1 00:00:17,895 --> 00:00:19,064 Anderson Williams: Welcome to Bigger. 2 00:00:19,064 --> 00:00:19,485 Stronger. 3 00:00:19,485 --> 00:00:20,055 Faster. 4 00:00:20,175 --> 00:00:25,665 the podcast exploring how Shore Capital Partners brings billion-dollar resources to the lower middle market space. 5 00:00:26,415 --> 00:00:32,085 In this episode, I talk with Michael Burcham, Chief of Strategy, Research, and Talent Development at Shore Capital Partners. 6 00:00:32,205 --> 00:00:39,565 We talk about why Shore Capital invests so much time, energy, and effort in talent development, both internally and across the portfolio. 7 00:00:39,835 --> 00:00:48,475 Michael shares the foundations of learning at Shore Capital that go directly back to our founders and how their commitment to learning continues to drive a culture of learning and growth today. 8 00:00:48,805 --> 00:00:57,145 We discuss how important it is in a rapidly growing company to ensure the company doesn't outgrow its people among other talent development trends and patterns. 9 00:00:57,235 --> 00:01:08,929 We talk about the transition from individual contributor to manager, growing from an investment professional to a strategic and operational leader, and navigating, managing and leading change in the context of rapid company growth. 10 00:01:09,705 --> 00:01:11,085 Michael, thanks for joining me. 11 00:01:11,265 --> 00:01:12,285 Michael Burcham: My pleasure, Anderson. 12 00:01:12,435 --> 00:01:17,985 Anderson Williams: So Michael, you've been around Shore Capital and investing and supporting the team from its earliest days. 13 00:01:18,135 --> 00:01:21,045 How would you describe Shore's focus on learning? 14 00:01:21,045 --> 00:01:27,315 Even when you go all the way back to when you met the guys, how would you just describe their approach in thinking about learning? 15 00:01:27,585 --> 00:01:32,994 Michael Burcham: I think there's a hunger and a desire to really understand businesses at the very beginning. 16 00:01:33,115 --> 00:01:51,055 Jim Forest and I had the opportunity to work with the four founders early on, each of them had come out of either legal or investment services and had not had the opportunity to really run their own businesses but were extremely curious about our learnings and how they could apply some of that learning to what they were finding in due diligence and looking at new companies. 17 00:01:51,085 --> 00:02:05,995 And I think that desire just continued to grow as we began to have success and recognized the need not only for themselves to learn, but the people coming after them that would join us at Shore and also the people within the companies we acquired for their additional learning. 18 00:02:06,025 --> 00:02:08,785 So I think it was there, Anderson, since the very beginning. 19 00:02:08,935 --> 00:02:16,135 Anderson Williams: And when you first heard that or recognized that, how did that make you think or feel or consider them from an investor perspective? 20 00:02:16,580 --> 00:02:24,860 Michael Burcham: I was very attracted to the model because I had worked with a number of private equity firms in my prior life of building my own companies. 21 00:02:24,950 --> 00:02:33,980 Most of them were financial engineering kind of firms, and not terribly interested in learning and growing, particularly in an operating sphere of knowing how companies work. 22 00:02:34,040 --> 00:02:36,710 What are the market conditions within companies thrive? 23 00:02:36,940 --> 00:02:45,370 So seeing a group of investors interested in that really drew me to them to wanna learn more, and ultimately to join them in the journey to help create Shore Capital. 24 00:02:45,459 --> 00:02:51,760 Anderson Williams: And we're 15 years down the line, about four years into formally investing in Shore University. 25 00:02:51,760 --> 00:03:06,230 How would you just describe what that looks like today from those early days of recognizing you had founders who were really interested in learning and growth to now a large portfolio of companies, a large team, and a continued emphasis on growth. 26 00:03:06,230 --> 00:03:10,010 Just describe a little bit of today from your perspective as well. 27 00:03:10,220 --> 00:03:15,050 Michael Burcham: So Anderson, to do that justice, I think I need to talk about it from two perspectives. 28 00:03:15,170 --> 00:03:16,530 One within Shore. 29 00:03:16,580 --> 00:03:19,190 And the other within our portfolio companies. 30 00:03:19,560 --> 00:03:21,140 Let me start within Shore. 31 00:03:21,300 --> 00:03:26,250 I think today we really have come to recognize that we are more than investors. 