Legacy in the Making: Building Your Long-Term Vision with Herb Sargent

Herb Sargent00:00:00 - 00:00:19
What we do in saying potentially or unintentionally alters the way that the future goes. And if we don't have a longer term vision for what what what we wanna be, I think we can make a lot of those decisions on short term basis that don't serve the long term vision. We are one of the only species that can make a decision to be somebody different in 5 years than today. And I think that's a gift. We we need to take advantage of it.
Wayne Herring00:00:19 - 00:01:24
Welcome to the Business Builder Way podcast, where we help business builders grow leadership skills and wisdom and stay grounded I'm excited to have Herb Sargent with us today. For those of you on YouTube, he's waving. He's coming to us from Maine, and you may know that my wife is a Mainer also. So I've had the privilege to spend time in Herb's truck at one of the, pits that they own where they're crushing rock to create aggregate for their operations on the highways of Maine and beyond. And I love the time we spent together. I almost wish her that I've had my camera going at that time, but this is the 2nd best, and we'll work it from there. Herb is I just said founder, but he said hold on, not founder, and he'll tell you more about that. Herb is currently leading Sergeant, and Sergeant is the largest heavy highway contractor in Maine.
Wayne Herring00:01:24 - 00:01:47
They also have offices in New Hampshire and Virginia and North Carolina, and they're doing their work there. I met Herb on LinkedIn. I love his messages about leadership and about his employees and how he loves them, and I came out when I was in the truck. And I'm really excited, Herb, for you to share your story with the business builders today. So thanks for joining us.
Herb Sargent00:01:47 - 00:01:59
Thank you for that kind introduction. And and you and I have threatened to get together a couple more times. As I recall last summer, you had a a hot water heater issue that interrupted our our opportunity to get together.
Wayne Herring00:01:59 - 00:02:16
Yeah. My wife's camp on a lake is very close to Herb. That's right. And the hot water heater went, and my brother-in-law was there, and I knew we could go into the small town and get one and get it done. So thanks for understanding. And if you would, just tell us who you are and tell us about the company.
Herb Sargent00:02:16 - 00:03:00
Sure. So a lot of times, people wanna know who the founder is. It's a little bit weird with us. I would call myself a following founder versus a founder. My grandfather founded our business in 1926, and then my dad and uncle took the business over in 1975 or so. And then they sold the business to a company from Paris, France in 1988. So that company was bought by a larger company, was bought by another larger company, was bought by another larger company. In the intervening years, 1991, I left and started my own business, but then, circled back in 2005 and bought my grandfather's original business pack from the Europeans.
Herb Sargent00:03:00 - 00:03:14
So in some ways, I founded this because my company is the succeeding acquirer, but in in real ways, my grandfather father founded it and really established the foundation and the legacy we work with today.
Wayne Herring00:03:15 - 00:03:32
And in the intervening years when you had your own company, that was also earthmoving. You were in the business still. Right? Yep. What was it what was it like to start that company, the the one you went out? Because you've had the experience of acquiring a bigger company, but you've all you've also done, right from the get go.
Herb Sargent00:03:32 - 00:04:22
I mean, we were we're a pretty big organization in in the late eighties when the company was sold, and, you know, the largest earth mover in the state at that time. And 60 plus years in history. So well established, and and, basically, I was in an organization that whenever I needed anything, I could get it. Like, if I needed a d 8 bulldozer, I just called on the two way radio and and made arrangements to get a d 8 bulldozer. Right? Or if I needed a performance and payment bond on a project as I was a project manager, I just, at at the time, faxed the request. Some of your listeners may not know what a fax is, but faxed the request to the bonding company, and we got it. And then when I left to start my own business, I mean, I had nothing. I had about $30,000 in 401 k, and I walked away from a decent job, but I had nothing.
Herb Sargent00:04:22 - 00:04:45
So when we finally got a project, I looked around and said, I don't even have a shovel. Right. Right? I mean, I had one at my house, but I don't have shovels to use. So I gotta go buy shovels. I've gotta go buy rotating lasers. I've gotta go buy pipe lasers. I've gotta buy trench shields. I've gotta buy and we rented material we rented, equipment at the time, but that was an eye opener for me.
