Andy Larsen
President
Minnesota Flexible Corp.
Menomonee Falls (headquartered in South Saint Paul, Minnesota)
Industry: Industrial machinery manufacturing
mfchose.com
Employees: 30 in Menomonee Falls; 180 total
“If we are considering a candidate that we feel may not have a strong character, we quickly move on. Ethically, our job candidates must be aligned to our way of doing business and how our other team members conduct themselves. The times we’ve made hiring mistakes and have not brought in a new employee that has a strong character, is ethically aligned and doesn’t fit with our culture, our team members have let us know.
“Past success and experience are also important characteristics for us in a new hire, but the success doesn’t need to be in our industry. ‘Winners, win’ is a saying that we’ve used a lot. We feel that if they have been successful in the past – regardless of the industry – they’ll be successful with us.
“Above all, character is non-negotiable. A few years ago, we deviated from our hiring philosophy, hiring an account manager that had a lot of industry experience and was marginally successful with his past employer. Excited about getting this individual on our team and having him stop competing against us, we overlooked some character flaws that should have raised red flags. While the individual had some success with us, his personality clashed with other employees and ethically he caused problems with customers and suppliers. After a couple years of trying to make it work, we moved on and learned an important lesson. Character is non-negotiable.”
Age: 49
Professional experience: Larsen joined Minnesota Flexible Corp. in 2003 as vice president of sales. After climbing the ranks for two decades, he was promoted to company president in January. Prior to MFC, Larsen worked as an area sales manager for Eaton Hydraulics.
