Rob’s Perspective

As our business grew, I needed help adjusting our financial strategy. My team was feeling burned out and I was feeling overwhelmed. As CEO at Koru, I’m also an education leadership coach. I realize the value of coaching so I engaged Jim as a CEO coach for his corrective and strategic guidance.

Jim creates the space to work through issues. When we meet, we reflect, create accountability, and find solutions. He does a good job of flexing to the needs of the moment, making connections, and seeing the larger context. He provides tools to forecast the business, analyze profitability, and probe the drivers of success. Jim listens well. He helps me think through the big picture. I regularly draw on Jim’s experience in other businesses and industries. He’s not limited to predefined ideas. He is adaptable to the needs I have, yet he is always very prepared. Jim’s coaching has improved our governance. We have a clear picture of what we want to happen and how to measure success. The team is more aligned and it has relieved a lot of stress. Because of Jim, we are more profitable.

— Rob Wessman, Founder and CEO, Koru, Sudbury, MA

Ed’s Perspective

I learned my business as it grew. I kept up well until we did acquisitions and grew rapidly during covid. That’s when my business got beyond what my primitive reporting and control systems could handle and beyond what I could grasp. Because of this, I experienced pronounced pain, burnout, fear, reactiveness, and anxiety.

Jim helped me to have tough conversations with my people. He is a sounding board. Paradoxically, Jim makes me accountable and at the same time gives me space to distill the issues in my head. Jim is adept at business, but also very thoughtful and deliberate in addressing my personal aspirations. It feels like a breath of fresh air to have Jim’s mentorship. I’m excited that I can focus on bigger and better things for my business and my personal life. I respect and admire Jim very much. He is organized, temperate, intentional, ethical, and remarkably smart. He asks good questions. He’s an old-school, principled professional and a rare master of his craft. What he provides is curated, tailored, and intensely focused on my situation. He’s a business philosopher-poet who actually cares about me and my situation. I wish I had met Jim much earlier in my career.

— Ed Mezer, Founder and President, Piece by Piece Movers, Newton, MA

Peter’s Perspective

Our internal valuation of the business was $1M in 1996 when Jim’s engagement began. When we sold to PNC Financial four years later, the valuation was $20M. Jim played a key role both before and after the sale. His recurring meetings with me and my management team gave us discipline and insight that made a difference. We learned never to cancel a meeting with Jim. He helped us progress beyond just putting out fires every day.

The forecasting and tracking model Jim used helped me see my business with clarity. It made us look at hiring, the sales pipeline, pricing, and cash flow. This was especially helpful for the sales pipeline. We grew every year for nine years. Jim’s mentoring made it possible. Without him keeping me on the straight and narrow, I wouldn’t have been successful. For years and years I looked to Jim as the one to make me think about the value of my business. Our bonus structure was based on valuation and this got the whole team aligned.

— Peter Lemay, CEO and Founder, Automated Business Development, Boston, MA

Sandra’s Perspective

Even now, Jim’s imprint is all over Valora from his years with us. Every day, we use the comprehensive business model Jim built to track and to forecast. It’s a core essential tool. In the earlier days, planning was painful at Valora because doing it served to highlight how little we were in control. At the time, the planning process only increased my sense of helplessness, chaos, and lack of control.. Jim brought us a long way toward doing what planning we could and being nimble at adapting to change.

While we used to depend on processing documents ourselves, from individual litigation cases, we have transformed our revenue model to be driven by long-term relationships with corporate legal departments who subscribe to our software. In our company culture we still see the remnants of the old days when we all felt reluctant to commit to a future course of any kind. Now we can be more empowered and intentional. Jim was a voice of reason and calm. He helped me realize I was an “adrenaline junky” and that although I could thrive in adrenaline mode, my organization could not. Now, I satisfy my need for adrenaline by being an industry guru. I’m a visible speaker and opinion leader in my industry.

— Sandra Serkes, Co-founder and CEO, Valora Technologies, Billerica, MA

Jerry’s Perspective

Working with Jim was huge. He gave me a process orientation I could use to work on big goals. He stretched me and my team. He single-handedly launched my board of directors in 2002. Everything changed then. Jim taught me the value to pursue in board meetings and managed our preparation for them. I’ve been on other boards since and appreciate more now that our board meetings at Kettle were special.

My one-on-ones with Jim were also great. As CEO, you are lonely and there are some issues you can’t talk about with your team or even your board. He was the listener, the note taker. It really helped me. With Jim, I could lay out the issues and revisit them through several iterations. He focused me on what required action. It was Jim who helped me understand that I process decisions best by talking through them.