Herb Sargent00:04:45 - 00:05:33
It wasn't just pick up the two way radio and say send a rack truck over with all these small tools and everything, and that was probably the easiest problem to get past. The financial roller coaster you go through when you start a business is especially a capital intensive business like a construction company. I mean, you you think you're good. You got a bill out. Right? You've got an invoice out. You expect to get paid, and that's gonna replenish your bank account, But all of a sudden, the money doesn't come in when you thought it was going to. And, I mean, I'm talking 100 of 1,000 of dollars here, and you're out that much. So trying to to learn how that all goes in the absence of someone who is a really astute financial controller was difficult for me, and and a lot of lessons came from that.
Wayne Herring00:05:33 - 00:05:40
So you had that company that you had started. In the meantime, sergeant is being run by other people.
Herb Sargent00:05:41 - 00:05:41
Right.
Wayne Herring00:05:41 - 00:05:52
How big did that company that you started how far did you take that before that time when you were then in the negotiating room with the Europeans?
Herb Sargent00:05:52 - 00:06:06
Yeah. So we were about a 100 employees over 10, 12 years. We were doing 15 to $20,000,000 so not a very big company, really. These numbers would be much bigger today than
Wayne Herring00:06:06 - 00:06:08
they would be. Years ago.
Herb Sargent00:06:08 - 00:06:10
Yeah. So about a 100 people.
Wayne Herring00:06:11 - 00:06:30
It's been interesting lately. I have a mentor who's 76, and I've been playing with age and number. It's natural that, like, I kinda put myself on timelines, and I I'm a coach, so I shouldn't be comparing myself to others. It's natural that we're, like, kinda watching and thinking, and we don't know how long we have. But with that 10 years, how old were you when you were in that zone? Crazy.
Herb Sargent00:06:31 - 00:06:41
Started business at 28, and we bought what was called then HE Sargent named after my grandfather. We bought that in 2,005, and I was 42 at that time.
Wayne Herring00:06:42 - 00:06:56
Got it. So I'm gonna skip time frames a little bit, but I think it would be helpful to understand what is the business now. So we we'll go back to where you you bought it and how that happened, but what does the business look like now?
Herb Sargent00:06:56 - 00:07:22
So now we're just short of about 500 people. And as you mentioned, we're working in Maine, New Hampshire, Virginia, and North Carolina. We also do some work in Massachusetts. We've been in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware. So we've been in a number of states. We're focused right now in Virginia and North Carolina for our mid Atlantic team and then Maine and New Hampshire for our New England team.
Wayne Herring00:07:22 - 00:07:24
You just opened a new office. Right?
Herb Sargent00:07:24 - 00:07:57
Yeah. Down in Greensboro, North Carolina. Yeah. It was really a a great opportunity that we picked up a project down there, and we we're trying to to make small bets instead of betting the whole house on on one thing. We're trying to make small bets and figure out where the opportunities are. And so we bid a project in Greensboro, North Carolina at the airport, and we do a lot of airport work. And we got that project, And it ended up being a good project. We ended up hiring quite a few people that were local to the area.
Herb Sargent00:07:57 - 00:08:21
And as we got a little bit better situational awareness around that part of North Carolina, the Greensboro area, we looked around and said maybe there's an opportunity here, and we think there is. This past fall, we opened an office. We hired a guy named Chris Horn to manage that office. And, so he just started with us a couple months ago, and we got some work underway, and we're going for it.
Wayne Herring00:08:22 - 00:08:29
The more recent Jim Collins books is great by choice, and he described what you just said as first fire bullets
Herb Sargent00:08:30 - 00:08:30
Yeah.
Wayne Herring00:08:30 - 00:08:31
Then fire cannonballs.
Herb Sargent00:08:32 - 00:08:50
And we we just actually had that same exact conversation here Monday with our strategic planning group, and this was a good example of firing the musket ball first and then coming in with a cannonball afterwards to try to make smaller bets. And we just read another Jim Collins book called How the Mighty Fall.
Wayne Herring00:08:50 - 00:08:50
Mhmm.
Herb Sargent00:08:50 - 00:09:41
And I started reading that in 2018, and I had to put it down because I could see me and I could see our company on the pages of that book. And so so I put it down, and we did our own strategic plan according to a lot of the Collins principles. And we've really improved tremendously over these recent years, so we actually had our group read that book, How the Mighty Fall. And one of the things that I saw in that was if I go back 10, 12 years, I can see pretty big decisions that I made that weren't well thought out. They weren't well founded. Frankly, they were probably more ego based than anything. And one example is we bought into the ready mixed business thinking it was similar enough to Earthwork that we ought to be able to you know, if we can win at Earthwork, we can win at Ready Mix. Right? We never won at Ready Mix.
