PC.

People

Building the
Next Leader

The operation isn’t really scaled if everything still depends on you.

I’ve built facilities, improved networks and changed operating systems, but some of the work I’m most proud of has been developing the people who eventually became capable of running them.

My approach has always been pretty simple: give people real responsibility, teach them how the business works beyond their current job and coach the gaps that are keeping them from the next one.

How I Develop Leaders

  1. 01See the Potential
  2. 02Teach the Business
  3. 03Give Real Ownership
  4. 04Coach the Gaps
  5. 05Step Back

I don’t develop people by giving them a checklist for promotion.

I put them close to the decisions.

That means understanding the financial side of the operation, learning how to manage people, communicating professionally, working directly with customers and being accountable for an outcome — not just completing a task.

Eventually, they should be able to make the decision without me.

Development in Practice

Two different paths.
Same idea.

People don’t become leaders the same way.

Sometimes the potential is obvious. Sometimes it isn’t.

The job is figuring out what someone already has, what’s missing and whether they’re willing to do the work to close the gap.

01

From the Floor to GM-Ready

From an hourly operating role to second-in-command.

The story +Close −

One leader started in an hourly equipment-operator role.

When an opportunity brought her back into my operation, she wasn’t an obvious future General Manager candidate.

I moved her into the office, started expanding her responsibilities and worked with her on the areas she needed to develop — communication, professionalism, client interaction, financial understanding and people leadership.

Over time she became my second-in-command.

She learned how to read the operation, understand the P&L, work directly with customers and lead beyond her original functional experience.

By the time I left the operation, she was ready to step into the General Manager role.

02

From Operations Manager to General Manager

From knowing the operation to understanding the business behind it.

The story +Close −

Another leader was already an Operations Manager when I arrived and had previously wanted the General Manager position.

He knew the operation extremely well.

What he needed was a broader understanding of business and leadership beyond the four walls of that site.

Over roughly two years, I worked closely with him on financial management, inventory control, developing other employees, professional communication and thinking about the business at a larger level.

He ultimately earned the opportunity to become General Manager of another operation.

The Multiplier

And those weren’t isolated examples.

Throughout my operating career, I’ve directly mentored frontline supervisors into Operations Manager roles and developed managers to take on larger pieces of the business.

  1. Give Visibility
  2. Teach the Business
  3. Give Ownership
  4. Coach the Decisions
  5. Step Back

What Scale Means to Me

Build the OperationFacilities · Networks · Capacity
Build the SystemProcess · Visibility · Accountability
Build the PeopleOwnership · Judgment · Leadership

Buildings and systems can increase capacity.

People are what make that capacity sustainable.

If the operation gets bigger but the people underneath it aren’t growing with it, eventually you’ve just created a larger operation that still depends on a handful of people to hold it together.

That’s not scale.

Building the Next Leader

Build the operation.
Develop the people who can run it.

The goal has never been to make myself indispensable.

It’s to build an operation with enough structure, visibility and leadership that it can keep performing without everything running through me.