— Jerry Shafir, Founder and CEO, Kettle Cuisine, Lynn, MA

Tom’s Perspective

This year, 2020, is our best ever. Jim had a big role in the very educational experience I’ve been through since 2016. Jim launched our first board of directors to include non-family members. He taught us, the six family owners across two generations, that owner, manager, and board member are three distinct roles. He taught us the appropriate role of the CEO. He reminded us that the potential value of our business made it worthwhile to do what it took to achieve good governance. Through three years of meetings with me one-on-one and with my family members, Jim’s careful attention and detailed meeting notes established beyond doubt that we were accountable to each other and to Jim our coach, and that we were each heard and understood. He had a stick-to-itiveness and a balancing of the constituencies that we needed—there were so many times our process could have broken down.

— Tom Mahoney, Former Managing Partner, Mahoney’s Garden Centers, Winchester, MA

Grant’s Perspective

I am a fan of Jim Johnston. In the last eight years he has conducted two CFO searches for us – in both cases generating value far beyond identifying and hiring the right candidate. He took the time and had the sensitivity to deeply understand the board and leadership team. He has a unique ability to grasp the totality of the issues – both the people aspects and technical mechanics – and help others to see much clearer priorities in a direct and concise way. He then finds a positive way to make sure improvements actually occur. Jim earned the respect of the board and his recommendations had great weight with us. What makes Jim a great coach is his ability to help a CEO sort through and focus on what really needs to be done, and then hold a CEO accountable in a positive, affirming way. Jim is particularly valuable to a CEO who needs to bring together an effective management team.

— Grant Bennett, CEO, CPS Technologies, Norton, MA

David’s Perspective

As a young CEO, I admired Jim and his experience. He was great at sorting a complex situation and providing thought provoking guidance. Jim’s way is calming, almost therapeutic. Where I was whimsical, he was extremely organized, calm, and deliberate. He helped to create structure and developed my self-awareness. He could walk me through a process — “start here, end here” — to get to a fantastic result. I still use some of his procedures when I hire.

During years when I needed help the most, Jim was the only person who really listened to me well. He shaped me into being a better CEO. He was not offensive or bombastic. He is honest and had no pre-existing agenda, except to help me, and that is refreshing. Jim did insist that I keep my appointments with him faithfully; I resisted this at the time but now, with more maturity, I see the wisdom of it. It was a lesson in managing my time and priorities as a CEO. In 2019, my business was almost three times the size it was 15 years ago, and I’m pleased to credit Jim for being part of Spencer’s success.

— David Strickler, CEO, Spencer Technologies, Medway, MA

Joe’s Perspective

I was initially reluctant to hire a coach. What CEO wants to be told that they need to be coached? But then I thought “Tom Brady had a coach. If a superstar has a coach, a CEO might need a coach as well.” After hiring Jim my biggest hesitation was, “What is this guy’s agenda, really? Why is he emphasizing this or that?” But I soon realized that Jim didn’t have a hidden agenda. The fact that he is such a transparent, honest guy is what makes him a great CEO coach.

Jim offered tools, discipline, and accountability. He looked at things from a foundational business level and challenged my thinking. He kept us true to what we decided along the way and provided a steady hand on the tiller. With the varied interests of those who surround me as CEO, Jim became a trusted sounding board. He provided a safe place for me to discuss critical issues. I could call time-out, retire to a safe space, talk to Jim and come back feeling confident about my next steps. Because he was not in the politics of the situation, Jim helped resolve differing points of view between me and the other founders. I was an optimist and an opportunist, but some of my team were super cautious. It was easy for me to lose objectivity. Jim kept me sane. If a CEO gives the invitation, Jim will perform.

— Joe Della Morte, President, DSP Software Engineering, Bedford, MA

Ed’s Perspective

I worked with another coach, before Jim. He was very empathetic, but I needed an experienced, unfiltered, honest perspective. Jim provided that guidance by helping me to sort through and prioritize what was most important. He confidentially brings a seasoned perspective from his experience delivering work inside dozens of organizations.

Jim helped with problems regarding financials, operational reporting, structuring sales, our hiring process, client concentration, and annual planning to name a few. We still have monthly financial reviews on Jim’s pattern and we use the forecasting and tracking model he built. Jim helped me know when to listen, to direct, or to prescribe. If Jim writes a book, I suggest this title: The Craft of the CEO. When I compare OHO to our peers, I see that we have unusual stability and discipline because Jim installed it and it has stuck. What Jim always did was help me be a better CEO. But the greatest value was when Jim and I stayed behind—after the meeting—to talk about what it all meant. What Jim is best at is asking questions, untangling the crisis, and bringing calm when the company feels like it may be falling apart.

— Ed Hastings, President, OHO Interactive, Somerville, MA

Brad’s Perspective

Jim was my CFO for ten years, during a time we grew quickly and acquired American Flatbread. Jim built a tracking and forecasting model we still use. The model is driver-based, with people, SKU placements in retail stores, capex, and departmental spending. He ran our monthly financial review meetings and attended all our board meetings, with VC investors. After a fire destroyed the plant, it was Jim’s collaboration with me and our forecasting model that established credibility with the insurance company of the projected profit for the year which made it possible to rebuild the entire company in 30 days and then rebuild another entire facility in 4 months.