Herb Sargent00:09:41 - 00:09:46
It took us 10 years to finally stop throwing good money after bad
Wayne Herring00:09:46 - 00:09:46
Mhmm.
Herb Sargent00:09:46 - 00:10:05
And just say, okay. It's time to end this. So that's an example of some of the things that in that book, How They Might Fall, was like you make decisions that aren't really that good, and they're cannonballs versus saving the cannonballs and using the musket balls to engage the line of sight.
Wayne Herring00:10:05 - 00:10:25
So I heard 2 things there that were interesting. 1 is you said, our strategic planning group. So interesting, but once upon a time, you were the strategic planning group. Right? Correct. But now the company has gotten to this place where you're not everything and you have a strategic planning group. And and so that's when you
Herb Sargent00:10:25 - 00:10:48
might develop for you. I guess, you know, maybe my job is to work myself out of a job in a way, but I've got a lot of experience. Most of my experience is construction experience, not necessarily running a business this size experience. Frankly, in in a lot of ways, this business has outgrown me. And so I can't possibly think of everything that needs to be thought of. Right?
Wayne Herring00:10:48 - 00:10:48
Mhmm.
Herb Sargent00:10:48 - 00:11:15
And if I did, 50% of it wrong anyway. So we've got a group of about I think it's about 8 people that we meet monthly to just check-in, but quarterly to make a plan. And interim planning is intended to lead us toward our 20 year vision, which we established in 2021. So we've got that as kind of the guiding North Star. And so everything we do now is in service of that.
Wayne Herring00:11:15 - 00:11:42
Got it. And and the other thing you said, and I think people listening that are building businesses, it's not that what none of us are gonna be Herb. Right? We're gonna talk about future path and the thing. I know there's something you want to share. None of us are Herb. I should be Wayne. However, I think it's good to learn from people that clearly have had successes and who are willing to say I went through a period of time where maybe my ego got in the way I made bad decisions. Those are the kind of people that I wanna learn from.
Wayne Herring00:11:43 - 00:12:04
And so one of the things I heard you say that would be useful for people is you were reading the book, how the mighty fall, and you realize that we were on the pages, and you use this phrase, I put the book down. Yeah. I what what I gather was I like, I put the book down and I got to work because I felt like there were things in there that were hitting close to home, and I need to do something about it. Is that close?
Herb Sargent00:12:04 - 00:12:38
Yeah. That's exactly right. I mean, we were involved in in a strategic planning group at that time, and so we kinda have 2 groups just really quickly. A larger group sets, like, a 10 or 20 year plan, and then the smaller group implements it. So I call it strategic plan imp implementation group. So we were in this 28 session, and we were reading all these Collins books, and I happen to pick this one up. And I just started I got maybe 50 pages into it, and I was like, man, to be honest with you, we weren't a strong company at that time. Everybody could still stand to be stronger.
Herb Sargent00:12:38 - 00:12:41
Right? We still have weaknesses and blind spots.
Wayne Herring00:12:41 - 00:12:41
Sure.
Herb Sargent00:12:42 - 00:13:14
But, financially, we weren't a great company at that time. I think we had a lot of great ideas. We just weren't putting them in place well. And some of the decisions that I mentioned, they were maybe ego driven and not well thrashed out. And so that's when I said I gotta put this thing down because I'm really afraid for us. So I put it down and focused on building instead of, you know, focused on good to great and that sort of thing, and and it's worked out well for us. But I still thought it's a pretty easy read.
Wayne Herring00:13:14 - 00:13:14
Mhmm.
Herb Sargent00:13:14 - 00:13:39
Thought it was worthwhile for our group to read just so that I could go. And this is what I did with it this past Monday is I talked to our group about what I have seen in the last 10 years, the things I've just discussed with you. Because a lot of our people in that group have only been here 2 or 3 years, so they're not familiar with that. And my point is let's just not relive with that. Let's not make the same mistakes twice or 3 or 3 times.