32 00:03:26,250 --> 00:03:29,160 We are company builders in the microcap space. 33 00:03:29,190 --> 00:03:48,329 We will acquire many smaller companies in a single category and build a platform around them to create one larger company within Shore the knowledge of doing that to be a company builder is something that we want to translate down beyond our original four to six partners into the rest of Shore. 34 00:03:48,390 --> 00:03:58,020 Our principals and vice presidents and associates, most of those folks have also not worked in any operating capacity of a company. 35 00:03:58,140 --> 00:04:12,810 So understanding what it means to be a company builder, understanding the logic behind what we're seeing in companies, how to fix issues and true operating problems, how to grow organically are all things. 36 00:04:12,845 --> 00:04:40,595 That we aspire to teach and learn and master inside Shore and Shore University has a big part of that in helping all of those individuals not just be really great at a spreadsheet and modeling something, but systemically understanding what it takes for that model that we've created to become a reality by understanding the operations and knowing what to do once we've acquired a younger company to help it become best in class. 37 00:04:40,935 --> 00:04:48,945 In the second case of our portco companies, we acquire many smaller companies that have wonderful people who've been trained on the job. 38 00:04:49,005 --> 00:04:51,885 Many of them started quite young with those companies. 39 00:04:51,915 --> 00:05:00,465 Some of them have been there 15 or 20 years without formal education on their own, nor any formal training in leading and managing teams. 40 00:05:00,585 --> 00:05:06,345 Each of these companies will grow likely eight or 10 X from where they're originally acquired. 41 00:05:06,380 --> 00:05:21,980 In order not to lose that talent, we must invest in them so that they can also personally and professionally grow and oversee larger issues, oversee larger revenue, larger groups of people, and that just doesn't come naturally. 42 00:05:21,980 --> 00:05:24,469 It takes some specific training to do that. 43 00:05:24,560 --> 00:05:27,770 You know, I point out that to our partners frequently that. 44 00:05:27,775 --> 00:05:33,174 If we aren't investing in our talent, the company will outgrow them and we'll just simply need to replace them. 45 00:05:33,265 --> 00:05:41,844 And that's a negative because when we have to replace talent that has been there quite some time, part of that legacy knowledge of the company walks out the door. 46 00:05:41,875 --> 00:05:52,495 We'd much rather invest in someone and upgrade them so they can oversee and manage something larger than to lose them because they weren't able to grow or we did not invest in them. 47 00:05:52,525 --> 00:06:05,635 So that's our second big area of investment for Shore University is to make absolutely certain that across all of our portfolio companies, from frontline managers all the way to the C-Suite, individuals have opportunity for professional development and growth. 48 00:06:05,664 --> 00:06:08,875 So the company does not outgrow them as it grows with Shore. 49 00:06:09,195 --> 00:06:17,805 Anderson Williams: And when you think about this, Michael, you mentioned earlier that this was not something you necessarily had experienced in your private equity experience in the past. 50 00:06:17,925 --> 00:06:21,675 How did Shore make the case for this kind of investment? 51 00:06:21,765 --> 00:06:36,705 They've invested in an entire team and put learning tools and leaders throughout the organization to support both internal learning as well as portfolio company learning and yet there's always this question about the return on investment as it relates to investing in people. 52 00:06:36,924 --> 00:06:39,895 How do you think about that from an investor perspective? 53 00:06:39,895 --> 00:06:48,775 You started to hit on it before, but in terms of not just talent retention, but the value we're able to create with our partners over time and with their teams. 54 00:06:48,775 --> 00:06:50,395 Can you give some context for that? 55 00:06:50,544 --> 00:06:50,965 Michael Burcham: Sure. 56 00:06:50,965 --> 00:06:52,135 I'd be happy to. 57 00:06:52,224 --> 00:06:54,414 Let's talk about Shore first. 58 00:06:54,475 --> 00:07:06,265 The return on investment really is derived in understanding what are the strategic growth drivers of a business and what will ultimately drive enterprise value for each of our businesses. 59 00:07:06,385 --> 00:07:08,815 Now, let me translate that to everyday terms. 