Getting to your highest and best use can be a long and winding journey. Here’s how to streamline that path.

Ari Santiago is an EO Connecticut member and CEO of IT Direct: A Compass MSP Company, a new company formed in 2021 after selling IT Direct, his original company founded in 2002. Ari became the CEO of the much larger combined business, roughly twice the size of his former organization. Under Ari’s leadership, IT Direct has been named to the Inc. 5000 list of fastest-growing companies seven times. We asked Ari how communication among his team leaders helped his company grow. Here’s what he shared:

Start with great people

I believe that people are the core source of strength and growth in any business. The better the leadership team can communicate, synchronize and align, the better the entire company will run. I knew that if we could develop a communication cadence at the executive leadership level, it would teach us how to get that communication cadence down to the next level and then the next―cascading down until you get a fully aligned organization.

Nothing replaces having the right people. You can’t take unwilling people and make them great. But, the right communication framework takes the great people you have and makes you all better. That fosters growth and development.

This is especially true when you want to be in rapid growth mode―or if you hit a bump in the road―like COVID. If you wait until there’s a crisis to develop your team’s communication cadence and the leadership cohesion that enables each of you to find your highest and best use, you’re in trouble. You’ve got to develop those skills up front. That’s the most significant thing I learned.

I joined EO 12 years ago because I wanted to learn and grow. Spoiler alert: I’ve done both.