Episode Details

Strategies for cultivating employee empowerment, building trust, and creating a customer-centered brand.

Rich shares the behind-the-scenes story of how he turned around a failing HVAC and plumbing company by focusing on culture, leadership development, and transparency. 

Rich Ashton is the owner of Tom's Mechanical, an HVAC and plumbing business in Arlington, Texas, which he acquired on the brink of liquidation in 1988 and successfully turned around over five years. Drawing from decades running a service business, Rich authored Growing Your Own, a guide helping owners in the mechanical, plumbing, and electrical trades cultivate internal leadership pipelines directly from field staff.  He now speaks and runs leadership training for trades and service businesses. 

Conversation Highlights

• The story of how Rich Ashton bought and transformed Tom's Mechanical 
• The role of people focus and culture in business turnaround
• Overcoming trust barriers as an outsider in the trades industry
• The power of visual management and transparency in financial turnarounds
• Strategies for developing internal leaders 
• Crafting a simple, impact-driven purpose statement 
• The importance of consistent, small leadership development efforts
• Building an employee-empowered culture 
• Navigating the labor shortage and training new technicians 
• Lessons on delegation, trust, and authentic connection with employees
• Balancing business growth with employee well-being and fun initiatives

Full Episode Details: https://www.clearauthenticbrands.com/podcast/ep61-growing-your-own-leaders-rich-ashton

Links & Resources 

• Growing Your Own Book (Available on Amazon)
• Rich Ashton - GrowingYourOwn.net
• ClearAuthenticBrands.com
• Book mentioned: Start With Why by Simon Sinek

Timestamps

• 00:10 - Welcome and guest introduction
• 01:17 - Transitioning from real estate to buying Tom's Mechanical near liquidation
• 04:59 - Assessing a failing 60-employee HVAC business with broken fleet infrastructure
• 05:48 - Overcoming credibility hurdles as an industry outsider
• 08:32 - Facing early reality checks six weeks into ownership
• 10:04 - Posting $460,000 in debt on office walls to drive radical transparency
• 12:39 - Celebrating early financial wins and shifting focus to retrofit sales
• 17:17 - Shifting from hiring external managers to developing internal leaders
• 23:33 - Cultivating an employee-empowered company culture
• 29:41 - Filtering business decisions through a single core purpose statement
• 31:21 - Using biweekly leadership blogs to spark peer accountability
• 38:49 - Identifying internal leadership potential beyond technical skill
• 42:07 - Why delegation fails and how to fix check-in processes
• 48:19 - Solving trades labor shortages with a 4-month apprenticeship program
• 52:40 - Creative workplace rituals that boost employee morale and customer care
• 56:06 - Authentic leadership lessons, active listening, and final takeaways