McCormick's heir took over in 1932 and saved the spice firm with participative management

In 1932, at the low point of the Great Depression, Willoughby McCormick — the autocratic founder of McCormick & Company — died, and his nephew Charles P. McCormick was thrust into the presidency. TIME later described the business he inherited as 'shaky financially, low in morale, wary of initiative.'

Rather than tighten one-man control, Charles created one of America's first experiments in participative management: the 'Junior Board,' an elected employee body feeding ideas to the senior board. The company's own history says it was one of a series of sweeping moves designed to save the business from failing during the Depression.

The system worked: in a five-year period 2,109 employee ideas were adopted, and Charles credited Multiple Management with pulling the company out of the red. By 1946 sales were expected to top $12 million, dividends had risen 150% over 1932, and some 500 other firms had adopted plans based on it. The Junior Board grew into the Multiple Management Board, still the company's cultural backbone 75 years later.

McCormick, 'shaky financially' in 1932, was pulled out of the red: dividends up 150% vs 1932, sales expected past $12M by 1946, and 500 firms copied the system

Giving employees a real voice rebuilt morale and initiative in a workforce the Depression had scared into caution.

The ideas the boards generated — from advertising themes to operations — fixed real problems at low cost when the company had little cash.

Sharing credit and profits made the turnaround self-reinforcing, since employees had a stake in the success they helped create.

When a crisis leaves employees scared and management isolated, sharing decision-making can unlock the ideas and loyalty that a cost cut alone cannot; culture saved McCormick as much as capital.

Multiple Management became a McCormick institution, growing to 14 boards with more than half outside the US, and the company remained a leading spice and flavor firm. Charles McCormick later wrote 'The Power of People' about the system, which became a textbook case in participative management.