One-on-one meetings he and I had were, however, the most valuable. Nobody else could be the person I could talk with in the same way. He was a confidant. We talked about my direct reports, my investors, the board meetings, the financial model of my company, my role as CEO, and the funding rounds. Many people want to be coaches, but they don’t have Jim’s experiences operating inside dozens of businesses. He’s a little bit of a therapist and he knows business.

— Brad Sterl, Founder and CEO, Rustic Crust/American Flatbread

Tom’s Perspective

It was the first time the buck stopped with me as a CEO and finding a coach was on the to-do list from the beginning. I seek out information, am intensely curious, and I’ve learned everything on the job, through experience. Our conversations were really productive. It was easy to be inquisitive and interact with Jim. I brought a level of vulnerability about where the business was broken that helped us look under every rock and let Jim get right to the issues. Jim was able to distill things down eloquently and succinctly in a really salient and poignant way. That was so reassuring and valuable to me.

Jim had one-on-ones with me and my leadership team. I’m a perfectionist and a procrastinator and I was hesitant to tell people to get on board. Jim saw things for what they were and was a bit of a therapist in softly teaching me ways I could be more effective. Jim helped me realize when I let others transfer “the monkey,” or their responsibility, to me. He created a sense of urgency and kept me moving. He helped me to leverage my leadership team, clarify their roles, develop them, hold them accountable, and join the conversation with them to discover the real issues and find solutions.

— Tom Martin, CEO, Glance Networks, Wakefield, MA

Gary’s Perspective

I engaged Jim initially to help organize my financial systems. The process that Jim uses is extremely revealing, producing a raw perspective of the organization. His knack is to give feedback that is critical but not insulting. As a result, we completely overhauled our organization and leveraged Jim’s model to grow the business and significantly improve profits. Now, ten years later, I think of Jim often and how he helped me build a successful organization. I will always be grateful.

— Gary Broberg, Founder and CEO, Practical Applications, Woburn, MA

Paul’s Perspective

We would put together a monthly financial review with the management team. After, Jim and I would debrief about what it all meant. The biggest value came from Jim’s meeting notes, his follow-up on action items, and the way he created accountability. After working with Jim, I went through the Harvard Business School program for owners and presidents. I became a coach in that program. I learned that entrepreneurs deal in self-deception. We don’t like limitations. It’s what makes us entrepreneurs. But the finances are the reality check. Jim’s background as a CFO positions him uniquely as a coach to CEOs. What is the case for his services? It’s that a CEO wants to believe the sales VP, but shouldn’t always. Depersonalizing is important. Objectivity is important.

— Paul Griffiths, Founder and CEO, MedTouch, Somerville, MA

J K’s Perspective

Jim was helpful. I looked forward to talking with him and wasn’t afraid of saying something wrong. He had just the right amount of toughness in getting me to face the problems in the business. He felt almost like a family member. He is the ideal coach for someone from another country, for scientists, and for businesses without big funding. I also got help from MIT’s Venture Mentoring Service, but Jim was more help.

— J K Huang, Founder and CEO, Ferro Solutions, Woburn, MA

Eric’s Perspective

The CEO group I belonged to for many years (TEC, now known as Vistage) was very, very helpful. Jim’s ideal CEO clients would be the same ones who would be good members of a CEO group: candid, striving for improvement, open to change and personal growth, good listeners, and with high integrity. What Jim and I did together was solve puzzles. We tuned the financial model of my business and got more insight; we created an agreement with the president I hired. The agreement included a path to ownership for the president and an escape hatch—which I used—for me. We launched a board of directors with three capable outside members. We got some things right and some we did not.

— Eric Sonnichsen, Founder and CEO, Test Devices, Hudson, MA

John’s Perspective

The CEO gets all the hard problems, so there are new challenges all the time. I was CEO of five companies in succession from my 20s to my 50s. Then I reinvented myself as a board member, a consultant, and a coach of CEOs. I make a big distinction between being a consultant (who performs tasks to produce solutions) and a coach (who helps the CEO be more effective and develop Strategic Leadership). I find that the top issues for most CEOs are their relationships with the people who report directly to them and overall strategy. Jim’s board creation process gave the Mahoney Family the preparation to use a board appropriately, designed the role and rules for this particular board, brought me in as one of three new non-family board members, and saw us through our first year as a new board. This allowed me to see his work in developing a Board and working as a consultant to the company alongside me during the transition.

— John Ela, Owner, Ela Management Group; CEO Coach, Management Consultant, Strategic Advisor Board Chair, Mahoney’s Garden Centers, Winchester, MA