Wayne Herring00:13:40 - 00:14:26
Interestingly, you just sparked the memory for me. My dad started the company in 1992. I went off and did my own thing. Actually, kinda in your industry, I was in the drilling and blasting industry when I got out of school because I wasn't gonna work with the family business. But then in 2004, I went back and worked with my dad, and he had gone through some difficult times throughout the years. And I can remember him doing what you just described. Like, I hadn't been there, but he was able to Yeah. You know, share with me, what it was like, what happened, what preceded that, what it both externally and then also, like, internally places where he had gotten a little bit complacent or fat and happy, and he would say, watch out for this.
Wayne Herring00:14:26 - 00:14:58
And, of course, then there's father son dynamics, and I didn't know it was listened quite frankly. But he was able to do a lot of that. So it makes sense that you would do that for your team. So go going back a little bit farther and think about you, the person, you, the business builder who now reads books and then relays that to people. Some of this did start earlier in your story with your grandfather. Right? Yeah. And part of who you are as a human and a leader, some of that go goes all the way back to to being young. So what was he like? And, maybe honor him a little bit.
Wayne Herring00:14:58 - 00:14:59
Yeah.
Herb Sargent00:14:59 - 00:15:32
So he lived to be a 100 years old. I I was 43 years old when he passed away. So unlike a lot of folks with their grandparents, I got to spend a lot of time with my grandfather. And he loved the business, and he loved to be in the vehicle. So if I was going to visit jobs, I'd take him with me, and we just talk about so much. You know? I mean, he could be very superficial in the way he spoke, but I think he he laid it out there to let it sink in. He didn't wanna drive these notions into you. He wanted to kinda lay them out there and let them sink in.
Herb Sargent00:15:32 - 00:16:17
And there's so much wisdom that he had around people and business. And in fact, one of the most profound things that he said to me when I told him that we were considering buying his company is, listen. If this works on the business merits, do it. But don't do it on the emotional merits because you make a big mistake. For a guy that I'm sure would be glad to see his company come back into family ownership, You know, that meant a lot. And for him to have that dissociation with the emotional aspect of it himself, I mean, he put that on display. He just was so tuned into people, so tuned into community and family in a way about him that just made everybody grateful to be around him, and me included.
Wayne Herring00:16:17 - 00:16:49
And when you did buy it, when you went through that decision process that he weighed in and gave you that gift to say, hey. Don't do this on my account. I remember you telling me about that a bit in the truck that day. So what was that like making this big decision? And my recollection is you did have to borrow a lot of money, and you were on the line. And I think one one of the things I recall is you're saying you already had a vision of how you'd pretty quickly would be able to turn into employee owned company, or maybe that came later. But what was going on at that time?
Herb Sargent00:16:49 - 00:17:15
Yeah. So this was a company that was about 5, 6 times our size. And as a business, it was about 10, 12 years old, I had not built up a a huge financial war chest. I was always investing back in the business with equipment, that sort of thing. So So I had to borrow a lot a lot of money. And if there's any analogy to saying I'm all in, that's what this was. My house was on the line. My cars were on the line.
Herb Sargent00:17:15 - 00:17:48
All my bank accounts were on the line. Everything was on the line. Everything I own personally, and you've seen that yourself. That's one way to motivate yourself, to make sure you get it right. And one of the things I had 2 great, guys that were working with me at the time, Tim Foster and George Thomas, And we said, if we do this, we've only got one chance to get it right. Because if if we buy this company and we get it wrong, we're all out of a job, me included. So we've gotta get right. So we put together what I felt was a really effective plan to be visible to them.
Herb Sargent00:17:48 - 00:18:28
As Tim used to say, construction workers really want 2 things, good equipment and backlog. They wanna know they've got a job to go to, and they want to do it with. So we literally flushed out the fleet and put new equipment on our own. We rented a lot of stuff. Part of the way we financed the the purchase of the business was to sell the equipment, And then we went into to almost a 100% rentals, but the crew loved it because they had new equipment. So between the visibility and the new equipment and our approach to backlog, we gained pretty good credibility. Important also to note that all 3 of us hadn't worked in business. It that we were buying before.
Herb Sargent00:18:28 - 00:18:54
So everyone knew us there as well. At that same time, you mentioned ESOP employee ownership before we even closed on the business. I call myself the familial cul de sac in this business because I've got 2 wonderful children either side of 30 years old, but they have dreams that are totally outside construction that I respect greatly. So I knew that I wasn't gonna have family come in.
