"Of the three strategies that we have, I believe Leadership is the most important. Leadership can change a challenging and difficult environment almost overnight. It gives us the biggest bang for the buck for perhaps the least investment. It's why we all need to be sure we have the right leaders and strong leadership development processes in place. This year's winner, Fluid Handling Systems, has a new leadership team in place and it was definitely the right team. They completely changed the environment for the business. They recognized the importance of the people in the organization, and provided caring and concern during difficult times. In the past year, FHS established a mentoring program and put together a process to assist their employees - something I think many of our units can benefit from. They revised and improved the performance management system and effectively used the all-employee survey to really drive change in the organization and make a difference for their people. And they significantly expanded their communications process The result of these activities - which all took place in a relatively short period of time - was a completely reenergized, invigorated, highly capable organization. The topper is that they were able to accomplish this during a period when the business was under significant stress. In 2002, FHS was under strategic review and most of the employees did not know whether they would be able to continue to be employed by the industry. Yet, even with that stress, they grew their new business at over the twice the rate they had the prior year. It was tremendous effort and a true example of the power of strong leadership. Return to 2003 Chairman's Awards.			FHS President Stormy Hicks and Motion & Flow Control President Brenda Reichelderfer accept the Chairman's Award on behalf of FHS.