Rob Wildeboer is the Executive Chairman and co-founder of Martinrea International Inc., a global auto parts supplier, specializing in automotive fluid systems and metal forming products.  Martinrea has over 15,000 employees at 38 divisions in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Europe and China. 

[This blog post (Part I of 3) is based on remarks delivered by Mr. Wildeboer to a Christian Embassy of Canada gathering in Ottawa on December 1, 2015.]

 Let me share the work that I have the privilege to do. In my life, my work has always been based on building things, or rather helping people build things with hopefully some positive influence from me. Work is a passion and a hobby. It is an extension of the human spirit. It is a calling. It is a way in which we manifest ourselves, to the glory of our Creator and in the service of our fellow man or woman. It is about service. It is about the best in life. Work, in its proper context, is simply an extension of the best we have to give. I believe that in our work we are ambassadors of what I believe to be true, and my words, my actions should reflect that. And, if work is fulfilling, it also becomes easier to do, like a hobby. We do spend a lot of time working, so I hope for you all that work is like a hobby to you.

I happen to have the honour of being the Executive Chairman and a founder of Martinrea International Inc., and here I want to show you our principles of doing business. Martinrea is in the auto parts business. We make parts for cars and trucks. We make metal parts for vehicles, virtually anything metallic on the vehicle: engine cradles, cross members and roofs. We are the second largest auto parts maker in North America in this space, with plants in Canada, the US and Mexico

Our company has grown from a small enterprise that did no automotive business in 2001 to a company today with close to 15,000 employees, 44 plants in 8 countries on four continents and close to $4 billion in revenues. We have grown from a small company in Toronto to a worldwide company now with almost 80% of our revenues coming from outside Canada.

As a leader, I am, and I feel, personally responsible, along with the senior members of our team, for the wellbeing and welfare of our people. The key to our success as leaders, to my success as a leader, is whether our company is taking care of our people and their future. I am an ambassador for what we do, to our people, to our customers, to our stakeholders, and to the governments of the places in which we do business.

As well, I feel Martinrea is an ambassador for Canada and our approach to our business. There is no doubt that in many places people know we are a Canadian company – and we started here, we have shareholders here, we have lenders here, we pay taxes here, and our head office is here. We do reflect our culture and belief systems.

But we are also passionate about being good local citizens, both in terms of country and community. When you walk through a Martinrea plant in Mexico, it looks like a Mexican plant. And it is. In Germany, we act differently to reflect local culture in the right way. In China, we are Chinese; in Brazil we are Brazilian; in Spain we are Spanish; in the US, we are American – and in the deep south we are different than in Kentucky and in the north we are different again. You should see the enthusiasm of our various plants during the World Cup! The key to corporate ambassadorship is to respect individual and local identity.

Let me go through our Vision, Mission and Principles with you. This is how we operate and how we will go forward. Our vision for the future is to be the best, preferred and most valued automotive parts supplier in the world in the products and services we provide our customers. This is what we intend to be. Where we want to get to. We believe in this vision passionately. Vision, without passion, is merely hallucination.

Our Mission, which is what we do to become who we intend to be, is fourfold. First, to deliver outstanding quality products and services to our customers. Second, to provide meaningful opportunity, job satisfaction and job security to our people through competitiveness and prudent growth. Third, we want to deliver superior long term investment returns to our stakeholders. Lastly, we are committed to positive contributions to our communities as good corporate citizens. We’re ambassadors too.