The Construction Leadership Podcast: Executive Strategies to Build Elite Teams & Consistently Deliver On-Time, Under Budget

In episode 178, consultant and author Brian Kaskavalciyan joins the show to discuss how you can help your contractors increase their wealth. Quite literally, Brian wrote the book on the topic—it's titled The Wealthy Contractor and he hosts The Wealthy Contractor Podcast as well.   The primary goal of The Wealthy Contractor is to help home improvement & home services business owners achieve more su...

Business owners and executives often lament the absence of team members who "think like owners." Yet when these business owners and executives are asked how, exactly, their team members can think—and more importantly, act—like owners, they struggle to articulate it.   The principles and processes that underpin their owner's mindset often lack clarity, making it hard to model, teach, incentivize, a...

In episode 176, Rita Clifton joins the show from across the pond. The Financial Times identifies her simply as The Brand Guru and the Queen awarded her the distinction of the Commander of the Order of the British Empire ( one step below knighthood / damehood, if you're not up to speed with your British Netflix viewing).      Rita's career has included being a Vice-Chair and Strategy Director at Sa...

A friend of the show reached out with a simple question. He had recently been promoted to lead a pair of locations that had opportunities to grow. Upon arriving, he found the sales culture lacked accountability, goal-setting, and prospecting. Evaluating dozens of potential starting points, he asked us this:   "If I could only do one thing to begin to change the sales culture here, what should I do...

The most efficient way to predict the future is to create it.   Look in the rearview mirror for a moment and reflect on what you did—and did not—achieve last year. Then set a goal for what you plan to do this year. Plot it out month-by-month to create a series of smaller, 30-day goals, and think through what has to happen for each one.    Easy to write, harder to do. Switching time horizons, from...

In episode 173 of the Behind Your Back Podcast, sales leader and cinephile Matt Potter joins the show to break down the key scenes from the classic sales film, Tommy Boy .     Starring Chris Farley and David Spade, this 1995 comedy details how Tommy Callahan, the charismatic and underachieving son of an auto parts tycoon teams up with a snide accountant to try and save the family business after To...

"People do not decide their futures, they decide their habits and their habits decide their futures." - F. Matthias Alexander   In this episode, host Bradley Hartmann breaks down the simple, yet effective habit management framework he has used for the last 18 months: The Clear Habit Journal (developed by James Clear, the author of Atomic Habits ) and The Greatest Salesman In The World by Og Mandin...

In episode 171, you'll learn about leadership from Dr. Ginny Whitelaw. Ginny holds a Ph. D. in Biophysics from the University of Chicago and was a senior leader at NASA responsible for building the International Space Station—a project that provides her with some unique insights into the challenges within the construction community.      Ginny is the Founder and CEO of the Institute for Zen Leader...

In episode 170, you'll hear Hartmann's guest appearance on one of his favorite podcasts: Smarter Building Materials Marketing with Zach Williams and Beth Pop-Nikolov.   If you are not already a subscriber to Smarter Building Materials Marketing, click the link below to resolve that immediately:     www.venveo.com/podcast   Zach Williams, founder of Venveo which specializes in building materials ma...

Part II of the leadership panel conversation with distinguished members of The Lumberman's Association of TX and LA (LAT).   The bluechip leadership panel included: Brian McCoy, CEO and Board Chair of McCoy's Building Supply. McCoy's was founded in 1927 and operates 88 retail locations, 2 millwork shops, and 5 distribution centers in 5 states. Brian is a past LAT president.  Jack Foxworth, Preside...

In November, Bradley Hartmann was honored to moderate a panel of distinguished member leaders within The Lumberman's Association of TX and LA (LAT).  The purpose was to share insights and advice to the emerging leaders at member companies.  The bluechip leadership panel included: Brian McCoy , CEO and Board Chair of McCoy's Building Supply. McCoy's was founded in 1927 and operates 88 retail locati...

In episode 167, Brent Hull finishes his conversation with Jenny T. and Bradley Hartmann. Brent is the founder and owner of Hull Millwork, which crafts historically correct millwork. Brent also consults on classical architectural design, historic preservation, and restoration. Architects and designers all over the world depend on Brent's expertise.   Brent starred in the History Channel show, Lone...

In episode 166, Brent Hull joins the show. Brent is the founder and owner of Hull Millwork. After graduating from Baylor with degrees in History and English, Brent moved to Boston in 1991 to begin a 2-year study of historic preservation at the North Bennet Street School—one of the oldest trade schools in the United States. It was here that Brent learned the art of traditional building.  Upon gradu...