Wayne Herring00:18:54 - 00:18:56
What was that word you said? The what?
Herb Sargent00:18:56 - 00:19:05
Familial cul de sac. So in other words, it it is in in terms of the family aspect of this business, it's ending with me.
Wayne Herring00:19:05 - 00:19:05
Yep.
Herb Sargent00:19:05 - 00:19:34
So the question was, okay, we're gonna make this big purchase, but then what do we do with it in the future? So the question was in my mind, what am I gonna do with it? Because I'm not gonna live forever. Right? And I want this company to survive beyond me. So I went on a search and seizure mission mission about 2 years afterwards and studied ESOPs. It was almost 6, 7 years before we finally pulled the trigger and and became a 100% employee owned in 2,000.
Wayne Herring00:19:35 - 00:19:55
So that gives us insight into who you are and how you've done this to that whole piece there, like thinking about the future and what's gonna happen. I'm not gonna do it forever. The search and seizure mission, I don't understand this, but I'm gonna go find out, whatever I need to find out to be able to do it. And, that's definitely kind of the entrepreneur way you've done that on
Herb Sargent00:19:55 - 00:20:38
the Oh, I could say that I could have learned a lot more about them too. If you took a a classroom of 30 kids and said, here's some Play Doh, make me a snowman, that'd all be shaped differently. Right? And ESOPs can be the same way. They're highly regulated by the government. So to get it right is important, and I wish I'd known more when before we did it. We've had to change some things, not that nothing was illegal, but just not ideal. And we probably will always will change things, I think, in terms of the way the the ESOP is structured. Not in a dramatic way, but we've got to tweak things here and there to make sure that the promise of ESOP, the promise of the eventual payday for employees is there.
Wayne Herring00:20:39 - 00:21:41
Yeah. So you just said people want in your industry, good equipment and backlog, but I also heard and felt you talk about employee ownership and and ESOP when I was with you, and I've observed you talking about culture and people in the story. So people in today's world may want even they might still want good equipment and backlog, but they're wanting opportunity, and they're wanting belonging and connection. And you and your team, I know it's not only you now. You've got voices continue to work to stay relevant for those best workers or the people that have the best potential out there. But when I was with you, what you were was powerful to me. You pointed out people that were working there at the pit on equipment, and you had an idea of roughly what their ownership in the company was, and you were clearly proud of that and felt good about that. And at the same time, you told me a story about rolling out ESOP and not, like, overpromising.
Wayne Herring00:21:42 - 00:21:49
Good. You're smiling. So you told me about almost a town hall meeting where you gather. Well, would you share a little bit about
Herb Sargent00:21:49 - 00:22:16
Yeah. So when we became an east for a lot of people, ownership is a thing to to get a grasp of. Right? Just owning a business. So an ESOP is difficult because, you know, you say to a guy, okay, you're the owner. And he looks down the line, he says, well, there's 200 other people here. Who's in charge? Well so I was very clear to point out that ownership didn't mean, at the time, 400 presidents. We're still gonna manage the business the same way we almost did. You know? I'm in charge.
Herb Sargent00:22:16 - 00:22:48
We've got other people that are in charge as well, and that's the way it's gonna stay. The other thing is I wanna be clear about set the expectation on when they got their first statement, what it was gonna look like, and also set the expectation for what it might eventually look like. So, my point was this is not your retirement. I still need you to to focus on your 401 k for retirement. Don't count on Social Security. Focus on your 401 k for retirement. And and we still match. Most ESOPs cease their matching when they become ESOPs.
Herb Sargent00:22:48 - 00:23:30
We still do match. And so I want you to focus on that and and think of this like it's gonna be your bass boat or your 5th wheel camper. Right? Something like that. It's gonna be something to augment your enjoyment of retirement. It's not gonna be your retirement. Also, if everything goes well this year, this is back in 2013, everything goes well this year perfectly, your average individual value of all you in this room is is gonna be a $147. So I I wanna make sure they knew what it meant. So the easiest way I can say it is this it's like if you get 10 people and you own an apartment complex that's worth, let's say, $1,000,000, and you say, okay.