60 00:07:08,815 --> 00:07:14,125 What that means is that we can't just simply say we want to see 10% organic growth. 61 00:07:14,125 --> 00:07:23,335 We need to know what kind of organic growth and is it coming from outbound initiative, inbound initiatives, channel partners through marketing initiatives. 62 00:07:23,425 --> 00:07:31,435 Each of those have a different approach and some of them work well in one category that sure may invest in and not so well in other categories. 63 00:07:31,735 --> 00:07:42,625 Understanding when we acquire a young company what it will take for that young acquisition company to be prepared to grow and to have the infrastructure under it also requires investment. 64 00:07:42,625 --> 00:07:50,185 And the ROI on that is phenomenal because if we do not invest properly in infrastructure, we build a house of cards that won't last. 65 00:07:50,215 --> 00:08:04,735 So quite often you see in Shore, even with people, our first few acquisitions, fuel, getting the right talent in place, getting them trained so that as we begin to add to that company, it will grow in scale and have a really strong platform underneath it. 66 00:08:04,945 --> 00:08:19,525 I think across our portfolio companies, the ROI can be seen in being able to translate their strategic vision and to execution and those tools to be able to do that require professional development and training to be able to do. 67 00:08:19,575 --> 00:08:27,135 Many of the individuals who are part of the firms we have acquired, they've done one or two or three things for a very long time. 68 00:08:27,164 --> 00:08:29,655 We're wanting to expand to adjacent spaces. 69 00:08:29,685 --> 00:08:34,424 We wanna focus on customer retention, which is also a massive driver of ROI. 70 00:08:34,784 --> 00:08:44,115 So whether it's retaining more customers or larger share wallet of those customers in the portco company, those are also key ROI initiatives and drivers. 71 00:08:44,159 --> 00:09:00,000 I think the ultimate measure of a return on investment is when we go to exit and when those organizations, whether they be financial or strategic, who want to buy a Shore company, begin to speak about the value they see inside the company. 72 00:09:00,000 --> 00:09:09,385 I. The platform we have built, how prepared it is for growth, the growth we've delivered over the first five years, and a belief that will continue for the next five to 10. 73 00:09:09,444 --> 00:09:13,765 That ROI is also measured in the multiples we are paid for our companies. 74 00:09:13,855 --> 00:09:24,025 So I think we see it all along the way from the beginning on how we invest in the right talent, helping them being prepared to lead, how we do organic growth, acquisition and operations expertise. 75 00:09:24,084 --> 00:09:27,865 And then finally, what we see ultimately in the multiples we're paid at exit. 76 00:09:27,970 --> 00:09:41,260 Anderson Williams: And I have to believe that the companies interested in buying a Shore portfolio company at exit are looking not just at the numbers, but at the people that can scale once they buy our company as well. 77 00:09:41,260 --> 00:09:47,440 That this is not just a matter of saying, Hey, this is a great market, it looks like this is a good company, but they're buying the team too. 78 00:09:47,745 --> 00:09:49,005 Michael Burcham: Absolutely Anderson. 79 00:09:49,035 --> 00:09:53,205 The numbers are nothing more than the footprints in the sand of behaviors. 80 00:09:53,205 --> 00:09:58,665 Behaviors are driven by habits and know-how and that know-how only comes with development of people. 81 00:09:58,695 --> 00:10:03,834 So if you only look at numbers, you're looking at an outcome with no knowledge of a process. 82 00:10:03,985 --> 00:10:12,215 When you look at how people perform their job, how they're trained, the processes they use, then you can really understand how the outcome is derived. 83 00:10:12,515 --> 00:10:24,455 Anderson Williams: You know, as I listened to you talk, I can't help but think we've done just as an example of one of our program offerings, a Leadership Academy at this point for about four years and for close to 700 people at this point, and. 84 00:10:24,515 --> 00:10:34,115 As you were describing, people who joined Shore through an acquisition, they've been really good at their job in that founding company, in that company that chose to partner with us. 85 00:10:34,235 --> 00:10:36,155 But they don't always know why they were good. 86 00:10:36,245 --> 00:10:46,955 They've worked for a founder seller, they've done their job really well, but because they've never had to scale it or they've never grown to the degree that they had to teach somebody, they didn't even know how good they were in many cases. 