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From the foreword by Brian Gottlieb:
Five years and $500,000.
Yep. That's my best estimate of the time and money I could have saved if I'd had this book in my hands 12 years ago. Here's why.
When Michael asked me to review a draft of his book, I expected it to be like most business books—offering a nugget or two of wisdom that might justify the time I'd spend reading it. But this book was different. Very different. Instead of a handful of useful insights, I found something extraordinary. Allow me to explain.
In 2009, I started my first home improvement company in the back of a friend's warehouse on a plastic folding table and $3,000 in cash. Experience is that thing you get right after you need it, so you could imagine how every lesson I learned came with a price. This was especially true when it came to scaling my team.
Maybe you can relate to some of my early mistakes:
•I hired the wrong people
•I struggled with team consistency
•I promoted for the wrong reasons
•I fired the wrong way
•I kept underperforming people far too long
You see, we didn't have a hiring and training model to follow. Had I read about the XP3 Talent System back in 2009, I probably could have saved five years and $500,000 in painful, avoidable mistakes.
Fortunately, and after stubbing our toes countless times, we eventually figured it out and built one of the best-run organizations in the country. In 2022 when I sold my group of companies, we had annual revenues exceeding $150 million and more than 600 employees. But you don't need to repeat my mistakes. Instead, you can learn from this book.
An organization can only perform as well as the people on the team. Think of it this way: the ceiling of your business is determined by the potential and the performance of the people that work for you. In the early days of launching a business, especially when the founder is the sole employee, the company's success is directly linked to the entrepreneur's ability to execute. These dynamics shift the moment a business starts hiring people. Suddenly, results are now connected to how well your team executes. Their ceiling becomes your business's ceiling. Once we realize this, the path to scaling a company becomes crystal clear: If you want to grow your business, you must start by growing your people.
This realization is exactly what makes Michael's book so impactful. When it comes to building teams, Michael has written a game-changer. The XP3 Talent System is a revolutionary approach to hiring, training, and developing high-performing teams.
This book will not only save you from countless mistakes as you grow, but it will also provide a clear roadmap to building high-performing teams with consistency. Take it from me: when you have an aligned team that knows how to win and a model to scale it, buckle up—your competitive advantage just got real.
So don't just grab one highlighter, you'll need a few because this book is packed with practical nuggets as well as bold strategies. It's more than just a book to read, it's a model and process to study and follow. And the benefit to learning goes far beyond your business success. Organizations that excel at "people development" can truly be transformational for the individuals on the team. When a company weaves training into the fabric of a business, it's no longer about providing jobs—it's about providing career paths. When a business does this well, the level of abundance for the team members can be transformational. I witnessed it firsthand in my companies. Organizations that foster personal and professional growth create a culture where individuals become limitless. And remember: As goes the ceiling of the teammate, so goes the ceiling of the business.
With the aid of this book, you will systematically expand the capabilities of those on your team as you unleash the potential in those around you.
