21 Hats Podcast Dashboard: No Text Book Can Prepare You for This
9 snips
Jan 9, 2026 Karla Trotman, owner of Electrosoft, an electronics contract manufacturing firm, navigates the tumultuous landscape of 2025. She shares her struggles with tariffs that complicated supply chains and decision-making. Rather than laying off employees, Karla chose to keep her skilled workforce, even testing a shift to a 32-hour work week. She highlights the importance of building solid client relationships and contemplates the future of manufacturing ownership. Karla's journey reflects resilience amid contradictory challenges in the industry.
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Losing Business When An Advocate Leaves
- Karla lost significant business when an internal advocate at a client unexpectedly passed away.
- She struggled to recover because client relationships depend on embedded advocates inside buying organizations.
Preserve Specialized Talent Over Quick Cuts
- Do avoid immediate layoffs when employees hold specialized skills that took years to train.
- Preserve advanced manufacturing talent to prevent losing capability to competitors and to retain long-term value.
Family Ownership Enables Long-Term Choices
- Family businesses can prioritize long-term choices over short-term investor returns.
- That freedom lets Karla make people-focused decisions her advisory board might question.