87 00:10:46,955 --> 00:10:53,645 And part of this development is enabling us to capitalize and expand on that knowledge we acquire as well. 88 00:10:54,000 --> 00:10:57,720 Michael Burcham: So many of them were great individual contributors. 89 00:10:57,870 --> 00:10:59,730 They'd never had a team to train. 90 00:10:59,790 --> 00:11:01,560 They never had a team to oversee. 91 00:11:01,590 --> 00:11:10,260 And I think probably something even harder is how to teach someone you have onboarded how to do your job so you can do the next level job. 92 00:11:10,440 --> 00:11:20,700 All of those require some very specific investment in people, because I think human nature is to hold on to your expertise, to not share it for fear that you're not valuable anymore. 93 00:11:20,880 --> 00:11:22,650 Shore's model is quite different. 94 00:11:22,710 --> 00:11:28,920 We actually need you to teach the people around you to do your job because we desperately need you to move up and do the next job. 95 00:11:29,040 --> 00:11:30,930 This isn't about becoming obsolete. 96 00:11:31,020 --> 00:11:35,980 Actually, the fastest way to be obsolete at Shore is not being able to teach someone how to do the work. 97 00:11:35,980 --> 00:11:37,545 Not what you happen to know. 98 00:11:37,605 --> 00:11:45,525 Anderson Williams: Yeah, well I had a great ongoing coaching relationship with someone at one of our portfolio companies who was involved in the leadership academy. 99 00:11:45,525 --> 00:11:50,205 And as part of that, you get coaching from me and from our team for participating in Leadership Academy. 100 00:11:50,205 --> 00:11:52,605 And she had been with the company about 10 years. 101 00:11:52,605 --> 00:11:55,245 The company had obviously joined a Shore platform. 102 00:11:55,645 --> 00:12:12,575 She was an outstanding individual contributor and had naturally been promoted into a management role, and she was really struggling and couldn't figure out why, and she was working more hours and doing more work, but it was largely because she had never had to make that transition that you were describing. 103 00:12:12,625 --> 00:12:15,355 Michael Burcham: So, let's be really honest here. 104 00:12:15,474 --> 00:12:24,474 In many cases, the only example of leadership they ever had was that founder entrepreneur who really didn't know how to train and develop people themselves. 105 00:12:24,564 --> 00:12:29,214 So they've never had an example of what it looks like to really train and develop others. 106 00:12:29,334 --> 00:12:34,584 So it sounds like she was just working harder, not smarter, trying to develop people around her. 107 00:12:34,615 --> 00:12:46,795 And my guess is largely through a to-do list or over micromanaging or standing over their shoulder rather than true, legitimate teaching and then getting outta the way and leading through others, which is one of the best courses I think you teach. 108 00:12:46,915 --> 00:12:48,205 Anderson Williams: Well, and that's one direction. 109 00:12:48,205 --> 00:12:51,685 In this person's specific direction, she just wasn't giving anything away. 110 00:12:51,775 --> 00:12:54,385 She thought, how do I, how do I get Michael to do that? 111 00:12:54,385 --> 00:12:55,165 I know how to do that. 112 00:12:55,165 --> 00:12:56,845 I can knock that out in 20 minutes. 113 00:12:56,845 --> 00:13:05,250 And she had run herself 20 minutes by 20 minutes into working seven days a week and had a three or four person team for the first time who was looking around going, well, what do we do? 114 00:13:05,425 --> 00:13:05,725 Michael Burcham: Yeah. 115 00:13:06,145 --> 00:13:07,585 Anderson Williams: And while she was running herself ragged. 116 00:13:07,675 --> 00:13:08,935 Michael Burcham: No one can do it as good as me. 117 00:13:09,055 --> 00:13:09,445 Anderson Williams: That's right. 118 00:13:09,445 --> 00:13:09,835 Yeah, that's right. 119 00:13:10,015 --> 00:13:20,395 But it was with the best of intentions, but without being able to reframe, and I shared with her my simple math equation I wanted to plant in her mind was, listen, think about it this way: 120 00:13:20,545 --> 00:13:22,195 when you do it you get one point. 121 00:13:22,375 --> 00:13:27,115 As an effective manager, if you get somebody else to do it and it's done equally well, you get two points. 122 00:13:27,175 --> 00:13:27,295 Michael Burcham: Mm-hmm. 123 00:13:27,625 --> 00:13:28,255 Or maybe 10. 124 00:13:28,285 --> 00:13:28,915 Anderson Williams: Or maybe 10. 125 00:13:28,965 --> 00:13:29,295 Right. 126 00:13:29,295 --> 00:13:30,765 But it's not the same thing. 