How Lippert Is Building Strong Leaders From Within

At Lippert, leadership comes from the inside out.

“We believe that if you’re stronger on the inside, it really impacts how you show up to the roles that you play in the world,” says Lippert’s Chief Culture and Leadership Development Officer Amber Selking. “We challenge our leaders to operate out of the lens of our core values and our leader qualities. These guiding principles help our leadership development directors to drive accountability and support growth for our leaders to lead themselves, their team and their business with purpose and for performance.”

Selking joined Lippert seven years ago, already aligned with the company’s evolving vision, she says. With a business degree from University of Notre Dame and a master’s and doctorate in sport and performance psychology, she brought experience in high-performance coaching from college and professional football. A meeting with Lippert CEO Jason Lippert revealed a shared perspective on the potential of business as a vehicle for high performance and meaningful impact.

“Helping leaders make business a force for good has been one of the most rewarding parts of my journey here,” Selking says.

When she first joined, the company’s culture was very different.

“We’ve come a long way from the days of the old-school shop floor — where yelling and chaos were the norm.”

At that time, Lippert faced a staggering 130% turnover rate. Today, employee retention holds steady at 70%.

Creating a Workplace Where Employees Feel Valued & Empowered

The reason why they strive at Lippert to be “a force for good,” she says, is partly due to the number of hours people invest in their workplace.

“We spend 40 to 80 hours a week with our teams. What are we doing with that time?” she asks.

While other institutions struggle to create systemic change, businesses are uniquely positioned to support personal growth.

Lippert’s approach is to foster environments where people feel valued, cared for, and empowered.

“When individuals feel their ideas and contributions matter, their self-worth increases — and they take that positive energy home, into their families and communities,” she says.

Referencing the Business Roundtable’s evolving definition of a company’s purpose — from maximizing shareholder wealth to serving all stakeholders — Selking says Lippert is putting that principle into action every day.

Expanding Culture & Leadership With Intentional Development Frameworks

The culture and leadership department at Lippert consists of several groups, including Leadership Development, Corporate and Community Impact, Chaplaincy and the Lippert Academy of Leadership. These teams focus on four main objectives:

1. Developing leaders
2. Stewarding company culture
3. Supporting personal growth
4. Advancing the idea of business as a force for good

“We know the world needs this right now,” Selking says. “We haven’t arrived, and we aren’t perfect — but we are committed to the journey.”

Programs focus on building intentional leadership and equipping team members with practical tools. BFG Teams across locations include “Be a Force for Good” champions who promote the mission through networks like the Lippert Women’s Network and the Military Engagement Team.

Each team member also completes a Leadership Action Plan (LAP) annually — three personal and three professional goals. This tool fosters coaching conversations and supports meaningful development.

“We believe that action creates traction in the human spirit,” she says. “When people start accomplishing goals in their lives, they realize how much autonomy and power they have within themselves to be a force for good in their own lives.

“Eventually that translates into how they show up and lead our business. The innovation, quality and safety has just continued to increase at our organization because we have people growing as people and as professionals.”

Driving Employee Engagement & Achievements Through Personalized Goal Setting

Selking has seen extraordinary results through the company’s focus on individual goal setting — from health improvements and financial wins to repaired relationships and professional advancement.

“People are transforming their lives with a simple 5-by-7 goal card,” she says.

CEO Jason Lippert also conducts weekly listening sessions where team members share these stories.

“It [may] seem unusual for a big corporation, especially the size of Lippert, to be so personally invested in each individual … [but] I think it’s refreshing to a lot of people,” Selking says. “I think we’ve seen a lot of healing that’s happened in people’s lives and minds because we believe in what work could be and what work should be in all of our lives.”

A recent engagement survey that Lippert conducted saw a 90% participation rate and a 78% favorable rating.

“We attribute that to the fact that we listen to our people and we respond to their feedback,” Selking says.

Harnessing the Power of Positive Thinking

Drawing from her experience in sport psychology, Selking champions the power of positive thinking.

“The brain performs better — more creatively, more clearly — when it’s in a positive state. Communication improves, and performance rises,” she says.

To leaders who dismiss positive thinking as fluff, she says, “Don’t say you want to win if you’re not willing to invest in your people and your culture. Imagine what’s possible if you integrate both your business and your cultural strategy.”

Her advice to other companies? Start with the next right step.

“Transformation takes time, commitment and consistency. But if you stick with it, you can truly change your business — and your people — for the better.”

Lippert’s Ethos

• Mission: Making lives better by developing meaningful relationships with our customers, our co-workers and our communities.
• Core Values: positive attitude; passionate about winning; honesty, integrity, candor; team play with trust; caring about people
• Leadership Qualities: motivator, humble/coachable, courageous, servant leader, effective communicator

Learn more at corporate.lippert.com/about/culture

Read more about how Lippert keeps tabs on its environmental impact HERE.