Focus on Leadership: Mike Gallman has been a leader in the flooring industry for almost 50 years – June 2024

Interview by Kemp Harr

Mike Gallman, president of Mohawk Group, was born in Germany while his father served overseas in the military. At age three, his father died, and his mother returned to the Dalton area with Mike and his sister to be near family. When Mike was 11, his mother remarried to a man who worked in the carpet business.

As a child of Dalton and stepson of a “carpet man,” Mike was reticent to join the flooring business, but Bob Shaw recruited him as a young college graduate, and, as they say, the rest is history. Mike has spent his entire career in flooring. Following his tenure at Shaw, Mike worked at Blue Ridge Carpet Mills and Mohawk.

Mike has an infectious laugh and a unique ability to build and maintain friendships that many in the industry treasure. He and his wife live in Chattanooga. Mike has six children and two grandchildren.

Q: Most people who grow up in Dalton don’t want to work in the flooring business. How did Bob Shaw talk you into it?
A: I was in my last quarter at the University of Georgia, and I had been pursuing entry-level positions with Southwestern Bell and Duracell. And you’re right, growing up in Dalton, I was adamant that I didn’t want to end up at a carpet mill.

However, I came home for Christmas break and ran into Mr. Shaw at a holiday party. When he asked me what I planned to do when I graduated, I answered, “Anything other than move back to Dalton and work for a carpet mill.”

When I told him the companies that I was interviewing with, he asked, “How long will it take you to get to know the CEO at one of those big companies?”

I answered, “That might never happen.”

And he said, “If you came to work for Shaw Industries, you would already be there.”

That was the end of the conversation; I went back to school the following week and didn’t think much about it. A couple of weeks later, I got a call from Doug Squillario, who oversaw sales at Shaw. He told me Mr. Shaw would like to meet me in the morning. I commented to Mr. Squillario that I would have to cut class, to which he replied, “So you’re saying you’ve never cut class?”

I cut class the next day, met Mr. Shaw and accepted a job. I started on April 4, 1977.

Q: Are you happy now that you listened to him?
A: It was a great decision, as I learned a lot that has served me well throughout my career.

By the way, in my 47-year career, I’ve only worked at two other places: Blue Ridge and Mohawk.

Q: How has your marketing degree from the University of Georgia contributed to your success?
A: My marketing degree has helped, but, more importantly, college helped me develop the discipline to manage multiple complex tasks simultaneously and to seek out help if I didn’t understand something completely. A background in marketing ended up serving me well, but spending four years on my own at that age had an even bigger impact. College teaches you to start something and finish it while managing multiple complex distractions all going on at the same time.

Q: You were instrumental in convincing Bob Shaw to form a separate commercial division, which ultimately became Shaw Contract. Tell us the strategy behind that decision.
A: It wasn’t hard; he knew the commercial market was more profitable than the residential market. It was more about just laying out a strategy that would be successful and having him support it. Gregg Hayes and I brought in Bob Spahn from Bentley and Steve Sarratt from Interface.

Our first big win came from developing a relationship with Leonard Parker, a big hospitality purchasing group in Miami. I built a relationship with Parker’s two sons, and we started selling printed carpet for their hotel projects. The business grew from there. We were fortunate to reach the $30 million five-year goal in two years.

Q: What drove you to leave Shaw’s commercial business to take the role as CEO of Blue Ridge Carpet Mills?
A: I was born to be an entrepreneur. At 13, I started a lawn service. My father’s colleague kindly drafted a contract for me, allowing me to sign up several neighbors for regular mowing. Then, I recruited some friends to mow the lawns and split the proceeds 50/50. That worked fine until one Saturday when about half of my friends/partners didn’t show up, and I had to mow six or seven lawns by myself. That taught me a valuable lesson: pick your partners carefully.

In addition, I started two businesses while I was in college. So, when I went to work for Shaw Industries, I assumed I would be running the place in a few years. Twenty-one years later, I wasn’t, and it didn’t look like I ever would. I still had that itch to run a business, so when the opportunity to buy Blue Ridge came up, I knew I had to do it.

Q: What was the business strategy behind Blue Ridge?
A: The strategy was to build a brand that appealed to designers as a small artisan company in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains. We focused on our ability to offer products that the large mills didn’t want to make, like piece-dyed, high-end Antron patterns and custom products, for low minimums.

Q: How did you pick the team that you built at Blue Ridge?
A: The team was Gregg Hayes, Steve Sarratt and me. As I mentioned earlier, they were part of the original team that started Shaw Contract. I knew what kind of leaders they were at Shaw and had complete faith that they would be great partners.