127 00:13:30,765 --> 00:13:37,225 It's not just about getting it done, it's about knowing who needs to get it done and what's in the best interest of the team to get it done. 128 00:13:37,280 --> 00:13:40,880 Michael Burcham: There's another dimension of this I think we should bring up at this point. 129 00:13:40,880 --> 00:13:46,400 It seems perfectly fitting right here, and that is in our service and data economy. 130 00:13:46,430 --> 00:13:47,839 Everyone is in sales. 131 00:13:47,900 --> 00:14:04,850 Almost everyone in the organization has some touchpoint with a customer or vendor partner or channel partner, and it's important that everyone understand what that means, that they're carrying the brand of the organization, that they are helping form first and meaningful impressions of our work. 132 00:14:05,175 --> 00:14:17,565 You know, I am lead director at our orthodontics business, and from our folks on the phone to the people at the front desk, to the assistant who is helping the orthodontist, to the people who follow up on appointment schedules. 133 00:14:17,685 --> 00:14:20,835 Everyone has a role in a customer engagement. 134 00:14:20,835 --> 00:14:27,315 If we really want the individual patient and their family to feel like what they experienced was absolutely extraordinary. 135 00:14:27,504 --> 00:14:34,164 That bleeds over into our business services vertical with the folks who are putting water purification systems in individuals homes. 136 00:14:34,284 --> 00:14:45,834 In our food and beverage industry where we're creating baked goods and spices and blends for restaurants and even into our industrials where we're doing HVAC systems and roofing and plumbing and electrical. 137 00:14:45,894 --> 00:15:00,769 Many of those people are technicians, yes, but they're also our most important customer experience advocates, and they're quite good at being a technician, but often need some additional training to be the kind of customer experience advocate that we would all hope for. 138 00:15:00,829 --> 00:15:01,069 Anderson Williams: Yeah. 139 00:15:01,249 --> 00:15:07,279 Well, and I think that's one of the patterns that I've recognized through this process is that people are complicated. 140 00:15:07,369 --> 00:15:11,839 Most of the problems that we're facing in our businesses are actually not that complicated. 141 00:15:11,899 --> 00:15:14,339 It's the people behind them that are complicated. 142 00:15:14,339 --> 00:15:22,709 So as we think about developing people, our approach is very much getting down to the core of what is driving people and how are people making decisions. 143 00:15:22,709 --> 00:15:27,540 And one of the things that's really clear, when we have high performers, they know their goals. 144 00:15:27,810 --> 00:15:32,339 When we have high performers, they know how they contribute and that their work matters. 145 00:15:32,419 --> 00:15:38,119 When we have high performers, they understand the customer and they understand how our business drives value. 146 00:15:38,299 --> 00:15:41,119 All of those things, if any of those are absent, right? 147 00:15:41,119 --> 00:15:48,469 We have teams that are struggling and it's because we've lacked the communication of context and the understanding that how I enter data matters. 148 00:15:48,579 --> 00:15:54,609 How I answer the phone matters because this is how we create value for our customers, and I think that once. 149 00:15:54,639 --> 00:16:05,049 People understand that and start to make their own decisions as motivated humans who want to do well and do right by the people around them, it transforms performance. 150 00:16:05,199 --> 00:16:05,769 Michael Burcham: Absolutely. 151 00:16:05,769 --> 00:16:12,009 Anderson excellence is driven by the hundreds of little touch points that happen between the names on the org chart. 152 00:16:12,069 --> 00:16:16,599 I tell folks all the real work happens in the white space between the names. 153 00:16:16,719 --> 00:16:19,539 Very little real work happens directly in the org chart. 154 00:16:19,564 --> 00:16:22,924 It all happens in the interconnected spaces among the names. 155 00:16:23,044 --> 00:16:29,764 So Anderson, I'm particularly interested in hearing your take on the skill development of a first time manager. 156 00:16:29,854 --> 00:16:39,034 It's a key target customer group for us at Shore University because we know that if they fail, they are often the glue that holds things together. 157 00:16:39,034 --> 00:16:46,144 Talk to me a little bit about what you have observed or learned in teaching first time managers how to really think inside a Shore company. 