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This is Scott Becker with the Becker Business and the Becker Private Equity Podcast. Today's discussion is going to be less about the Microsoft, the Tech Bros and the Dell that we've covered this week. And this is more about building winning teams. And we'll give you seven thoughts on building winning teams. The first concept is whatever business you're in, you have the unfortunate challenge of having to sort out your core team. Who are the leaders, who are the huge contributors and who are those that shouldn't be there. And unfortunately the two most important parts of this are probably figuring out who your leaders are and who shouldn't be there and then building a team from there. It's no fun. It means getting rid of people that can't produce. No fun as a leader, a founder, anything. Most of us hate to do that, but it's an inevitability. If you want to build something great, you got to have great people, good people and get rid of people that aren't good or great and don't want to be good or great. The second thing we talk about is identifying, recruiting, retaining and developing great people. Know what we call your ride or die people? I think here it's so important. You know, I'm always a believer that it's really easy to be a coach or manager if you have great people. That so much of your job is scouting and developing great people and giving them some direction and then getting out of the way. If you don't make the effort to hire and retain great people, you can't build a first rate first rate business or first rate team. So that's, that's the next concept. The third thing is you better be grateful to your best team members, your best people, your contributors. It can't be fake gratefulness, it's got to be real. You have to show a lot of gratitude and you got to love your great people because they are what makes everything else work. So somehow or another you better develop that gratitude gene if you're going to be a leader. Fourth concept we talk about is love your 90 percenters in this concept really came out of something I would watch constantly. Managers beat the heck out of people, beat the shit out of people that sort of did a few things not right, but overall were fantastic contributors to the business. And the amount of time I had to spend teaching people, you better love your people that are doing great fucking work and not worry so much about the small things they do wrong became part of how we ended up leading and managing and came to the concept of loving your 90 percenters. Nothing would drive me more crazy than a, a sort of constructive manager thinking they were doing a good thing but beating the heck out of somebody on some small thing that was unimportant in the big scheme of things. So love your 90 percenters. Get rid of if somebody's not going to change their 5% to do, don't do well at some point. Get over yourself. Get over it. You're not being a better manager by beating up on them, but unless it's something that's really going to hurt their career. So that's love your 90 percenters. The fifth thing we talk about is talent begets talent. Whiners beget whiners. In any organization you're in, the people that are talented like to be around other talented people. Not necessarily they have to be competitive, but other people that could do great things, do great things with them. It gives an esprit. Of course, it's very, very important. The same thing I've seen in organizations is whiners love whiners. People that really don't work hard, happen to be happy around other people that don't work hard. And they're always whining about the organization and the mission. These are people that don't belong there. The sixth thing we talk about when we talk about teams is stack talent around the most important areas. Whatever is most important to you, put your best people on it. The worst thing you could do is splatter your great talents all over the place as opposed to focusing on what's really important. Best service lines, best clients, best customers, most profitable areas, most important initiatives. That's where your best people go. And you constantly put them on those areas. The last thing we think about when we think about people and building teams is think and not or so you got a fantastic person, you got a fantastic leader. You don't think about how do you make that person dispensable. You think about keeping that person doubling down on that person and adding more great people. I see too many great organizations constantly trading out great talent for the next great talent. And that's a winless game. That's a catch and release game. You can't go very far doing that. So we just sort of hate that. So we think about constantly. How do you work on building a culture where it's an and culture? We've got a great customer and we need more great customers. We have a great person, we need more great people. That's how we view it. Thank you for listening to the Becker business. The Becker Private Equity Podcast Business Building Winning Teams seven core points. We hope you enjoy this as much as I enjoy talking about this subject and dealing with the subject. Thank you very much for listening to the Becker Business and the Becker Private Equity Podcast.
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Becker Private Equity & Business Podcast
Host: Scott Becker
Date: June 6, 2026
Episode Theme: Scott Becker shares his top seven principles for building winning business teams, emphasizing actionable insights from his personal leadership experience.
In this episode, Scott Becker departs from tech industry commentary to focus on the essential elements of assembling and growing effective business teams. Drawing on years of leadership, Becker presents his seven key thoughts—ranging from tough personnel decisions to fostering a true culture of gratitude and talent multiplication.
On Letting People Go:
“It's no fun as a leader, a founder, anything. Most of us hate to do that, but it's an inevitability.” (00:27)
On Talent Attraction:
“Talent begets talent. Whiners beget whiners.” (03:13)
On Over-Management:
“You're not being a better manager by beating up on them, but unless it's something that's really going to hurt their career...” (03:08)
On Building an ‘And’ Culture:
“We've got a great customer and we need more great customers. We have a great person, we need more great people. That's how we view it.” (04:33)
Scott Becker’s approach is candid, pragmatic, and sometimes blunt—offering actionable advice while also using frank, relatable language to get his points across.
Scott Becker’s "7 Thoughts on Building Winning Teams" offers a direct, experience-driven framework for business leaders who want to build teams that excel. He emphasizes tough personnel decisions, prioritizing recruitment and gratitude, not sweating minor imperfections in great employees, preventing negative subcultures, focusing talent in the most strategic areas, and building rather than swapping out excellence. For leaders at any stage, these core truths serve as a robust guide to building teams that win and last.