#66 Rich Ashton on Turning Great Workers Into Confident Managers

What makes someone a great leader? According to Rich Ashton, it is not something you get to decide for yourself. The people who follow you make that call.

Rich Ashton is the founder of Growing Your Own Leadership, a program built specifically for small businesses that need to develop managers from within. After spending 40 years running companies, including a nearly bankrupt HVAC business he purchased in 1988 and turned into a thriving operation, Rich discovered that the biggest challenge in small business is not finding customers or managing cash flow. It is having the right leaders ready when you need them.

In this episode, Rich and Ben dig into why the traditional authoritarian leadership style hits a wall, how Rich transformed blue-collar technicians into confident, accountable leaders using a simple blogging strategy, and why the informal leader in the room, the one everyone quietly turns to after the meeting, is often your greatest untapped asset.

Rich also shares the leadership principles he built into his book, Growing Your Own, including his pillars of communication, accountability, proactive thinking, and the relentless pursuit of knowledge. And he makes the case that in small business, you simply cannot afford to wait for great leaders to show up. You have to build them yourself.

If you run a small business, lead a team, or are working to develop the next generation of leaders inside your organization, this conversation is for you.

Connect with Rich Ashton at https://www.growingyourown.net/ or reach him directly at rich@growingyourown.net. Find him on LinkedIn for short-form leadership content as well.

 

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