158 00:16:46,524 --> 00:16:59,604 Anderson Williams: I think the first thing to really recognize for anybody listening is that by the nature of where and how Shore invests in the market, the companies we acquire very rarely have built what you would codify as a management layer. 159 00:16:59,784 --> 00:17:06,774 And so when we are building companies, we are building that management layer in a sense, organizationally from scratch. 160 00:17:06,774 --> 00:17:14,395 Now, as you've described, we are building on the talent that we've acquired that have worked in these companies individually for years and decades in many cases. 161 00:17:14,594 --> 00:17:17,594 But they have not been in what you would call a management layer. 162 00:17:17,594 --> 00:17:26,774 So for example, somebody may have run a particular practice or a particular plant, and now we have three plants or three practices, and we want them to become a regional. 163 00:17:26,835 --> 00:17:37,514 And in that case, you move from the culture you helped build and help define, and that you know, with a team that you know well and leading in that context or managing in that context. 164 00:17:37,514 --> 00:17:40,100 To now managing people who have no idea who you are. 165 00:17:40,250 --> 00:17:41,359 Michael Burcham: And that you did not hire. 166 00:17:41,359 --> 00:17:44,810 Anderson Williams: And that you did not hire, and whose culture you don't yet understand. 167 00:17:44,960 --> 00:17:45,170 Yeah. 168 00:17:45,170 --> 00:17:49,909 And now you have three of those instead of the one that's like in your backyard where you grew up working. 169 00:17:49,990 --> 00:18:02,800 So that transition to management isn't just about the mechanics of management, knowing how to delegate, knowing decision making, those are important, but building those relationships is step number one. 170 00:18:02,860 --> 00:18:04,120 And without that. 171 00:18:04,149 --> 00:18:08,080 You are not gonna delegate anything anyway 'cause nobody's bought into you yet. 172 00:18:08,139 --> 00:18:14,019 So we always step back and talk about the foundation of everything that we do as trust. 173 00:18:14,139 --> 00:18:17,350 And some people will say, oh, trust that's basic. 174 00:18:17,469 --> 00:18:23,469 Trust is absolutely fundamental and foundational to every relationship and every working relationship. 175 00:18:23,495 --> 00:18:30,695 Whether you're in the C-suite or you're on the front line talking to a customer or delivering on an assembly line, it doesn't matter. 176 00:18:30,754 --> 00:18:32,104 The team has to trust you. 177 00:18:32,104 --> 00:18:37,385 You have to trust the team, that you're safe, that you're cared for, that you're looked out for, all of those kinds of things. 178 00:18:37,504 --> 00:18:47,814 So what we have to do often, especially when we're moving someone from a single location type of management role into a multi is help them diagnose what they've experienced. 179 00:18:47,935 --> 00:18:59,725 One of the real joys of teaching and developing adults is adults show up with a world of experience, and rarely have they had time to reflect on or discern the wisdom that they're walking in the room with. 180 00:18:59,905 --> 00:19:02,335 And so the place we start is what do you know? 181 00:19:02,395 --> 00:19:03,955 What's worked well for you? 182 00:19:04,044 --> 00:19:05,064 How has that worked well? 183 00:19:05,064 --> 00:19:06,085 Why has it worked well? 184 00:19:06,085 --> 00:19:06,925 What hasn't? 185 00:19:06,925 --> 00:19:11,605 And then start to think about what parts of those stories and those narratives we can control. 186 00:19:11,605 --> 00:19:21,564 And what parts we need to go cultivate from the ground up in a new environment, or go into that environment and learn about that environment itself and figure out how you fit into it. 187 00:19:21,714 --> 00:19:33,564 So it's this, it's really just this human process that's rooted in building trust, establishing communication, and then figuring out the purpose of why you're all together and how you're gonna work to achieve that. 188 00:19:34,044 --> 00:19:37,735 Michael Burcham: So I have a thought for you on that, on particularly on trust. 189 00:19:37,824 --> 00:19:39,144 I think as humans. 190 00:19:39,185 --> 00:19:41,975 We individually are slow to trust. 191 00:19:42,065 --> 00:19:45,965 As managers, we assume everyone should implicitly trust us. 192 00:19:46,085 --> 00:19:52,504 There's a bit of irony in all of that because the fact that all humans are slow to trust, we must earn it. 193 00:19:52,565 --> 00:19:57,935 And as a manager, we actually earn it through consistency of both communication and our work. 194 00:19:57,935 --> 00:20:03,959 And quite often that manager who goes from one location to managing three, is so hurried and busy. 195 00:20:04,019 --> 00:20:07,439 They fail to create a consistent pattern of how they show up. 196 00:20:07,439 --> 00:20:09,689 When they show up, how they communicate. 