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Consumer Packaged Goods

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The Brief — 1 issue

Brief · Issue 009 May 5, 2026

Most CEOs Buy AI Licenses. WD-40 Bought Operating Margin.

Steve Brass spent 31 years inside WD-40 before taking the CEO seat in September 2022. He took a public position on the customer outcome the company had been failing — and the work he refused to keep imposing on his planners — before he procured a single AI tool. The licenses were the same. The order was different. The receipt is 100 basis points of gross margin expansion in Q2 fiscal 2026.

Steve Brass, WD-40 Company · $590M (FY2025)

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