Richard Bryan: Turning Around an Inherited Losing Business at 28

In this episode, Dave interviews Richard Bryan. Richard inherited a $120M auto dealership in the UK at 28 years old. With the help of his mentor, Frank, he was able to turn around the business over the next 10 years. Richard has become an author and a keynote speaker who shares about the evolution of his business and his leadership role in that change.

Time Stamped Show Notes:

00:33 – Introducing Richard 01:58 – Richard is British and his wife comes from Denver 02:07 – Richard sold the auto dealership and started a commercial real estate business 02:46 – The auto dealership was Richard’s father’s business 02:59 – Richard’s book is called Being Frank 03:11 – Richard’s relationship with his mentor, Frank 03:34 – Richard put his ego aside to find a mentor 04:41 – Frank was very realistic and understood the issues Richard was dealing with 05:17 – Frank was very successful in his own career 05:19 – The results from inheriting $120M to losing $3.5M/year 05:38 – 10 years later, they made a couple of million again 05:58 – He was concentrated in retail and local areas 07:07 – Richard knew the business was dysfunctional 07:26 – “We lost focus on our customers” 08:14 – 26 family shareholders were bought out 09:04 – Richard’s dad has been sick for a long time prior to him taking over 10:17 – Richard’s transition from being a 28-year old guy to handling a 100 million dollar company 10:45 – In a year, Richard became the general manager of their largest dealership 11:08 – He was a CEO of 12 senior managers who didn’t really take him seriously 12:15 – The reason why he brought Frank in 13:22 – Richard shares an incident that happened that made him bring Frank in 14:20 – Going into meetings with Frank enabled Richard to focus on management 15:23 – Frank is in the UK, in his 70s, and still working 15:40 – Frank was surprised about Richard’s book 16:00 – How Frank got paid 18:24 – It’s not about what we have achieved, it was what I learned in those 6 months 19:09 – What Richard learned from Frank: 19:11 – Not being held by self-limiting beliefs 19:48 – Not second guessing yourself 20:22 – Lots of businesses fail because of indecision 21:19 – Good and done is better than perfect 22:34 – Taking over the business from Richard’s father 23:15 – The sales department was carrying far too much costs 23:33 – The finance director took advantage of Richard’s father’s sickness 23:51 – Richard’s father has invested wisely in real estate which was the reason they survived 24:53 – Richard’s mother was not involved in the business 25:28 – Richard’s father got well after his operation and he “un-retired” 26:36 – His mother told Richard he has to find a new meaningful role now for his father 27:32 – The best thing was Richard’s father lived to see the business turn around 29:15 – Richard’s learning from his father 30:07 – You don’t want to sacrifice your life to do something you don’t like 31:32 – Ending the family business was an evolution 31:58 – Become an enterprising family rather than just a family business 33:04 – Gaining respect from people 34:18 – Work hard and prove that you’re there for merit 34:51 – Richard has a sister who worked for the business before she got married 36:38 – Richard shares his wife’s role in business and the family 37:32 – Approach in strategic planning 37:45 – Coming back to school to learn 38:07 – “Where are you now? Where are you going? How would you get there?” analysis 40:02 – You don’t have to do everything yourself 40:28 – Be clear on what value you add 40:51 – If you can change people, change people 42:13 – From a culture based on inward-looking to a culture that is customer-centered 43:19 – Aligning leadership to the culture

3 Key Points:

Know when it’s time to STOP a bleeding business. It’s not always about your achievements, but what you’ve LEARNED in your journey that counts. You don’t need to be trapped in a family business—EVOLVE and start ANEW.

Resources Mentioned:

Entrepreneur's Organization – The EO Network Being Frank – Richard’s book Richard J. Bryan – Richard’s website