197 00:20:09,779 --> 00:20:13,139 They may commit, we're gonna have a weekly meeting and they have one every other week. 198 00:20:13,139 --> 00:20:14,699 Or they may go two months without one. 199 00:20:14,699 --> 00:20:23,820 'cause they say, oh, I just been so busy never realizing that an undelivered promise has just destroyed any foundational trust they had attempted to build early on. 200 00:20:24,374 --> 00:20:33,334 Anderson Williams: And the other important part about this that's specific to our context is everybody I work with across the portfolio is experiencing massive change. 201 00:20:33,634 --> 00:20:33,934 Michael Burcham: Oh yeah. 202 00:20:34,024 --> 00:20:42,664 Anderson Williams: And so if your company has just been acquired and you work on that team, they probably didn't ask you your opinion about whether or not they should sell the company. 203 00:20:42,664 --> 00:20:43,444 Michael Burcham: Probably not. 204 00:20:43,444 --> 00:20:45,334 Anderson Williams: And yet it's probably changed your work. 205 00:20:45,585 --> 00:20:50,595 It's probably changed a lot of things about the technology you use, your sense of who you're connected with. 206 00:20:50,595 --> 00:20:52,845 It's a time of vulnerability. 207 00:20:52,875 --> 00:20:53,235 Michael Burcham: Sure. 208 00:20:53,325 --> 00:21:01,845 Anderson Williams: And so we also do a ton of work at all levels about navigating change and managing change and leading change because that is our context. 209 00:21:01,875 --> 00:21:12,875 And if we don't recognize that you as a new manager are not just stepping into a team, you're stepping to support a team that's wondering what in the world has happened to them over the last 12 months. 210 00:21:12,909 --> 00:21:17,110 Michael Burcham: You know, I think we found that true in the partner founders we acquire. 211 00:21:17,169 --> 00:21:33,459 The challenge of leading change is even more complex if this was your company and you've become part of a Shore platform because certain things are just going to change and uh, what you had historically seemed to work pretty good for you, and it probably did when you were a small company. 212 00:21:33,459 --> 00:21:35,139 It just doesn't work at scale. 213 00:21:35,139 --> 00:21:37,989 So I think even our founder partners. 214 00:21:38,044 --> 00:21:42,874 Are challenged sometimes to let go of the past and to embrace anything new. 215 00:21:42,935 --> 00:21:48,425 And when they feel that it comes through in all kinds of body language and conversation. 216 00:21:48,455 --> 00:21:58,549 And if you've got a frontline underneath you that already feels vulnerable, and they see that from a founder partner, it only amplifies their feeling of insecurity and uncertainty. 217 00:21:58,699 --> 00:21:58,999 Anderson Williams: Yeah. 218 00:21:59,089 --> 00:22:07,919 I always give the example because I've seen it so many times, but it's the example of someone who has spent years managing and building a spreadsheet for their company. 219 00:22:08,119 --> 00:22:12,799 or their QuickBooks for their company, and they are the expert in that spreadsheet or in that QuickBooks. 220 00:22:13,219 --> 00:22:16,879 But now we gotta move to grow and scale beyond a spreadsheet. 221 00:22:17,384 --> 00:22:24,014 We often, from a business perspective, think, oh, it's just, of course we're moving from Excel into some proper technology. 222 00:22:24,014 --> 00:22:28,574 But what we don't recognize is, Michael, if that's your spreadsheet, I've taken your expertise. 223 00:22:28,634 --> 00:22:28,874 Michael Burcham: Right. 224 00:22:28,964 --> 00:22:39,699 Anderson Williams: And you're feeling really vulnerable by not being the go-to person, and now I've put you in a position to have to learn something new when you are really happy with the process you used to use. 225 00:22:39,729 --> 00:22:57,159 And if we don't recognize that thing that can be so easily marginalized as an insignificant change is transforming how one sees their contribution to their work, then we're gonna miss the opportunity to really bring people into fold to help us build and we're gonna have people resisting change and we're never gonna know why. 226 00:22:57,475 --> 00:23:00,534 Michael Burcham: That spreadsheet is where they felt they added value. 