THE SCALABLE LEADERSHIP TEAM
Welcome to the Scalable Leadership Group. If we don’t already know one another, I would enjoy meeting you someday. Please feel free to reach out if you there are questions on your mind or if you would like to have a strategic discussion. I would be happy to hear about your journey as a business builder – the commitments you’ve made, and the aspirations and anxieties you carry as you enter your building, log into meetings, and close your eyes to sleep at night. I’d like to think that if you tell me your story, I will understand, because I am on a similar path, and have been for over forty years.
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Brad’s Story
1925
I’m a third-generation entrepreneur. My grandfather, H.H. Fisher, left school after sixth grade and built a substantial business portfolio anchored by an automobile dealership he opened in Minot, North Dakota, in 1925.
Generation Two
My father occupied senior roles in the family enterprise until a major conflict sent him packing on his own. His business didn’t survive, and neither did his marriage to my mother. I watched that slow-motion train wreck as a teenager, and I vowed to make sure that didn’t happen to me or my friends.
Early 1980s
Since then, I’ve spent nearly five decades as an entrepreneur, operator, family office CEO, and private equity investor. Way back in the early 1980s, I was a partner in a manufacturing company — we ran a machine shop and built and sold ultralight airplanes. I’ve stayed close to manufacturing ever since, and I believe this sector is poised for a wonderful moment.
1986–1988
In 1986, I decided to learn how to be a better CEO, so I attended the Stanford Graduate School of Business. What a wonderful experience that was. I graduated with an MBA in 1988 and continued on my entrepreneurial path with more knowledge and tighter focus.
The Operator Years
After business school, I co-founded or led the acquisition of several companies. I also served as the CEO and Chief Investment Officer of a multi-family office investment company, and became one of the general partners of a Connecticut-based hedge fund.
1997 → 2023
One of the ventures I led was an enterprise software company we sold to Reuters in 1997, and one of the first dot.com companies, which we sold in 2001. In 2015, we acquired a healthcare revenue cycle management company, which was sold in 2023.
2017
Along this journey, I have fallen into the Scalability Trap myself… more than once. But each time, we lived to fight another day, and today, several ventures later, we are sharing the lessons we learned and the methods we developed by working directly with Leadership Teams and serving on numerous for-profit and non-profit boards.
We launched this advisory firm in 2017, and we never looked back. It is an honor and a pleasure to work with serious and courageous business builders like you.
Let's talk about where your company stands today.