Building a Culture of Extreme Ownership: Why I Give My Cell Phone Number to Every Employee
Author: John Brooks, CEO
Executive Summary: Great culture doesn’t happen by accident; it happens through Extreme Ownership and Decentralized Command. At Warehouse on Wheels (WOW), we built a high-growth organization by empowering local General Managers to act as CEOs, placing “Red Chairs” in the boardroom to represent the unheard, and ensuring every team member—from the shop floor to the C-suite—has a direct line to leadership .
When I stepped into the CEO role at Warehouse on Wheels, I knew we couldn’t scale from two locations to nearly 40 by running a top-down, command-and-control dictatorship. We needed a culture that moved faster than the problems we were trying to solve.
We built that culture on a foundation of Extreme Ownership—the principle that there is no one else to blame. You must own the problems along with the solutions . Here are the three pillars that define how we operate, how we treat people, and how we win.
1. Decentralized Command: The “Local Market CEO”
I don’t want vice presidents running around checking boxes. I want entrepreneurs. To scale effectively, we adopted the concept of Humanocracy—flattening the organization to strip out bureaucracy .
We treat our General Managers as “Local Market CEOs.” They have the authority to hire, fire, buy, and sell within their 150-mile radius . If a customer needs a trailer at 6:00 PM on a Friday, they don’t need to call corporate for permission to deliver it. They have the “Ultimate Expectation”: do what needs to be done without waiting to be asked .
2. The Red Chair Rule
It is easy for executives to get lost in spreadsheets and forget the human impact of their decisions. To prevent this, I keep two high-back black leather chairs in our boardroom wrapped in bright red covers .
These chairs are never sat in. They represent two groups who aren’t in the room:
- Our Team Members: The people working in the yards and shops.
- Our Customers: The people relying on us to keep their supply chains moving.
Every decision we make must answer to those red chairs. It is a visual trigger to ensure we never lose perspective on who actually powers this business .
3. The Bus Philosophy
Growth requires alignment, but it doesn’t require perfect agreement. I share my “Bus Philosophy” with every leader: We are on a bus headed to a specific destination (100 locations, 100,000 trailers).
As a rider, you have three choices :
- Agree: You like the route and help us get there.
- Disagree: You have a better idea for the route. I want to hear it. Reasonable people can disagree. But once the decision is made, you must commit to the destination.
- Get Off: If you don’t want to go to the destination, you shouldn’t be on the bus. And that is okay.
This clarity eliminates the passive-aggressive drag that kills corporate cultures. You are either on the bus, or you aren’t.
Why I Share My Cell Number
To prove that “Employees Matter” isn’t just a slogan, I give every single employee—all 300+ of them—my personal cell phone number during orientation . It’s not a work phone; it’s the same number my mother and my kids call .
I tell them: “If you have a problem, talk to your boss first. But if you don’t get a resolution, call me.”
Does it get abused? Rarely. But it sends a signal that is louder than any policy memo: We are in this together. Whether you are painting trailers in Evansville or managing logistics in Montreal, you have a voice, and I am listening.
Frequently Asked Questions on Leadership Philosophy
The Ultimate Expectation is a letter provided to new hires stating they have the permission and responsibility to always act in the mutual best interest of the company and the customer without waiting to be asked .
We view mistakes as learning opportunities, provided they are owned. I have been fired before in my career ; I know that failure isn’t terminal. We ask leaders to “check their ego,” admit the mistake, and implement a plan to fix it .
Our culture is heavily influenced by Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin , Humanocracy by Gary Hamel , and The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey .
About John Brooks
John Brooks is the CEO of Warehouse on Wheels. With over 28 years of experience in finance and operations, John has led multiple private equity-backed companies to successful exits. He describes himself as a “flawed human being who is constantly learning” , dedicated to building servant-led organizations that deliver “Ritz-Carlton service at a Hampton Inn price” .