Great leaders build unstoppable teams
Let me say something that might challenge the way you think about struggling companies. It’s rarely more money that fixes them.
In fact, pouring capital into a broken system often makes things worse. It amplifies inefficiencies. It accelerates chaos. It deepens burnout. Money doesn’t solve structural problems — it magnifies them.
Here’s the real twist. Most businesses aren’t on the verge of going under. They’re on the verge of breaking through. They’re usually three or four right moves away from serious success.
I recently had a powerful conversation with Mike Michalowicz — entrepreneur, investor in 17 companies, former host of MSNBC’s Your Business, and author of eight books including All In: How Great Leaders Build Unstoppable Companies. In our full interview, he shared insights that completely reframed how I think about leadership, culture, and growth. If you’re building a business — especially in performance-driven industries like commercial real estate — this conversation matters.
The Real Problem Isn’t Revenue. It’s Leadership.
Mike doesn’t chase flashy startups. He invests in distressed companies doing between $2 million and $12 million in revenue. These aren’t failed businesses. They’re exhausted businesses.
He looks for worn-out owners. Thin but fixable margins. Overwhelmed leaders. Stalled vision.
And here’s what’s fascinating. He doesn’t fix these companies with capital. He fixes them with correction.
He removes the owner as the bottleneck. He identifies constraints. He adjusts roles. He shifts mindset. He installs structure.
Within six months, some of these businesses go from barely surviving to producing aggressive cash flow. The difference isn’t funding. It’s leadership.
What “All-In” Leadership Really Means
We’ve all heard the traditional playbook. Set a clear mission. Define your core values. Build company culture.
Mike discovered something surprising while researching his latest book. Those things matter — but they aren’t the strongest drivers of performance.
The most powerful lever is caring deeply about your team’s personal vision.
Not just the company mission. Not just revenue goals. Not quarterly KPIs.
Their vision.
Early in his career, Mike rallied his team around a massive revenue target — $10 million. Big speech. Big energy. Big moment.
Silence.
To him, $10 million meant growth, impact, opportunity. To his team, it meant nothing. One employee said something that changed him forever. If we hit $10 million, you get the bigger house. What about our vision?
That question shifted everything.
When leaders connect company growth to individual purpose, commitment transforms.
The Psychology of Ownership
Mike referenced research from the 1980s by John Pierce on ownership psychology. The breakthrough is simple but profound.
There’s legal ownership, and there’s psychological ownership.
Legal ownership creates entitlement. Psychological ownership creates responsibility. Responsibility drives commitment.
People develop psychological ownership in three primary ways.
First, personalization. When someone can shape something — design a system, build a workflow, attach their name to a process — they care about it differently. Identity attaches to contribution.
Second, control. Autonomy fuels responsibility. Micromanagement kills ownership. Controlled autonomy ignites it.
Third, intimate knowledge. When someone deeply understands something, they feel connected to it. You read the manual for a car you buy, not for a rental. Ownership changes behavior.
The goal is to move from “my company” or even “your company” to “our company.” That shift changes everything.
Culture vs Community
We love talking about company culture. But culture can quietly turn into something rigid — fit in or fit out.
Mike prefers the word community.
Culture is often defined from the top. Community defines itself. Culture can create clones. Community values differences.
When you build community, you don’t create uniformity. You create thinkers. And diversity of thought drives stronger strategy, better decisions, and deeper loyalty.
Hiring, Titles, and Structure
You’ve heard the phrase hire slow, fire fast. Mike reframes it. Hire slow, but investigate deeply before firing.
If someone isn’t thriving, the first question shouldn’t be whether they’re the problem. It should be whether they’re in the wrong role, under the wrong manager, or inside a flawed structure.
Sometimes it’s not a talent mismatch. It’s a task mismatch.
He also challenges something many companies never question — titles.
The word entitlement literally comes from title. Titles inflate identity. They create ego, hierarchy, and rigidity.
Mike eliminated formal titles inside his organization. Instead of Marketing Director, it becomes Andrea leads our marketing efforts. That subtle shift emphasizes contribution over status and increases flexibility across the organization.
The Joy Strategy
One of the most surprising insights from Mike’s research came from a $25 million remodeling company whose growth strategy centered on a single word.
Joy.
Not aggressive quotas. Not pressure. Not commission-driven culture.
Joy.
The more holistic happiness employees experienced, the more natural energy they brought into the business. There was less resentment, less burnout, less transactional loyalty. Momentum replaced management.
That’s not soft leadership. That’s strategic leadership.
Leadership Extends Beyond the Office
Here’s another insight that feels simple but powerful.
On a new employee’s first day, Mike sends a gift not only to the employee — but to their spouse. A personalized note. A favorite bottle of bourbon. A thank you for supporting the decision.
Why?
Because the most influential voice in your employee’s life isn’t you. It’s the person at home asking how their day went.
Win that person over, and you’ve created your strongest advocate. That’s leadership at a different level.
The Truth About Turnarounds
Here’s the encouraging part for every entrepreneur reading this.
Struggling businesses usually aren’t broken. They’re stuck.
They’ve figured out how to survive. If they can tread water for five years, they can thrive for decades.
They don’t need a miracle. They need a few right moves. Remove the bottleneck. Clarify ownership. Align talent with tasks. Build community instead of clones.
Not more money. Better leadership.
If you’re building a brokerage, a fund, a development firm, or any competitive business, your edge isn’t another marketing tactic or capital raise. It’s alignment. It’s becoming an all-in leader who cares about people’s personal visions, creates psychological ownership, builds real community, and pursues joy as a strategic advantage.
The businesses that win long-term aren’t the loudest. They’re the most aligned.
And chances are, you’re not on the verge of failure. You’re on the verge of success. You may just be a few right moves away.
If you want to dive deeper into these ideas, you can watch the full interview and explore Mike’s book. And if you’re building a business and looking to sharpen your leadership edge, subscribe to our newsletter or connect with us through the contact page. We’re always sharing strategies designed to help entrepreneurs grow stronger, smarter, and more resilient.
