Rob Parker

You want to have answers to their questions. You want to be prepared and everything organized and assembled. It makes it as easy as possible for them to really assess A1 in that case so that they stay longer.

You want to have answers to their questions. You want to be prepared and everything organized and assembled. It makes it as easy as possible for them to really assess A1 in that case so that they stay longer.

And the more you have groups in the process all the way till the end, the longer you've maintained that competitive dynamic, which means you keep prices up and can possibly even raise them further, further along in the process.

And the more you have groups in the process all the way till the end, the longer you've maintained that competitive dynamic, which means you keep prices up and can possibly even raise them further, further along in the process.

Yeah, that's a really good question. I've seen great CEOs come from a financial background. I've seen great CEOs come from an engineering background, sales background. I've had great CEOs that had MBAs from top business schools. We've had great CEOs who never even finished high school and everything in between. So there is no particular background.

Yeah, that's a really good question. I've seen great CEOs come from a financial background. I've seen great CEOs come from an engineering background, sales background. I've had great CEOs that had MBAs from top business schools. We've had great CEOs who never even finished high school and everything in between. So there is no particular background.

There is no one path that we could recommend somebody follow. People are kind of born leaders or they're not. And I think to me, what I would say, a great leader is one who is able to get the best out of the team that he or she has. You're a motivator. Your passion for what you do inspires and motivates others to be better than they ever thought they could be.

There is no one path that we could recommend somebody follow. People are kind of born leaders or they're not. And I think to me, what I would say, a great leader is one who is able to get the best out of the team that he or she has. You're a motivator. Your passion for what you do inspires and motivates others to be better than they ever thought they could be.

So that the whole is greater than the sum of the individual parts. I think inspiration, motivation, concern, passion, those are the things I think make great leaders. There are some nuts and bolts things. I mean, you definitely have to understand what the numbers are telling you. And you need to have a vision for the business. I mean, you need to be someone that is thinking six months in advance.

So that the whole is greater than the sum of the individual parts. I think inspiration, motivation, concern, passion, those are the things I think make great leaders. There are some nuts and bolts things. I mean, you definitely have to understand what the numbers are telling you. And you need to have a vision for the business. I mean, you need to be someone that is thinking six months in advance.

Where is my industry going? Where is my business going? You have to be a visionary and you have to set a strategic plan based on your vision of the future for your company. Then you've got to be able to motivate people to execute that plan.

Where is my industry going? Where is my business going? You have to be a visionary and you have to set a strategic plan based on your vision of the future for your company. Then you've got to be able to motivate people to execute that plan.

Yeah, I've been doing this since the late 90s. And there was a time in our world where you saw more of that. You saw more of the private equity world being a financial engineering game, using leverage, selling off assets, cutting costs to generate a return. Very difficult to do that today.

Yeah, I've been doing this since the late 90s. And there was a time in our world where you saw more of that. You saw more of the private equity world being a financial engineering game, using leverage, selling off assets, cutting costs to generate a return. Very difficult to do that today.

it's way too competitive that dynamic everyone kind of gets the same leverage deal people are going to value the business much higher where you can't cut your way to success really and maybe there are a handful of exceptions but really the way you're going to generate returns in the private equity world today is by making the business more valuable and growing it so i

it's way too competitive that dynamic everyone kind of gets the same leverage deal people are going to value the business much higher where you can't cut your way to success really and maybe there are a handful of exceptions but really the way you're going to generate returns in the private equity world today is by making the business more valuable and growing it so i

I haven't seen that in a while where a private equity firm comes in with the motivation to cut their way to a return. You really don't see that as much anymore. It's way more today about growth, which then goes back to Eric's point is, does the CEO align with the private equity firm on what's the best way to grow the business?

I haven't seen that in a while where a private equity firm comes in with the motivation to cut their way to a return. You really don't see that as much anymore. It's way more today about growth, which then goes back to Eric's point is, does the CEO align with the private equity firm on what's the best way to grow the business?

And there might be different PE firms might have different views on how they want to grow it. And that's why it's really important in the process to make sure you're getting to know these groups. You're doing reference calls with other CEOs that are with them now, were with them before, and maybe have been sold. So how do these guys do it? Do they only grow through acquisition?

And there might be different PE firms might have different views on how they want to grow it. And that's why it's really important in the process to make sure you're getting to know these groups. You're doing reference calls with other CEOs that are with them now, were with them before, and maybe have been sold. So how do these guys do it? Do they only grow through acquisition?