You lost your temper on a job site this month. Maybe it was a foreman who missed a material order. Maybe it was a tech who left a callback for the third time. You said what you said, the crew went quiet, and the work got done.
Here is the problem. Your crew does not remember the job. They remember how you reacted.
James Lawrence ran companies for more than 20 years. He says he spent his first 10 as a CEO treating people wrong. He sat down with Chaz Wolfe on the Driven To Win podcast to talk about what changed. If you own a construction, trades, or home service business, these are the lessons that apply to you.
1. Your temper is a retention problem
Good techs, project managers, and office staff have options. They will not stay for an owner who blows up. Most will not tell you that is why they left. They will say it was the money.
In his early thirties, James had a business coach who gave him one rule. When you feel the frustration rise, walk away for 60 seconds. Even in the middle of a leadership meeting. James walked the whole building, sometimes telling people he needed the restroom. He says it changed his life. He still felt the anger. He stopped acting on it in the moment.
Try it this week. The next time a call or a job site makes your blood pressure jump, take the walk before you say a word.
2. Stop leading everyone the same way
"Great leadership is about understanding what someone needs from you," James says.
Your lead installer and your estimator are wired differently. One wants the bottom line in ten seconds. The other wants the details and time to think. When you talk to both the same way, one of them shuts down.
At 25, James misread a quiet coworker. He thought she did not like him. She was listening. If you have someone on your team you have written off as "not a team player," check whether you have simply never learned how they work.
Tools like a DISC assessment or the Predictive Index give you a short read on each person in about 10 minutes. Use one before your next hire and on the people you already have.
3. If every decision runs through you, you are wasting payroll
James says a team should produce more than the sum of its parts. An owner who makes every call because he does not trust his people is paying for brains he never uses.
Count how many times this week someone on your team asks you a question they could answer themselves. If the number is more than five a day, you do not have a people problem. You have a training and trust problem, and it starts with you.
4. People are the priority, not a line item
"If people aren't your priority, I guarantee you your organization is not going to perform well over time."
In the trades, that shows up in three places. Callbacks go up when crews do not care. Reviews go down when techs are unhappy in the customer's house. Turnover eats your margin every time you train a replacement.
5. Decide what you want before your business decides for you
Around age 40, James sat in his backyard with a blank pad. He ignored money and wrote down what he wanted from the rest of his life. It took a week of sessions spread over three months. What came out was a desire to help people work better together. That became his next company.
He now writes the number of days he has left at the top of his to-do list every morning.
Most owners never do this exercise. The business decides how they spend their time, and their family gets what is left.
Where to start
Pick one of these and do it this week:
Take the 60-second walk the next time you feel your temper rise.
Run a DISC or Predictive Index assessment on your two key people.
Track every question your team brings you for five days.
If you want to see exactly where your week goes, start with the free GTK Owner Time Audit. It shows you which hours belong to someone else.
Listen to the full conversation with James Lawrence on episode 450 of Driven To Win.
