In April 2002, Rhonda Spencer, Barry-Wehmiller's Director of Motivation, assembled a group of employees from across all divisions to gather for a conference in Clearwater, Florida.

In an email sent to the meeting's participants, this is how Rhonda articulated the organization's motivation behind the conference:

"This is a new experience for us at Barry-Wehmiller, one that I am very excited to sponsor. Over the past 18 months, we have been focused on defining and understanding the culture of Barry-Wehmiller. We have long felt that our culture is a strength of the business and a competitive advantage. We believe that the success of our acquisition strategy and our business is, in part, due to the unique synergy that we have been able to create in our organization. This conference is an opportunity to explore the best of our experiences and to move forward in our thinking on motivation and leadership.... The objective of the conference is for each participant to come away with a greater sense of how we can each make Barry-Wehmiller 'the best place for the best people to work.'"

The conference was held in a discussion format. Various topics on motivation and leadership were covered, and some participants were asked to summarize their specific experiences for the benefit of the group. Thought provoking articles were also researched and circulated to stimulate thought and discussion. The result of the insightful and inspiring participation of all the participants wasthe Guiding Principles of Leadership, which still serves as a vision for the Barry-Wehmiller culture.

Since the original conference, Barry-Wehmiller has organized two additional conferences uniting team members from throughout the organization in sustaining the journey to develop our culture. In June 2004, the second group of individuals gathered to meet in Aspen. Having participated in discussions about the Guiding Principles of Leadership throughout 2003 and 2004, these employees had distinguished themselves as having unique and insightful thoughts about leadership and the development of a strong company culture. This group gathered to discuss the role the GPL played in their personal and professional lives and how the GPL could be driven deeper throughout the organization.

In June of 2005, a third group of individuals built a meaningful dialogue on how the Guiding Principles of Leadership focus Barry-Wehmiller on achieving "true success." Conference participants reflected on the evolution of the GPL since their founding in 2002. More than 800 people have participated in GPL sessions and several divisions have groups of individuals meeting to design new GPL initiatives. To further spread the GPL throughout our organization, the conference participants developed a Commitment Statement to guide initiatives over the next year. The participants committed to involving every BW team member in a GPL session, engaging formal and informal leaders throughout the company, and connecting with past GPL conference participants.