How I Cultivated a Strong Management Team

In the early years of running our lab, my partner, Drew Van Aarde and I were so focused on product quality and making sure every case was perfect that we were creating a lot of conflict and stress within our company. In short, there was a lot of product leadership, but not much people leadership.

Around the same time, I read The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni, which talks about the importance of leadership to company culture and the fact that your staff looks to you for connection and vision. That was an “aha” moment for me; our company had grown exponentially to about 100 associates in only a few years. Drew and I had taken on so much work and, while we were exceptional QC managers, we had made no time to motivate and be the leaders we needed to be for our staff.

I knew we needed to let go of some control to allow the company to grow further and that meant hiring—and trusting—people in leadership positions;...