The foundation of a good work ethic can take you places that you never thought possible. Those places may begin small, but with the proper vision and the ability to recognize talent, you can build your way to the greatest heights! Adam Nugent and Kate Strong welcome Glen Yates to the podcast. He is the president and CEO of Colt Builders. It’s a fascinating story of humble beginnings, hard work and dedication, commitment to excellence, and incredible surrounding talent that explains his success. Learn the steps needed to help you achieve these same goals.
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In this podcast excerpt, Glen Yates talks about how great, hardworking people can create a successful business. He also talks about what type of employees to look for to build a team that’s going to get the job done.
AN: One of the things I always love to ask other leaders in a company is what things do you do in your company? Because you built an incredible team to lead and motivate people in your company. You have 500 eyes looking to you, and even though a lot might not even know you because you’ve grown so large personally, they’re looking to you, what steps do you do that you wouldn’t mind sharing with our listeners?
GY: Number one, I don’t put a ton of credence in absolute experience. You know, if somebody says, oh, I’ve got 30 years in this, that’s great, that might be a wonderful thing. But to me, it’s more about the character of the person and who they are. I mean, we’re not putting rockets on the moon. We’re building buildings and they’re complicated, but smart, bright, hardworking people can learn our industry and they can learn it really quick. I guess for me, I think the key to my success has been being able to pick great people. If you’re hardworking, you’re smart, and you’re honest, you’re going to go really far.
I think it has been more my ability to really pick the right people that have the right core values, and that ability has made my job to lead very easy. I believe in the underdog. I like people that have desire. I mean, I got to know an immigrant from Poland. I think he’s got a bachelor of political science or something. He’s an educated guy, and he’s putting siding on the walls up in Massachusetts in the middle of winter. And I remember meeting him once. And when I started another entity, I moved down to the Mid-Atlantic market, and he wanted to come down and have a chance. And I’m like, “Look, I don’t really have a big need for siding, but, if you’re willing to go and do the estimating, and then if you ever win a job and you’re willing to go get it built and install it, I’ll give you a job.” So, you know what he did? He estimated all night, and he would go and run the crews and put it on during the day. And now he’s executive vice president of our company today. So again, he didn’t know anything about framing when he came in, but you know what he had? He had that core work ethic. He was honest, trustworthy and had business sense.
Visit coltbuilders.com to learn more.
► You’ll also like our feature article about Glen Yates: Building Up Structures, People, and Community
