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Hoffer Plastics Corporation Co-CEO Alex Hoffer didn’t plan on joining the family business. His journey began with a summer job cleaning air conditioners atop the company’s South Elgin, Illinois, facility—a task that initially deterred him from the plastics industry. However, after stints in personal training and education, he returned to Hoffer Plastics in 2008.

Alex progressed through various roles, including estimator, sales associate and director of packaging, before ascending to executive leadership. In 2020, alongside his sisters Gretchen Hoffer Farb and Charlotte Hoffer Canning, he was appointed Co-CEO, forming a collaborative leadership model known internally as “G3,” now guiding the third-generation, family-owned company.

Beyond operational excellence, Alex is deeply committed to the company’s core values of family, integrity, service and trust—principles established by his grandparents, Bob and Helen Hoffer, when they founded the company in 1953. His personal blog, “Bald in Business,” reflects his dedication to integrating faith and leadership, offering insights into leading with compassion and purpose.

In the latest installment of the NAM’s “Forge Your Path” series, Alex shares his thoughts on what it means to be a leader, the accomplishments of his company that make him the most proud, where he sees his company in the next five years and more.

Q: What is one lesson or insight you’ve gained in leadership that you haven’t widely shared before but that has been a key part of your company’s success? How did you come to this realization, and how has it impacted your leadership?

Alex: “The most important job of a leader is setting clear standards and aligning the team to those standards. I believe this happens best through in-person one-on-one conversations. Our conversations revolve around role success statements, which are three to five clear statements that explain what success looks like at a high level. These are then measured by KPIs. The process of creating the role success statements leads to clarity, and clarity leads to alignment. The team member can then rate their monthly performance using these two dashboards.

“The process of writing success statements, and measuring them monthly, feels a little elementary. But that is the lesson I have come to learn: Leadership is often doing the things that feel elementary—and doing them repeatedly.”

Q: Can you share a quote or mantra that defines your approach to leadership? How has this mantra influenced your decision-making and leadership?

Alex: “Leadership is the process of doing things with and through other people. Leaders are people worth following that take people from point A to point B. These two statements capture the core of what I believe about leadership. The process is always about others, hence the words ‘with’ and ‘through.’ Being the kind of person worth following means that you do this with integrity, honesty and compassion. It means that you have the tough conversation, and you do so in a compassionate way. Finally, as the leader you are always pointing others to a better future. These are the things that capture what it means to be a leader, and not someone who has a title and some level of positional authority.”

Q: What accomplishments at your company are you the most proud of and why?

Alex: “The accomplishments that make me the proudest are threefold: First, our family is most satisfied in the business when we see the fruits of the business impact people on our team. In 2024, we had three team members retire who were with the company for a minimum of 45 years. Hearing what the company meant to them and their family gave wind to our souls.

“Secondly, I am similarly uplifted when I see how the products we manufacture improve the lives of other people and positively impact their livelihoods. I have seen this play out on production floors in Kentucky, Spain and various places in between.

“Finally, our grandfather taught us that any success we have needs to be good news for the local community. So, I am proud of that legacy and challenged to be the kind of steward he was.”

Q: Where do you see your company in the next five years, and what are you hoping to achieve?

Alex: “I am most excited about the growth of our team and our business in the next five years. We have the opportunity of bringing on new team members and that will bring new ideas, innovation and improvement. The next generation will see things differently, and that will grow us. It will also allow us to serve our customers in ways that we thought were not possible. It might take us into new markets and new relationships, which will further our appreciation for what we get to do.”  

Q: What are the past three books you’ve read that you would recommend to your peers and why?

Alex: “Here are the books I would recommend:

“The Bible: This might be a cop-out because I am recommending 66 books and not one! However, no book has come close to impacting me the way the Bible has. Looking for a bite-sized sample? Read one chapter of the book of Mark each day for the next month (a five-minute commitment), and you will be through one of the four Gospels by month’s end. 

“‘From Strength to Strength’ by Arthur C. Brooks: My doctor recommended this book to me, and it profoundly challenged me to see the second half of my life differently than the first. I am only 43, so I hope I have a few years to go before getting to ‘halftime.’ This book will help get me, and you, ready!

“‘The Boys in the Boat’ by Daniel James Brown (Narrated by Edward Hermann): I read (and often listen to) a lot of history and biographies, so there are countless books I would recommend. Having said that, the audio version of this book is one that I come back to for several reasons. First, it reminds me of so many teamwork lessons, and how the bonds of team never fade. My golf teammates stood up in my wedding, my best man was the guy I set screens for in 6th grade basketball. Secondly, it is set in an era—the onset of World War II—that I have deep interest in. Third, the epilogue reminds me that these men grew old and eventually died. This floods my emotions with memories of my four grandparents and that is probably why I return to the book often.”