Tim Dobyns

45 years helping others find their story. Now building my own. Ozarks morning person. Married to the one who listens to rocks. Jazz cats on Saturdays.

[Tim Dobyns @TimDobyns]

@Vixyl Glad you finally got to sit down! Are these still blooming in your garden this late in the year?

[Tim Dobyns @TimDobyns]

@JoeydeWit_ Great list. Where does giving the team that helped generate the cash a share of the win fit for you, under reinvesting or as its own call?

[Tim Dobyns @TimDobyns]

@KurtisHanni Plans stick when the team re-forecasts every week, so a drifting quarter shows up while there's still time to fix it. Who on your team owns that weekly look ahead?

[Tim Dobyns @TimDobyns]

@benkellyone Does it go past closing day? Putting the scoreboard where the whole team can see it is where I'd start, so I'm curious what you tell clients to do in their first 90 days.

[Tim Dobyns @TimDobyns]

"Profit first, then culture" sounds cold until you've run a P&L. The margin is what lets you keep your promises to people when a bad quarter shows up.

[Jesse Pujji @jspujji]

An unexpected lesson I learned about company culture in 2019.

I was sitting across from Billionaire founder of Barry-Wehmiller, Bob Chapman.

He looked me up and down and then:

“How much in fixed assets are on your balance sheet?”

I stammered. I was not expecting this question.

I was here to learn about culture, not finance!

He didn’t relent: what are you gross margins? What’s ebitda to fcf conversion?

Then, who owns the company?

Luckily, I had worked on Wall Street and was quick on my feet. He looked satisfied with my answers:

+ we had over 25% margins
+ we grew 30-50% without any additional invested capital
+ the biz was closely held

Finally he said, “now, we can talk about culture.”

I looked confused.

He explained: I can only build the culture for my people and clients BECAUSE I control the business and it’s profitable. Public and VC Backed companies have to serve a different master.

Cool to see the Wall Street Journal reporting on this!

[Tim Dobyns @TimDobyns]

@KurtisHanni At Siemens, the biggest shift came when my managers forecast where the month would land every week instead of explaining last month after the fact. Do you get your clients' teams forecasting too, or does it stay with the CFO and CEO?

[Tim Dobyns @TimDobyns]

@etherealmachine @anandmahindra That's a proud day for everyone on the floor at Factory 1. How did you share the moment with the team?

[Tim Dobyns @TimDobyns]

@bradwatton Love seeing the end of a run lined up on the floor. "Nobody on their knees in the rain" is a great reason to build something. Congrats to the crew.

[Tim Dobyns @TimDobyns]

@JonMStoddard Rework dropped fastest for us once the crew saw the error count every shift instead of at month end. Would you put that number where the order team sees it daily?

[Tim Dobyns @TimDobyns]

@patrickdichter After all the crappy deals you've looked at, what's the early tell that a seller will open the books honestly?

[Tim Dobyns @TimDobyns]

@HelenGuo_ If you could only check one number to verify that $436K, which one would you start with?

[Tim Dobyns @TimDobyns]

@KurtisHanni Agreed, and in my experience the handoff only stuck once the team could see the score every day and didn't need me to tell them whether a call was good.

[Tim Dobyns @TimDobyns]

@blueprintsmb22 Nothing says owner life like trading the gun range for a $20k treater hunt. Hope the part shows up fast and that extruder is back running tomorrow.

[Tim Dobyns @TimDobyns]

@walkerdeibel The owners I saw step back for good were the ones who were teachers and taught thier the team build the plan, not just run it.

[Tim Dobyns @TimDobyns]

@jspujji Two daughters here too, both grown now. Enjoy these years, they go by fast.

[Tim Dobyns @TimDobyns]

@benkellyone Everyone will talk about the 5% down. The part that made it work is that they walked away from a seller who couldn't explain his own numbers.

How many buyers do you think skip that question?

[Tim Dobyns @TimDobyns]

@DamianoR At Siemens I watched leaders who had to be in every decision become the biggest risk in their own units. What are the top three things you are doing differently in how you build today?

[Tim Dobyns @TimDobyns]

@mikebeckhamsm Bringing printing, embroidery and engraving in-house is a big bet. What number told you it was paying off?

[Tim Dobyns @TimDobyns]

@blueprintsmb22 Guys fighting over Saturday hours is a great problem to have. How far ahead did you see this rush coming?

[Tim Dobyns @TimDobyns]

@TinyToothDDS The line about your own kids deserving that version of you too says a lot about how you lead. How is your team holding up with the wait list weighing on everyone?