Herb Sargent00:23:30 - 00:24:09
We're gonna make an ESOP out of this. I'm gonna sell you for $1,000,000. On day 1, they have no equity. So what they can do to build equity is either add more apartments or they can improve the apartments they have, raise the rent, they can make business better, they can reduce cost. Right? They can do things to begin to pay off that debt and increase the value of the of the apartment building also. So in day 1, I said, here's the company, and I took a 100% promissory note for the whole value of the company back. So they owed me all that. Very little in the way of equity on day 1.
Wayne Herring00:24:10 - 00:24:42
So I get this kind of feeling of you as a leader who is telling it like it is, but also helping people see how the future could be. And I think in coaching, the work that I get to do is inviting more people to see how they can live intentionally, but it'll take work. So in that sense, you're very much like a coach and helping people see this brighter future, but understanding that they have to do the doable and take steps every day to keep making progress.
Herb Sargent00:24:43 - 00:25:32
Yeah. I'll tell you, we have a, you know, mutual friend, Michael Bowman, and I was on a call with him 3 or 4 years ago, and he used the word intentionality. And that's never a word that I'd use much. It's interesting that I I got to be almost 60 years old and intentionality, even though maybe it was a part of my life, it's not anything that I use as a concept greatly, and and that's one of the things that that I'm trying to introduce into my own life more. I can't ask anybody else to do it if I don't do it. I'm trying to introduce it into my own life more, but also introduce it as a means of achieving someone's personal vision if they even know they have it, a personal vision. And so that's not just talking about those personal visions. What is your personal vision? I'm talking about employees now mostly.
Herb Sargent00:25:32 - 00:26:10
And there's an idea. It's kind of abstract, the future is. Right? We all got one. We think if we talk about the future, the future and I remember, I think it was Brene Brown. I I was listening to a podcast one time, and she said, we gotta think about this like we've got a infinite number of futures. What we do in saying intentionally or unintentionally alters the way that that future goes. And if we don't have a longer term vision for what what what we wanna be, I think we can make a lot of those decisions on a short term basis that don't serve the long term vision. And that that's where I'm trying to to get with our folks is you can have a long term vision.
Herb Sargent00:26:10 - 00:26:33
And if it doesn't include working here at Sargent, it doesn't. That's that happens. But, mean, God made us one of the only species that can make a decision to be somebody different in 5 years than we are today. That's that's rare among all the species. It's, like, very unique to humans. And I think that's a gift. We we need to take advantage of that.
Wayne Herring00:26:34 - 00:27:08
Yeah. So as as you were speaking about you you hadn't used the word intentionality. The phrase, I'll probably misquote it, but it's something like preach constantly and sometimes use words. Some and and so I would say that was what you were doing. Right? Like, it's not so much work, but they mentioned Michael, and I'm glad he came up. His book, lead from the middle, has been very impactful for me, and it was very powerful. And I know that he's been doing work with you and your team and Yeah. His concept about creating a a what is it? Not personal about his led the legend.
Wayne Herring00:27:08 - 00:27:14
But he he wants your, right, impact to be greater, and it's all about intention. That's who's Right.
Herb Sargent00:27:14 - 00:27:19
Yeah. I was like, oh, let your legend legacy. I can't remember how he says it. Yeah.
Wayne Herring00:27:19 - 00:27:49
Yeah. I'm gonna butcher it, and he's gonna give both of a sec, but that'll be okay because then he can go clean it up. I was thinking, like, you're on a path where you're thinking there is gonna be a transition. You're not gonna be there forever, and you've been working on that living intentionally or intentionality. And how do you get the next kind of generation of leaders to carry that flag that must be something that you're working on right now. Having Michael come and teach his workshops to your leaders is is probably part of that.
Herb Sargent00:27:49 - 00:28:31
One thing, I mean, I have I have to say, I run this company with Tasha Gardner, our CFO, and Eric Ritchie, our COO. And, of course, they have great people that that report to them as well. And, they probably drive me toward intentionality more than I do myself. I mean, they're they're so in tune with planning and intentionally being somewhere, You know, I don't wanna speak for them. For me, I would say, unintentionality is the mother of apology. In other words, we just do things without intention. We end up in places where we sometimes wish we weren't or we're not in the optimal place that we could have been. So these 2 and the other folks that are here really help drive it.
Herb Sargent00:28:31 - 00:28:36
It's not like I'm having to whip people into intentionality. We're all pulling on the same yoke.
