10 essays. Sorted by recency
What Quality of Earnings cannot tell you about a trades business
A QofE tells you what a trades business earned. It cannot tell you what the business had to survive to earn it. The difference is where diligence goes wrong.
June 2026 · 5 min
The dispatcher is the company
In most trades businesses, the dispatch seat is where the formal system and the real business meet. The diligence files barely name the person sitting in it.
May 2026 · 4 min
The spreadsheet beside the ERP
Every growing trades business runs a spreadsheet the official system was supposed to replace. It is not a bad habit. It is the first honest map of a broken process.
April 2026 · 7 min
When the owner is still the operating system
The instinct that built a founder-led trades business quietly becomes its ceiling. Scaling cleanly means translating the owner’s judgment, not removing it.
March 2026 · 7 min
A system is not a cadence
Software stores information. Cadence turns information into decisions. Most operators blame adoption when the real problem is that growth outran the rhythm.
February 2026 · 6 min
The org chart is a map. The relationships are the territory
A new leader can step into the org chart of an acquired trades business and still have no idea how decisions actually move. The chart is the map. Find the territory.
January 2026 · 5 min
The first 30 days after close are mostly translation
After close, everyone wants movement. But the same words mean different things in different companies. The first month is mostly translation, and translation is not delay.
December 2025 · 4 min
The seat has to fit the work
The same title means five different jobs in five different trades businesses. Recruiting by title is dangerous. Start with the seat as it actually exists.
November 2025 · 4 min
Keep your boat from getting swamped
Influence is necessary. Imitation is dangerous. The best operators stay open to new ideas without letting someone else’s playbook become their operating system.
October 2025 · 6 min
The digital translator is coming
Modern work touches five systems, three departments, and one spreadsheet nobody admits is critical. The next operating role is not another analyst. It is a translator.
September 2025 · 7 minMost operating writing pretends to be about a company. The good writing is about a Tuesday.
