One of my favorite episodes of 2022 was David Dodson on @aebridgeman's @ThinkLikeOwners podcast

Dodson covered many great topics including 5 critical leadership qualities. Worthwhile exercise to self-reflect on these for yourself

Here they are along w/ some thoughts on each🧵 1⃣Commitment to Building a Team - you can't do it on your own. Also processes alone won't save you, need great people

This includes not only recruiting top-tier talent, but developing, coaching, and retaining your existing team

I've done a handful of interviews the past few weeks

Now I'm far from the world's greatest interviewer, in fact I don't think I'm very good at all (much prefer being on the other side of the table as the one hiring)

Therefore, preparation is critical, 8 helpful tips below🧵 1/ 1⃣Interview Format - ask the HR contact or hiring manager ahead of time what the format will be

Panel vs. 1:1's. Structured vs. unstructured. Situational vs. behavioral. Virtual vs. in-person

Understanding this will help you better prepare 2/

Business concept that may be helpful in setting 2023 resolutions➡️Leading vs. Lagging Metrics

A lagging metric might be sales $, and leading metric might be # of customer visits for your sales team

Same idea can be applied on a personal level too 1/ Start with the bigger goal and try to quantify as lagging metric. Example could be get in better shape, which you then define as losing 20 lbs

Losing 20 lbs is a lagging metric though, it will lag other leading activities needed to drive the progress 2/

In the book Traction, they recommend the Accountability Chart as the first tool to implement within EOS

At first I didn't understand why, I thought something like Vision should come first

Here's a learning from my last role that I think plays into this👇 1/ The Accountability Chart stems from the People component in the EOS framework

Within that an important concept is "Right People, Right Seat"

You not only want to ensure you have the right people on your team, but it's critical to get them in the right seat 2/

Golfed with @MikeBotkin_ @SMB_Attorney and @DWarzala a few weeks back

Amidst wayward shots, balls lost in the woods/water, and frequent cussing by Mike...we did talk some business

One topic was "do no harm" vs. "break the glass" in SMB acquisition 1/ As with many things, I don't think there's a right or wrong approach. It depends, and is largely situational

Here are some of the considerations🧵 2/

I've been enjoying "Who Not How" by @DanSullivanSC and @BenjaminPHardy

Had a recent example of this principle in action where our latest acquisition was almost killed💣, or at minimum delayed🗓️, in the week leading up to close

A short🧵👇 1/ The fundamental concept in the book is that when faced with a challenge or problem, most of us immediately start with "HOW?"

How can I solve this problem? How can I overcome this obstacle?

Often, what we should really be asking is "WHO?"

Who can solve this problem? 2/

Best/most relevant for me podcast episode I've listened to in a while➡️@aebridgeman interviewing @davedodson307 on Think Like an Owner

So much great info from David's experiences, especially liked the 5 Skills of Great Leaders. Some thoughts on those from my experience🧵 1/ 1⃣Setting and Adhering to Priorities - as @realrookieceo will teach you, these are the Rocks in EOS

Leading 250+ person team at Trane, countless things competed for my attention. As team size grew, became more and more important to define and stick to those key priorities... 2/

@RegZeller and I were chatting EOS, 4DX, Lean etc (Reg is a super sharp dude too btw). It dawned on me that these all probably appear pretty daunting and overwhelming to many SMBs. Lots of buzz words, acronyms, etc. those of us who who have lived/breathed it take for granted... ...It's unfortunate because the concepts are really simple and if implemented well, can have a huge impact on employee engagement, customer satisfaction, and financial performance. Here's my attempt to quickly demystify a couple concepts within Lean that all could benefit from:

I just published my latest blog post on "Articulating Your Personal Purpose."
tombirchard.com/post/articulat…
For those that prefer something shorter form, here's a quick thread 👇 I recently did an exercise called "Future Authoring" with @BlasMoros and other folks part of his @LTCWRK project. I had already done some work on my personal purpose and found it more helpful than some other goal-setting frameworks. Here are some reasons why...

I just joined Twitter a few wks ago and it’s admittedly a bit overwhelming. Here goes with my 1st post…I currently lead a 250+ person service team and it strikes me there are some underappreciated leadership lessons that are more important now than ever. Here are 5 of them 👇 1/5 - Vision/Purpose - Have both a well articulated company vision and set of values but also require team members to document their personal purpose and how they connect. How Will You Measure Your Life is a great book if you're interested in exploring purpose further