Wayne Herring00:28:37 - 00:29:35
We're gonna work to to kinda land the plane here, and it's been great what you've been sharing. But before we started, you were telling me about this piece about developing you you said I I wish perhaps I had seen earlier how I could work on developing my own vision and how I'd like to help other people develop theirs. And so I'd like to explore that a little bit. Some of the business builders in my community to give you an example of her because maybe you could talk to them in a sense the way you might have talked to yourself. I have a guy. It's common that they're around age 40, and they've got what I would call, like, main street businesses, normal businesses, but who can make a really big impact in the life of I mean, really, excavating is kind of a normal business, right, for earthmoving. Right. They're landscapers, a funeral homeowner, somebody who sells branded merchandise, to add value.
Wayne Herring00:29:35 - 00:29:56
And often they have children at home, of course, who are maybe 10 to 14 years old, and they've got a team of 5 to 20 employees. And there they are, you know, 40, 38, 40, 42 in that range. So what what is it that you would share with them as you're working on this concept?
Herb Sargent00:29:56 - 00:31:00
It's a critical place to be because that's the age when for most people, their kids are depends when middle school or coming out of high school, that sort of thing. And so they've they've already got transitions, like coming at them fast. And one of the things I wish I had done is sat down and said, okay. Where do I want to be? What do I want my life to look like? How do I wanna impact others? What defines me in 5 years? What defines me in 10 years? And this is something that I've really had a guy that just turned 60 this past year. I've really begun to kind of pull the threads on myself. So I've got a transition coming up in sometime in the next few years. So what do I want to look like after that? What does my life wanna be? I don't wanna stop being impactful if if I can be. And so I would just encourage those folks to take the time to seek out some knowledge on what a personal vision ought to look like.
Herb Sargent00:31:00 - 00:31:34
And it's really just going from here to there. Right? It's here I am, and my personal vision is I wanna be there, and I'll be right open. I mean, I always like to drink a lot of beer, Wayne. I really do. And after work, I'd have a few beers, and that's just the way it was when I was out in the trenches. It just it's the way it was, and that carried through my life. And I've got a couple things in the last year or 2 that I've said I'm gonna I'm gonna offload some of these things and see what I miss. You know? So you've heard of 75 hard? Mhmm.
Herb Sargent00:31:34 - 00:31:52
So I do 75 hard. It's my own rules. I get to play it. So Yeah. And I've done that the last 2 years, and it's really helped me, you know, wow. I didn't drink 3 beers every night the last 75 days, and I don't miss it. So I think some of that's just curiosity around yourself
Wayne Herring00:31:52 - 00:31:52
Mhmm.
Herb Sargent00:31:52 - 00:32:22
And curiosity around why you meet some challenges and why you don't. But I think the intentionality towards some vision. And when I say vision, I don't mean some grandiose thing that I've gotta be a king or queen. It's I wanna be a better dad. I wanna be a better community member. I wanna be be a better mentor for the people. I wanna be in better shape. I wanna my health I don't want my health to, erode to the point where I'm heavy on everybody around me.
Herb Sargent00:32:22 - 00:32:53
Right? So those are the kind of things to me. For me, you know, I wanna be closer to God, and I want him to inform the things that I do and say. So I've gotta do work to get to that place in 5 years, 10 years, 2 years, whatever you said. But it's it's like our strategic plan, as a business. We set a vision for 2041. We've got a bunch of things that describe it in pretty good detail, and we've got the big, hairy, audacious goal. And so we track that. We have a graph.
Herb Sargent00:32:53 - 00:33:05
We track that. Boom. Boom. Boom. And and so what we do now in our quarterly meetings is we just make sure we're doing the things that that meet that vision out there. And it's the same thing for
Wayne Herring00:33:06 - 00:33:12
What is your big, hairy, audacious goal for being closer to God? Do you have a graph for that? Are you tracking I
Herb Sargent00:33:12 - 00:33:56
don't have a graph for that. That's one of those things that if we ever think we're gonna stop getting closer to God, then we already have. So for me, it's taking more time. Like, in the last year or so, I've started taking 1 hour every morning. And the first thing I do is read the bible, and I have some prayer, and then I have some time to I don't call it meditation, but it's probably what it is. It's a time to just think things through. And so I take an hour of that every morning, and I think that helps me. I'm amazed sometimes to ride up to the lake about a month and a half ago, and there's something that was really heavy on me.
