Dave Tolmie believes that the most successful investments aren’t really about money. They’re about people.
Think about it. You can invest a billion dollars in the best idea of all time but if you bring in a CEO who doesn’t form amicable, effective working relationships, your investment is going to fail.
Back in the dot-com era as CEO of Yesmail, Dave spearheaded the company’s successful IPO and subsequent sale for $720 million. He went on to build and sell a regional health club company to Bally Total Fitness for $90 million before joining Bally to oversee the company’s $650 million annual revenue and its 13,000-person sales and operations workforce.
Dave has been a Partner with Edgewater Funds since its inception in 2001. Today the firm has $2.4 billion in committed capital. Moral of the story: Dave knows how to assemble an all star leadership team.
Dave shares 5 personality traits he looks for in new leaders:
1. Patterns of success. Not just in business, but in life. Success has a way of repeating itself.
2. Ability to attract and retain great people. True success takes a great team.
3. Customer focus. The CEO needs to be the best salesperson. If they are focused on the customer, the rest of the organization will follow.
4. Likability. Is a person effective in their relationships? A person’s bluechip resume is useless if nobody gets along with them.
5. Unquestioned integrity. Great leadership begins and ends here. If you’re not sure about a person’s integrity, you’ve got your answer.
For more about Edgewater Funds, click here.
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