Our Way
Learn. Love. Lead.
An embattled son becomes a patriarch. An untested employee becomes a CEO. A husband becomes a caregiver. A student becomes a teacher, and ultimately a student. Spike Yoh’s life story paints a vivid picture of the profound and very human forces that shape leadership. From a troubled childhood that would have propelled most into a cycle of broken relationships and self-doubt, he rewrote the rules of his own life, and in the process built his father’s company into a billion-dollar enterprise.
Drawing on interviews spanning eight decades of relationships; more than one hundred years of research, correspondences, and family diaries; as well as personal perspectives, Spike’s youngest son Bill Yoh creates a candid and emotional journey of love and grit, of business and blood, of admiration and imperfection that covers the drama, the comedy, and the tragedy of a life well lived.
OUR WAY REVIEWS
Harold L. “Spike” Yoh Jr. built his family business, Day & Zimmermann. With his late wife, Mary, he raised a business family. Our Way [is not] a business history . . . it's a transgenerational saga, drawn from a hundred interviews . . . The story folds in drama and loss alongside triumph and growth, and serves as an argument that it’s possible to succeed at work and family, with all the stress. For the full review, click here.
— Philadelphia Inquirer
By the time Harold “Spike” retired, his company, Day & Zimmermann employed over 16,000 people and was on track to earn more than $1 billion in revenue annually. In Our Way: The Life Story of Spike Yoh, written by his son Bill Yoh, Spike’s business acumen and personal kindness come alive. Through interviews with family and friends, the book spans three generations of triumphs and setbacks in the complicated world of business. From the Yoh family’s first arrival in the United States in the early 1800s to Spike’s appointment as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Duke University in 2000, the biography tells the story not just of one man, but of a realization of the American dream. As Bill writes, readers should “use the ensuing pages as a growth opportunity, hopefully an enjoyable one. There is no greater way to inform the future than to study the past.”
— Wharton Magazine
When writing Our Way, Bill Yoh had the goal of writing “something people can learn from.” Beautifully written, the result is both an inspiration and a “how to” for creating a successful business and successful relationships. Of the books you can find [on family business], Our Way is head and shoulders above pretty much all of them.
— Mitzi Perdue (Mrs. Frank Perdue), author of How to Make Your Family Business Last
True greatness is made of countless subtle things that often go unnoticed until we behold the summation of them in the character of the man. Our Way rips underneath the newspaper headlines that are the typical stuff of biographies to explore what really matters: sadness, love, failures and victories, real people brought to life on the page with wisdom. In the end, this fascinating and honest book reveals a man who struck an unlikely path through personal and professional obstacles, finding his own way to true greatness.
— Douglas Brunt, New York Times best-selling author
Written in a style that captivates the reader, Our Way’s relatable themes and anecdotes evoke
both out-loud laughter and tears of sadness. Bill Yoh melds his clear love and admiration for his father with a candidness and objectivity that bring credibility to the story—a story that teaches important life lessons about family, business, and philanthropy.
— Mary B. Lucas, staffing industry leader, speaker & author of Lunchmeat and Life Lessons
In a world characterized by increasing dysfunction and lack of permanence in our professional and personal lives, Our Way tells the raw and compelling story of an American family and their journey to finding and living lives of purpose. It’s an intimate and loving behind-the-scenes story of one of the pioneers of the $150 billion staffing industry and his vision, leadership, resilience, and commitment to doing well by doing good.
— Richard Wahlquist, president and CEO, American Staffing Association
Our Way is an inspiring story of love and loss, triumph and tragedy. It contains important and transferable lessons for leaders of both business and nonprofit enterprises, but it should also be read by any parent who seeks to help his or her children overcome obstacles while preparing them for lives of meaning and service.
— Lieutenant Colonel (U.S. Army, retired) John Nagl, DPhil, author of Knife Fights and Learning to Eat Soup with a Knife; Ninth Headmaster, The Haverford School