Herb Sargent00:33:56 - 00:34:19
And I literally walked over to the passenger door of the truck, and I opened it. And I said, go and climb in. And I closed the door, and I had about a 40 minute drive, and there were some things that I just want to flesh out. You know, for me, making his presence more real, I think, really helped me to come to some conclusions that I might not have otherwise come to.
Wayne Herring00:34:19 - 00:34:37
It's a great visual. Thanks for sharing that. And so we've got 75 Herb. We call it Herbitation. That's what I'm gonna call it. You're my Alright. It it it's been great to get to know you better. I I think, you know, that you're, like, a little bit of a micro celebrity is what they would call it currently on LinkedIn.
Wayne Herring00:34:37 - 00:35:11
Yeah. It happens. Right. You keep sharing good stuff and being vulnerable and open about what you're doing. That's what happens. So if you were to just to close this out, anything you can think of is so open ended, but you probably think of something. If there's anything that you could share with people who would see a link to this on LinkedIn, which could be business owners like the people that I have the privilege to work with, and it could be foreman or people that are thinking about getting into leadership. But when you think about those people on LinkedIn that see yourself and hit the like button, what any any closing advice or things you'd like to share with them?
Herb Sargent00:35:12 - 00:35:45
No. There's a quote that I saw a while back by a guy named Peter Strobel. That's the only way I know this guy's name is this quote was attributed to him, and it said, your legacy is not what you leave for people. It's what you leave in people. And that's in the way I've tried to be in my life and in business and at home with my family. If I could be like my grandfather in this way, I'm gonna just throw this out there, whether it's at work or at home. And really the realization that every single one of us is a leader. It just depends on which direction we're leading.
Herb Sargent00:35:45 - 00:36:04
If someone else's trajectory is impacted by something you do, you're a leader. That's just a plain fact. You're a leader. And there aren't many scenarios out there in sports or or business that we aren't having some kind of an impact on other people on our team.
Wayne Herring00:36:05 - 00:36:18
Yeah. For sure. We'll wrap it up with that. Herb, thank you for for showing up and to share your story and those thoughts and how you are and how you're approaching your work in the world. We appreciate you.
Herb Sargent00:36:18 - 00:36:19
Thank you.
Wayne Herring00:36:19 - 00:36:38
Yeah. Thanks. Thank you for tuning in to the Business Motorway podcast. If this episode spoke to you, click that subscribe button and share it with a friend. That's how this message gets out into the world. If it is helpful for us to have a short conversation, I'd love to do that. Send me an email at wayneat business builder camp dot com.

00:00 Podcast welcomes Herb Sargent, leading Maine contractor.

03:32 Established organization and easy access to resources.

08:50 Learning from mistakes, improving business strategy.

12:04 Strategic planning, two groups, Collins books impact.

13:40 Dad started company, I worked in industry.

17:48 Construction workers prioritize equipment and job security.

20:39 Industry needs: good equipment, backlog, ESOP, culture.

24:43 Embracing intentionality to achieve personal goals.

28:37 Explore helping others develop their business vision.

29:56 Planning for future impact and personal growth.

33:12 Daily practice of prayer, meditation, and Bible.

36:19 Appreciation for tuning in, subscribe, share.

1. How did Herb Sargent's family legacy influence his approach to business and leadership?
2. What were the key challenges Herb faced in acquiring his family's business, and how did he overcome them?
3. What role did Herb's grandfather play in shaping his understanding of the emotional aspects of business decision-making?
4. How did Herb and his colleagues transition the company to 100% employee ownership through an ESOP, and what were the important lessons learned in the process?
5. In what ways does Herb Sargent emphasize the importance of intentionality and personal vision in leadership, and how does it impact the company culture?
6. How does Sargent compare the concept of employee ownership through an ESOP to owning an apartment complex, and what are the potential benefits for employees?
7. How does Herb Sargent demonstrate his leadership style as akin to that of a coach, and what are the strategic elements that he emphasizes for personal growth and development among his employees?
8. What strategic decisions has Herb Sargent made to expand his company's operations, and how have these decisions contributed to the long-term vision of the business?
9. How does Sargent navigate the challenge of conveying ownership to employees within the context of an ESOP, and what are the strategies he employs to ensure successful implementation?
10. How does Herb Sargent acknowledge the influence of his team in driving intentionality, and what steps does he take to develop the next generation of leaders within his company?