Q: What was the biggest lesson you learned from your Blue Ridge experience?
A: The biggest lesson learned was that the business became very capital-intensive as technology advanced in tufting, extrusion and just about every other facet of carpet manufacturing. A capital-intensive business slanted the odds toward the larger manufacturers that could more easily absorb the costs of being on the leading edge of innovation. It was extremely difficult for a small manufacturer to compete in the long term.

Q: How has being a lint-head (knowing the many processes for how yarn and carpet are made) helped you drive success in your career?
A: Embracing a holistic view of the product manufacturing process has proven to be a game-changer. This approach not only helps us create products that resonate with our customers but also ensures they are manufacturer-friendly and easy to install. It’s a win-win situation that we should all strive for.

So often, in a multi-step manufacturing company, one group will do something to improve their process. In doing so, they will create unintended problems in other steps downstream in the manufacturing process. When you are leading a small company, you are forced to learn and do a lot of different things.

Also, growing up in Dalton, I did just about everything there is to do in a mill during summer and after-school jobs.

Q: I was impressed by Mohawk Group’s 40,000-square-foot pilot lab, which you toured me through. How has that investment paid off?
A: Our Light Lab has been an excellent asset for Mohawk Group. It is a physical example of our commitment to commercial flooring. We have landed many projects-mostly by letting our client get in the kitchen with us to develop a custom look. It also reinforces our commitment to sustainability as it was the first ILFI-Certified Living Building in the South. The Light Lab has also been beneficial in attracting and keeping our many talented associates.

Q: What do you look for in people you are considering adding to your team?
A: I learned early in my career that to be successful, you must surround yourself with highly motivated, talented people with great integrity. I want people on my team that can replace me if needed. I look for three primary things when I hire someone. First and foremost, I want people with high integrity; someone who does the right thing even when no one is looking. I also want people with high intelligence and discipline. I’ve had a lot of success with people with high academic success and the discipline to play sports or work while going to school.

Q: Where does sustainability stand as a priority within the A&D community?
A: We all know that sustainability can be a key differentiator-especially when it comes to product development. We must be cognizant of the lasting impact our floors have both during their service life and beyond that. That idea has taken hold as a core value in the contract A&D community. Architects and designers are pushing the boundaries of sustainable design, and their priorities evolve quickly. We partner with them by listening closely to their needs so that we can offer flooring solutions that help them meet their sustainability goals. The A&D community, like Mohawk Group, also recognizes the need for a holistic and comprehensive approach that considers people, planet and performance.

This subject is personal for me. My biggest inspiration for leaving a better world comes from my grandkids-my six-year-old grandson and seven-year-old granddaughter. I want them to inherit a world that’s even better than the one we have now. That possibility really excites me.

And then I walk around this Mohawk Group campus, talking with all these talented young people we’ve brought on board. They’re incredible! They’re personally committed, and they push all of us to do more for the planet. I’m thrilled to be part of this journey. Together, I think we can make a real difference.

Q: What concerns you most about the future trajectory of this commercial flooring business?
A: There are two big things that concern me about the future of our industry.

Flooring has traditionally been a domestically manufactured product that has employed thousands of people and has been the economic engine for northwest Georgia. With the emergence and growth of LVT, which is primarily made in Asia, will we lose that position-like a lot of manufacturing has-and become an offshore import business?

The other issue-and this issue may impact how the first issue plays out-is can our industry automate fast enough to overcome the serious shortage of production labor we have in the U.S. and compete with the cheap labor in Asia?

Q: Who were your mentors, and what did they teach you?
A: If I have to narrow it down, there are three gentlemen that I‘ve been fortunate to work with in my career. They were all very different and very successful leaders.

Bob Shaw taught me to be bold and set my sights high but be willing to admit when I get it wrong and change course.

Norris Little taught me that humility is essential. You are only as good as your team. To me, he was Shaw’s conscience, always calm in a storm.

Lastly, Jeff Lorberbaum taught me that no matter how good you think you are, as he likes to say, “You’re halfway there.” He has the uncanny ability to walk through a plant or look at a process you think is perfect and find things you could do to make it better. Never fall into the trap of thinking something is as good as it can be. Jeff and I are the same age, and we work well together.

Q: You’ve spent your whole career focused on the flooring business. Tell us a few of your fondest memories.
A: In 2017, Mohawk Group won Best of NeoCon in almost every category, including technology and sustainability. The only category we didn’t win was broadloom. I was so proud of our team; we had come a long way in just a few years.

Something that stuck with me from Blue Ridge was that we had a young man who was the hardest-working person I have ever known. One day, I looked up from my desk, and he was standing at my door with another young man. He said, “Mr. Gallman, I have to go back to Mexico to visit my family for a month, and this is my cousin. He is going to work for you in my place until I return.” I was so dumbfounded and impressed with his concern for his job that I agreed on the spot.

Copyright 2024 Floor Focus

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