Lessons from a First-Time CEO

How is it that so many searchers become successful CEOs, even when many have never run a company before and may not have the relevant industry experience? Personal characteristics count for a lot, but so too do company attributes. Sticky customers, for example, are hugely important, as this creates space for a new CEO to learn the ropes of the business. In this episode, we meet Michael Orzetti, an acquisition entrepreneur who, in August of 2020, became CEO of Eastern Communications, a company that sells, services, and maintains critical communications infrastructure and networks. He shares insights from his self-funded search through to present day management of the company, including details of how he and his wife considered the trade-offs between different paths, the attributes he looked for while searching, his relationship with the company founder, and the impressive growth of the business over the last four years.