Frank Blake - Leading By Example

**Patrick O'Shaughnessy** (0:00)
This episode is brought to you by Tegus, where we're changing the game in investment research. Step away from outdated, inefficient methods and into the future with our platform, proudly hosting over 100,000 transcripts with over 25,000 transcripts added just this year alone.
What sets Tegus apart? It's not just the sheer volume, it's the unmatched speed at which our library expands, consistently outstripping competitors. Our platform grows eight times faster and adds twice as much monthly content as our competitors, putting us at the forefront of the industry. Our collection is investor-led, ensuring unparalleled quality and giving you access to questions and topics investors care most about. Plus with 75% of private market transcripts available exclusively on Tegus, we offer insights you can't find elsewhere. Forget the traditional way of doing things, with Tegus you have the most comprehensive, insightful and rapidly growing transcript library at your fingertips. See the difference that a vast, quality-driven transcript library makes. Unlock your free trial at tegus.com/patrick.
You may have heard me reference the idea of maniacs on a mission and how much that idea excites me. Well, David Senra is my favorite maniac on one of my favorite missions with his weekly crafting of the Founders Podcast. Through studying the lives of legends, he weaves together insights across history to distill ideas that you can use in your work.
Founders reveals tried and true tactics, battle tested by the world's icons and has David's infectious energy to accompany them. With well over 300 episodes, your heroes are surely in the lineup and his recent episode on Oprah is particularly great. Founders is a movement that you don't want to miss. It's part of the Colossus Network and you can find your way to David's great podcast in the show notes.
Hello and welcome everyone. I'm Patrick O'Shaughnessy and this is Invest Like the Best. This show is an open-ended exploration of markets, ideas, stories and strategies that will help you better invest both your time and your money. Invest Like the Best is part of the Colossus family of podcasts and you can access all our podcasts, including edited transcripts, show notes and other resources to keep learning at joincolossus.com.

**SPEAKER_2** (2:07)
Patrick O'Shaughnessy is the CEO of PositiveSum. All opinions expressed by Patrick and podcast guests are solely their own opinions and do not reflect the opinion of PositiveSum.
This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions.
Clients of PositiveSum may maintain positions in the securities discussed in this podcast. To learn more, visit PSUMVC.

**Patrick O'Shaughnessy** (2:36)
My guest today is Frank Blake. Frank is the former chairman and CEO of Home Depot. I recently interviewed Home Depot co-founder, Ken Langone and became fascinated by the business' impressive lineup of leaders through the decades.
Frank led the company from 2007 to 2014 and shares how he carried on the legacy of Ken and others, upholding their culture of an inverted hierarchy and producing seven consecutive years of growth for the largest home improvement retailer in America. We discussed his hyper-focus on solving their customers' problems before their own, investing time into the employee experience and his intentionality with how he is perceived as a leader. Please enjoy this discussion with Frank Blake.
When I did my episode with Ken Langone, he talked a little bit about this notion of the inverted pyramid that was so incredibly powerful at Home Depot. But then when I've learned in Asteron since then, I've learned that really you were an architect and steward of that concept.
I would love to spend literally as long as we can or you would like to on this very powerful idea in all of its ins and outs, not just at the consultant PowerPoint level, but at the deep nitty gritty level of why this is such a powerful way of thinking about leadership.

**Frank Blake** (3:47)
I love it and I think it is one of the most powerful business concepts. And obviously, we had a little visual here. It's the CEO and the leadership team are at the bottom of the pyramid, not at the top. And the customer and your front line employees are at the top of the pyramid. I have no pride of authorship on this. This came from Bernie Marcus and Arthur Blank and Ken, the founders of Home Depot. It was part of the Home Depot culture. And so when I first became CEO, it was the first thing I talked to our associates about. And when I first talked about it, honestly, I didn't really understand it. I just, okay, that's a nice phrase and it sort of a humility to it and a servant leadership element.