In episode 165, Bradley Hartmann finishes his conversation with Brian Varisco, VP of Operations at Pebble Tec.  In this episode, Brian shares insights on why "the w arranty is like the speed limit", how not to handle escalating conflicts as a leader, and what it's like getting personally sued while on the job. (For anyone looking for context as to how bad customers can be, this is for you.)     *...

In episode 164, Brian Varisco, VP of Operations at Pebble Tec, joins the show to discuss customer service and how it can differentiate your brand—for better or worse.      In this episode Brian shares insights on: the intersection between sales and customer service the foundations of a good customer service team how to improve your empathy methods Jenny T. can use to control her emotions when coll...

In episode 163, insights from the classic book by baseball legend Ted Williams, The Science of Hitting , are applied to the activity of prospecting. Thank you to a new sponsor, Boise Cascade Engineered Wood Products: Faster, Stronger, Easier. * * * If you enjoyed this podcast, we'd sincerely appreciate it if you left a review on Apple Podcasts. The feedback helps improve the show and helps with ou...

In episode 162, Bradley Hartmann completes his conversation with Brooks Dame, Vice President and 3rd generation leader at Woodgrain Millwork and founder of Proof Eyewear. In Part II of this conversation, Brooks shares the value of business oversight with the mantra, "the o wner's eye fattens the calf" as experimentation and innovation continue to drive the Woodgrain culture. Brooks also shares the...

In episode 161, Brooks Dame, VP of the Door Division at Woodgrain Millwork and founder of Proof Eyewear, joins the show. Based in Boise Idaho, Brooks is a 3rd generation leader of the vertically integrated (From tree to trim!) Woodgrain, one of the largest millwork operations in the world. With locations across the U.S. and Chile, Woodgrain owns their forestry acreage, cuts their timber in their s...

In episode 160, Jacob Monty of Monty & Ramirez LLP joins the Behind Your Back Podcast to discuss practical solutions for recruiting, training, retaining, and building trust with the Hispanic workforce.  If you employ Hispanics, sell to Hispanics, or sell to customers that employ Hispanics, this episode will offer you unique insight. Jacob Monty has served two U.S. presidents and in this episode, h...

In episode 159, host Bradley Hartmann finishes his conversation with Tom and T.J. McNulty of Hingham Lumber Company south of Boston.  If you have not listened to episode 158—Part I featuring Tom and T.J. McNulty—we recommend you do. It is not necessary, but you'll find it helpful.  The father and son duo discuss what Hartmann refers to as "The Rise of The Briefcase Builder v.2.0." A briefcase buil...

In episode 158, Tom and T.J. McNulty of Hingham Lumber Company in Cohasset, MA join the show. Tom and T.J. are the second and third generation father and son team leading Hingham as it strives daily to be The Better Builder's Yard.  In this episode, Part I of Bradley Hartmann's conversation with the pair, they discuss the early insights that led to Hingham's focus on customer intimacy—the willingn...

In the September issue of the LBM Journal, sales consultant Bill Lee posed the question, "Is your team trained to deal with price objections?" Short answer: no. Upon reading Bill's article, a sales manager from Wisconsin named Bobby reached out to me via Instagram. He asked, "What's your thought on how someone should stand their ground to this 1-2 punch from a customer: I can get a better price so...

In episode 156, Bradley Hartmann is joined by Bonnie Mauldin of The Mauldin Group, an Atlanta-based web design and internet marketing firm that specializes in the construction industry.  Bonnie is the show's first empath ( Don't know what an empath is? Well, consider this an unexpected bonus then!) and she shares insights to improve your marketing to make your selling activities easier. Hartmann a...

In episode 155, Bradley is joined by Charlie Coggins, Greenville-Spartanburg Market President at Professional Builders Supply. With the college football season lurching its way through October, we asked Charlie to share some leadership lessons he learned from being a long-snapper on the East Carolina University (Arrrrg, Pirates!) team. He talks about the importance of goal-setting and early specia...

In episode 154 of The Behind Your Back Podcast, Mike Wisnefski, co-founder and CEO of MaterialsXchange, joins the show. Mike discusses the (un)natural progression he made from Badger U (University of Wisconsin Madison) to professional international water skiing, to trading lumber options for Bloch Lumber in Chicago. While an unusual path to the LBM industry, it did enable Mike to earn the insights...