 3) The characteristics of humble servant leadership as their starting place.
Garry co-authored Helping People Win at Work with Ken Blanchard and contributed a chapter to the Marshall Goldsmith/Frances Hesselbein book Work is Love Made Visible. His forthcoming book, Any Dumb-Ass Can Do It, is scheduled for release in 2024.
As part of his lifelong commitment to helping others develop, Garry is an Adjunct Professor at The University of San Diego. He is also on the Gorilla Glue Company and Eastridge Workforce Solutions boards.