227 00:23:00,564 --> 00:23:00,985 Anderson Williams: For sure. 228 00:23:01,014 --> 00:23:04,584 Michael Burcham: So even more than their expertise, this is my value to a company. 229 00:23:04,675 --> 00:23:08,875 And when we change all that, they feel almost in free fall of what will be my new value. 230 00:23:08,875 --> 00:23:10,764 If my old value is no longer here. 231 00:23:10,794 --> 00:23:11,034 Anderson Williams: For sure. 232 00:23:11,094 --> 00:23:14,155 Michael Burcham: And the odd thing is we need them more than ever. 233 00:23:14,215 --> 00:23:15,475 We want them engaged. 234 00:23:15,475 --> 00:23:17,245 There's so much work to be done. 235 00:23:17,304 --> 00:23:19,554 Inherently, their value is no longer this spreadsheet. 236 00:23:19,554 --> 00:23:20,725 It's a higher order. 237 00:23:21,134 --> 00:23:41,235 Only through engagement with peers across our platform, meeting other people like them who are a year or so ahead in the journey and have kind of crossed that chasm from what was to what now is will they ever find the confidence to let go of the past and take hold of that future because they can meet peers across other even Shore portfolio companies. 238 00:23:41,235 --> 00:23:42,554 It says, I know how you feel. 239 00:23:42,584 --> 00:23:44,175 I went through that journey myself. 240 00:23:44,205 --> 00:23:46,004 The other side is pretty darn good. 241 00:23:46,064 --> 00:23:47,264 I'm in a better spot. 242 00:23:47,274 --> 00:23:49,374 I'm a higher contributor in my company. 243 00:23:49,405 --> 00:23:58,854 I feel higher value in my work, and I'm making a difference in ways I wasn't making before but until they get to experience that, the fear of letting go is very hard. 244 00:23:59,004 --> 00:24:12,655 Anderson Williams: Michael, just to wrap us up, if someone's listening and they're thinking about partnering with Shore or private equity, what key messages do you have to share with them about investing in their people and the opportunities that are ahead, particularly with a Shore Capital? 245 00:24:12,674 --> 00:24:22,784 That may be hard to know or to see because they haven't lived it and because given so much other change as we've discussed, it's just hard to discern what happens to my people. 246 00:24:22,844 --> 00:24:49,444 Michael Burcham: I think if I were gonna leave listeners with a single message, it is that your financial partner, if you are going to take your 20 years of work as a founder, entrepreneur, and partner with private equity, as a founder partner, you wanna make absolutely certain that financial sponsor not only believes in professional development, they put their money where their mouth is and they're doing professional development, not even for just themselves, but for their portfolio companies. 247 00:24:49,534 --> 00:24:59,234 I think when people dig into what we're doing at Shore Capital through Shore University, our leadership academies, ELA, CXO, and all the other programs we will talk about later. 248 00:24:59,264 --> 00:25:02,534 You will realize that this isn't just lip service. 249 00:25:02,564 --> 00:25:23,144 It's a massive investment we're making in people because we know living through the change of the 21st century and all the things we are dealing with to create ultimate value in any company, we must make sure people have the right resources and tools and training to do higher order jobs, and we are deeply committed to ensuring they have those skills. 250 00:25:29,644 --> 00:25:32,764 Anderson Williams: If you enjoyed this episode, be sure and check out our other Bigger. 251 00:25:32,764 --> 00:25:33,214 Stronger. 252 00:25:33,214 --> 00:25:33,634 Faster. 253 00:25:33,634 --> 00:25:43,234 episodes, as well as our Microcap Moments and Everyday Heroes series at www.shorecp.university/podcasts or anywhere you get your podcasts. 254 00:25:43,719 --> 00:25:51,399 This podcast was produced by Shore Capital Partners and recorded in the Andrew Malone podcast Studio with story and narration by Anderson Williams. 255 00:25:51,489 --> 00:25:53,739 Recording and editing by Austin Johnson. 256 00:25:53,889 --> 00:25:55,879 Editing by Reel Audiobooks. 257 00:25:55,899 --> 00:25:59,969 Sound Design, mixing, and mastering by Mark Galup of Reel Audiobooks. 258 00:26:00,009 --> 00:26:01,444 Special thanks to Michael Burham. 259 00:26:02,319 --> 00:26:05,349 This podcast is The Property of Shore Capital Partners, LLC. 260 00:26:05,394 --> 00:26:13,314 None of the content herein is investment advice, an offer of investment advisory services, nor a recommendation or offer relating to any security. 261 00:26:13,554 --> 00:26:17,604 See the terms of use page on the Shore Capital website for other important information.