Lesson Learned: Abandon Leadership Theatre

Many of us come from a financial perspective when thinking about our ETA projects—often preferring to focus on spreadsheets rather than the “squishy” human side of running a business. Early on in my project, I made the mistake of neglecting cultural leadership within the organization—and it almost cost us our business in###-###-#### That crisis forced me to overhaul our strategy and develop a “culture system” that sparked a cultural renaissance in our company. Within months, we transformed our culture into a genuine competitive advantage—and we did it almost entirely for free. The culture we built became the crowning achievement of my professional career and served as a critical infrastructure to support future growth. ETA leaders should supercharge their businesses by implementing a “culture system” based on nearly zero-cost informal actions while deprioritizing the expensive, ineffective “window-dressing” cultural initiatives popularized in today’s business environment.

I recently completed an ETA project where I purchased and transformed a 40 year old HVAC service/construction business. The process to find a business and get the deal done was an amazing 1.5 year adventure. The process of transforming and growing the business was exhilarating and fulfilling. I made tons of costly mistakes and learned some powerful lessons along the way. This post is part of a blog series where I reflect on specific pieces of my journey and aim to help future generations of ETA sponsors accelerate their learning and bypass some avoidable agony. I’m happy to connect if you ever need help with a project - best way to reach me is on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/manton2764).

Early on, I fell for the trap of trying to “pull myself out of the business” too early. I aspired to be the strategic, CEO-type leader rather than a boots-on-the-ground operational one. My plan was to focus on managing my management team and let each member lead their own organization. While I still believe you can delegate parts of cultural leadership, I was guilty of abdicating more than I was truly delegating. This decision sent us down a contentious and expensive road of cultural issues that severely weakened the company. By abdicating cultural leadership, I effectively took my hands off the cultural steering wheel and let our runaway culture be guided by the collective “peanut gallery” of the business. Yikes.

For years, we battled with massive turnover, constant no-shows and call-outs, and perpetual friction between the field and management teams. I tried to fix these issues the same way I’d seen other businesses “create culture.” We implemented a barrage of expensive, formal benefits:

• Better employee insurance options
• 401(k) with a generous match
• Generous PTO, improved paternity/bereavement leave
• Guaranteed off-season pay
• Paid training opportunities
• Christmas and summer parties (that no one wanted to attend)
• Rich bonus/commission structures
• Company vehicles
• Upward mobility with defined career paths and promotion timelines
• Market-leading pay

The cost? Nearly seven figures in operating expenses. The result? Constant turnover, perpetual no-shows and call-outs, ongoing internal conflict, employees betraying our company values to optimize their own bonuses and commissions, and employee activism causing massive operational disruptions (literally almost bankrupting us in###-###-#### We had spent a fortune imitating the popular image of “culture” and achieved no loyalty in return. The issue is that I had confused formal “benefits” with true culture. Flashy benefits might serve as window dressing to attract talent, but they proved to be an utterly ineffective—and brutally expensive—mechanism for motivating and retaining staff long term. Benefits themselves do not make employees happy.

So what changed? As I mentioned earlier, we suffered a quasi-organized labor implosion in 2023 that nearly bankrupted the company. That brutal, stressful crisis became the catalyst for reforming our culture (“Never Waste a Crisis” will be a future blog post…). To save the business, I was forced to step off my “finance-bro” high horse and dive into boots-on-the-ground leadership. I realized that someone needed to serve as the single leader and heartbeat of the organization. You might delegate parts of that responsibility, but it is so critical that it cannot be done haphazardly.

Working with my staff, we implemented a “Culture System” to deliberately steer our culture. We based most of the system on informal acts rather than flashy, organized formal initiatives. We moved away from “leadership theatre” and toward genuine culture. Here are a few examples:

• Constant, genuine praise for great work
• Public shoutouts at our regular company team meetings
• Allowing employees to decide on and present the employee-of-the-week award, instead of having management declare it
• An open-door policy—making myself available for anyone in the organization to talk with me three days a week
• A company-wide “Craftsmanship” chat thread on Microsoft Teams where employees could showcase their work and congratulate each other
• Leading a small group of employees to the coffee shop next door roughly once a week and casually buying them a cup of coffee while they shared family updates and project stories
• Casual acts of respect—offering rides home, helping carry tools, and showing sincere gratitude when employees made personal sacrifices for the team

The cost? Basically nothing (other than maybe the coffee). The results? In just a few months, our culture began to gain real traction. Natural leaders emerged within our workforce—they started giving shoutouts to junior staff for great work, mentoring each other, volunteering to work nights and weekends, and offering constant suggestions for operational improvements. Behavioral issues nearly disappeared as employees held each other accountable rather than forcing management to play the perennial bad guy. No-shows and call-outs vanished, and staff even organized company events they actually enjoyed. They began socializing after work, and we doubled our 5‑star Google reviews in roughly five months. Changes became easier to implement because the staff no longer viewed management as the enemy, and employee attrition evaporated.

The culture we built during this time is the single greatest achievement of my career. It’s ironic that the human side of the business—which I once dreaded—became such a fulfilling aspect of my job. The most amazing part is that we accomplished all this in just a few months and practically for free. Imagine how much money (and grief) I could have saved on flashy benefits intended to attract replacement employees if I had just fixed the attrition problem from the start! It pains me to think that I could have bypassed years of agony, conflict, and financial damage simply by taking these basic steps at the beginning of the project.

I hope this painful yet powerful lesson helps future ETA entrepreneurs accelerate their success and avoid some of the agony I experienced. Please don’t hesitate to reach out if I can ever help—you can connect with me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/manton2764.

Michael Anton is the former sponsor of MPower Industries LLC and ex-CEO/President of All Service AC & Plumbing. With a diverse background spanning consulting, product management, cyber security, corporate strategy, and data analytics, he brings a wealth of expertise to the ETA arena. Now based in Atlanta, GA, Michael is passionate about mentoring and consulting the next generation of ETA entrepreneurs. You can connect with him on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/manton2764.