Tom Birchard

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 👇

@MikeBotkin_ Let's catch up soon! @MikeBotkin_

@MikeBotkin_ 1. Single brand...power in being able to pour all your focus into single brand. Also I suspect more durable long-term 2. Operator back to corp life...turned volume down on things that used to seem like big deal & rattle me. Low tolerance for BS, able to operate at different pace

Let's get some stuff going.... [bored on a plane] Here are some things I've wanted to ask people.... @birchard_tom 1) Single brand or multiple brands? Same geography. What is your preference for home services. Even if services differ a bit. 2) What helped you more? Corp life to Operator or Operator to Corp? @joshuamschultz 1) How do you coach/handle people(employees) that have a hard time understanding first-principle thinking? 2) Is manufacturing, playing the game on hard? @StrongpointRich 1) Take people out of the equation, what is the thing that most people get wrong or don't understand about HVAC/Plumbing before or when they buy? Tactical stuff. 2) What is the best/worst part about living hours away from opco? @thegeneralmills 1) What is the secret to having a great relationship with sellers that stay on? @BillDA 1) You dropped the 'holdco' thing and went 'all-in' on one brand. In retrospect, do you think going through that part of the journey, is an overall benefit or negative to running your existing co? 2) How do you fight boredom? @girdley 1) You have admitted that you were not a good CEO. Why do you say that? Do you think with your recent experiences of late, that you would be better now than before? 2) You have a lot going on. How do you balance the 'if I focused on one....' vs. 'I enjoy doing many' ? @pslohmann 1) Do you consider yourself a PM 'influencer'? [thats a compliment question] 2) How do you balance scaling that vs. running/growing the actual business? Would you ever expand outside of Ohio? @chasemurdock 1) We've discussed (in a long twitter thread) the idea that you have and the intent you have on remaining 'local', and the upside/downside of it. How do you think about the tension between remaining true to that versus scaling the capabilities you are nurturing/building via the shared model you deploy? @EndresenHeather 1) What is something that you were not prepared for when you left LOB and became your own agency? @aebridgeman 1) Most people probably ask you about the commonalities of your guest. I'll go opposite. What is something that you are surprised by that is always a different trait from your guests? 2) Who have you always wanted to have on, but unable[for whatever reason] to get them? 3) Put the damn operator manual back in production! @SMB_Attorney / @KHendersonCo 1) You guys are the 'brand' of the business. How difficult is it to balance the customer acquisition/awareness aspect of what you do with...the need for you guys to actually do the work? Basically. People want E/K to be "their guy". Is that a struggle as you scale? 2) What is something that you are surprised most buyers don't care enough about or put emphasis on? 3) Out of all of the deals you've done. What % have you thought a) this is a bad business, b) this operator has a tough journey ahead, c) this seller sucks. I'd run for the hills. @keliemorgan 1) What is the biggest turn-off when interviewing/recruiting an executive? 2) What is the ratio of importance on experience / potential? @JohnPetersonFW 1) Biggest surprise launching co? Any regrets? @Slackwatercap 1) What have you been most surprised with now that you own a landscaping business? @CTW_SMB 1) What are the top 3 things that you guys always have to clean up when taking over the books of a company? 2) What is the biggest challenge to your business? @LeadershipAcad1 1) Why do you not go into commercial? 2) [you already know my second question, it's the same question I ask you 500x a year :) ] @n8lenahan 1) How often do the people that hire you to hire for them, need help/clarity with what exactly they are looking for? @whentheresawill 1) Have you ever had a guest on and thought "this won't go well" in terms of their actual running the business? 2) Who have you been most surprised with and the success? Could be due to the actual business model or person? 3) Who is the one guest you want but have not had?

Sample Bias - when some members of a population are systematically more likely to be selected in a sample than others Good example of this discussed at business dinner last night. One of my team members is 6'6, and he was commenting on how often he runs into someone taller than him out and about...not very often at all This got me thinking, how many people in the world are 7+ feet tall? Below is what I found At first I was shocked by this. Having grown up playing and watching basketball, I naively assumed the number had to be much greater than this But this is Sample Bias. When I then got to thinking how often I'd be living my daily life, and see a 7 footer, it dawned on me how extremely rare it really is Many other instances of Sample Bias, and something to keep in mind as your initial reaction may be way off

A former manager used the phrase "Revenue is the Magic Eraser" And in that business and with the structure of our P&L, it absolutely was. If we were dramatically growing, everything else tended to take care of itself This just got me thinking that every business, at any given point in time, probably has 1-2 metrics that if you're driving them, performance will follow While it's important to consider how to balance different metrics (i.e. revenue, gross margin, and inventory), I also think it's important not to overcomplicate things. Easy to get caught in "analysis paralysis" and often driving extreme energy towards the metric or two that's most important for your business will deliver the intended results

"Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving." - Albert Einstein Thought of this 6AM Sunday morning while tempted to turn on the news until the kids woke up after the truly unfortunate events of Saturday But opted for the gym instead💪🏋️‍♂️

It's hilarious what little kids get excited about We signed Rory up for tee-ball. He's been talking all week about getting a glove There's a part in this "If You Give a Dog a Donut" book where the dog gets a glove & plays baseball, so I hear about it reading every night too😂

Congratulated a team member on a work anniversary earlier this week Prompted them to share how when they took the job 7 yrs ago, they never envisioned it turning into a CAREER Reminder of what really matters & that our team members are a critical stakeholder, not just investors

Two of the best things I've done for my mental health lately... 1) Removing all social media from phone (X, LinkedIn, Facebook) 2) Using app called One Sec to force me to pause & take a long breath before opening up email on my phone. Often stops me from compulsively checking!

@Tyler_Van_Acker Thanks for the post here Tyler, look forward to making all of these part of my routine! I'm 40 yrs old, pretty fit, have never had knee pain. But since reintroducing squats to my workout routine I'm experiencing some knee pain. Would you guess these help eliminate that?

Major learning for me as a parent with young kids is during play, to let them lead The most fun, and often hysterical, times don't come from when I say "let's go play basketball" but instead from letting their natural curiosity & creativity take hold & going wherever that leads

@joelcox @davedodson307 It's a good one, he has some good articles out there too. I think I first heard him on @aebridgeman's podcast "The Effective Manager" is another good one that's well researched and gets pretty tactical on people management

@birchard_tom @davedodson307 This book is on my “to read” stack and you just bumped it to the top!

In his excellent book "The Manager's Handbook", @davedodson307 lays out 5 must-have skills for leaders One is "Setting & Adhering to Priorities" This is so important, because the tendency is to chase shiny objects which dilutes impact & execution of those critical priorities An annual budget and goal-setting process, along with a way to measure (leading & lagging KPIs) is critical The larger the organization, the more cross-functional collaboration needs to occur to ensure effective cascading of the high-level goals and alignment of the priorities within different functional teams This process is hard and takes time, but you shouldn't take shortcuts because you want a high confidence that the priorities you establish will allow you to achieve the goals set. There may be a need to deviate from those plans midyear, but this shouldn't be taken lightly and every effort should be made to execute on the plans that were thoughtfully laid out

A quote to start the week👇 "Comparison is the death of joy." - Mark Twain Don't waste time & energy comparing yourself to those around you. This includes social media Instead...look inside, find your purpose & write it down, and try to live in alignment with that

Here's the podcast - kevinrose.com/good-energy-th… You can also find the book by just searching "Good Energy" by Casey Means Highly recommend both to anyone interested in living a long and vibrant life

I've always prioritized health & fitness and am constantly trying to learn more that I can apply Much seems redundant or doesn't resonate Kevin Rose's interview with @CaseyMeansMD was EXCELLENT! Prompted me to pickup her book "Good Energy" which I'm also really enjoying Link👇

MSC's mission statement is to be the best industrial supplier in the world as measured by our associates, customers, owners, and suppliers Super important to run decisions through this filter and ensure we're keeping a healthy balancing vs. overbiasing for any given stakeholder

@fariavalue @drgurner I happen to be reading “The Courage to be Disliked” which is based on Adler’s theories. Super easy read

@drgurner Can I found this definition or anything related in which of his books? Thank you very much Dr.!

Adler claimed we define ourselves by what we do in our hardest moments.. The people who: - Give up, watch themselves give up - Figure it out, watch themselves overcome. They develop Inferiority or Confidence. And it determines their moves in the world. Striving matters. Try.

Amazing how low the bar is set in many areas for follow through, clear communication, and even basic responsiveness Silver lining is if you can deliver on these, either personally or as a company, you can really stand out It’s not complicated, master these basic behaviors!

@SMBfella Yup and Steve Richman who was leading Milwaukee under the umbrella of TTI just stepped into that role Not a ton of change yet but it’s still pretty fresh

@birchard_tom Joe Galli just stepped down from CEO of the parent company recently. Have to imagine a lot of people shuffling to new positions over there

Spent the day with one of our key suppliers, Milwaukee Tool Quite the conference room, but the tour was one of the best I’ve been on Their tag line is “Nothing but Heavy Duty” and it shows with the rigorous testing they put their products through. Very impressive