Hire Smarter™ with Tony Misura

Private equity has poured into the building materials industry. But what happens when the people buying the business don't fully understand the business?

Tony Misura sits down with longtime industry leader Russ Kathrein, Vice President of Lumber & Building Materials at Do it Best, for a candid conversation about consolidation, leadership, and what separates the deals that create lasting value from the ones that unravel after the acquisition.

They dig into the question every investor and operator should be able to answer: Where are you going to play, and how are you going to win?

From overlooked realities in rural markets to the promises leaders should think twice about taking at face value, Tony and Russ share lessons learned from decades of watching acquisitions, roll-ups, and industry transformations from multiple sides.

If you're leading a building materials business, considering an acquisition, or deciding whether your next career move should be with a PE-backed organization, this conversation will give you a few questions worth asking before you make your next move.

In the latest episode of Hire Smarter, Tony Misura sits down with Chris Beard of John Burns Research & Consulting and Chris Kliefoth, founder of Premier Solutions Group, to talk about where housing is really headed. It's not the conversation you'd expect.

Rates aren't coming to save anyone. Both guests agree 2027 will look a lot like 2026. But the real conversation starts when they zoom out: what happens to the housing market over the next decade, and where the money actually moves next.

Spoiler: it's not where most dealers are looking.

• The four landmines: certainty, inconsistency, reactivity, and justification -- and why justification is the most insidious of them all
• The six target actions: know yourself, return to respect, activate honesty, see the full story, ignite togetherness, and commit to action
• Why the military's model of leadership is far more nuanced than the command-and-control caricature most people carry
• What General Smith learned managing January 6th, George Floyd, COVID, and a military housing crisis -- simultaneously
• How the building products industry stands to gain by treating workforce difference as an asset, not a liability
• The connection between military service member transition and the talent pipeline in construction and building products
• Why curiosity is the foundation of seeing the full story -- and how leaders can build it as a habit

Episode 43 | Bob Fieck, CHRO, Wausau Supply Company Grit Is a Choice: Execution and Servant Leadership in the Building Products Industry

Bob Fieck has spent 30 years stepping into situations most people would step away from -- broken operations, underfunded startups, businesses in the red, and organizations navigating major cultural change. Today, as CHRO of Wausau Supply Company, he brings that same mindset to one of the LBM industry's most dynamic and fast-growing organizations.

In this episode, Bob and Tony cover the career arc that shaped him -- from a safety role at a paper converting operation in Oshkosh to labor relations, executive recruiting, and ultimately CHRO across some of the most complex organizations in manufacturing and distribution. Along the way, Bob developed a three-part leadership framework centered on execution, grit, and servant leadership -- and he breaks down exactly what each one means in practice.

Topics covered in this episode:

• Why his mentor pushed him into HR when he wanted nothing to do with it
• Managing a two-month strike while sleeping at the plant
• Being hired before the company existed -- and building an HR function from a hotel conference room
• The 90-day execution model that transformed an underperforming business unit
• What Angela Duckworth's research on grit reveals about who actually succeeds
• How Wausau Supply is building an employer-of-choice culture across multiple brands and distribution centers
• Why his grandson's Pop Warner football schedule is the real reason he came back to Wisconsin

The headlines are loud. The data tells a different story. In this episode of Hire Smarter, Tony Misura sits down with Chris Beard of John Burns Research and Consulting to cut through the economic noise and get to what's actually happening in housing and LBM. From starts and inventory levels to diesel costs, labor shortages, immigration's impact on the workforce, and AI's role in building products, Tony and Chris deliver a ground-level read on where the industry stands and where it's headed. Spoiler: it's not great, it's not terrible, and that might be exactly the stability your team needs to hear right now.

What if your greatest profit accelerator is already inside your organization?

In this episode of Hire Smarter, Tony Misura sits down with April Murray, Fractional CFO, to explore a powerful truth:

When finance and sales teams truly join forces, profitability accelerates.

This conversation goes beyond theory.

Tony and April unpack:

• Why financial acumen is the scoreboard of every business

• The tension that often exists between sales and finance

• The financial metrics every sales leader should understand

• How CFOs can become true strategic partners, not just scorekeepers

• Why the best finance leaders are measured by their operational impact

April shares lessons from her background in manufacturing, Lean Six Sigma, and growing up in a family-owned restaurant that shaped her belief in voice of the customer and cross-functional collaboration.

If you lead a sales team, finance function, or business unit, this episode will challenge how you think about profit, cash, margin, forecasting, and partnership.

The companies that win are not the ones with the best silos.

They are the ones with the best alignment.

Reach out to learn more: [email protected]

www.misuragroup.com

The latest episode of Hire Smarter with Tony Misura takes a deep dive into one of the most important leadership challenges facing today's building materials industry: how multi-generational companies evolve beyond traditional owner-operator models to meet the demands of a modern workforce and competitive marketplace.

In this episode, Tony sits down with Bryan Mellick, CEO of Ward Lumber in upstate New York. Bryan has led three companies founded in the 1800s, including Ward Lumber, which recently completed a remarkable transformation—from a fourth-generation, family-owned dealer into a worker-owned cooperative. The conversation offers a rare look at how legacy organizations can balance history with forward-thinking leadership.

Together, they explore key issues shaping leadership in the LBM sector:

• Why top-down leadership structures are increasingly strained in today's labor environment

• How technology, generational shifts, and the rise of the "influence mindset" are changing what employees seek from work and leadership

• The differences between ESOPs and worker co-ops, and how cooperative ownership can align incentives from frontline associates to senior leadership

• Practical strategies for moving from control to empowerment, including coaching future leaders, pushing decisions closer to the front line, and developing a bias for action

• Using financial transparency to strengthen performance, through open-book management, project-based accounting, and disciplined trade-off analysis to protect margins

For owners and executives navigating succession planning, cultural evolution, workforce engagement, or operational scalability, this discussion delivers pragmatic insights grounded in real-world experience.

Tony Misura sits down with Chris Beard, Building Products Research Director at John Burns Research and Consulting, for a comprehensive look at what's really happening in housing and building materials markets heading into 2026.

Chris breaks down the numbers that matter: why single-family starts are down mid-single digits while multifamily is strengthening, what the "magic" 5.5% mortgage rate means for buyer behavior, and why production builders are willing to pay a $130 premium per thousand board feet for Canadian lumber despite new tariffs.

From the "wall of wood" created by preemptive inventory builds to the lock-in effect keeping 72% of homeowners in sub-5% mortgages, this episode cuts through the uncertainty of 2025's policy-driven volatility. Chris shares bullish forecasts through 2034 based on demographic trends, explains why the remodeling market could see major tailwinds from falling HELOC rates, and offers practical advice on building localized market dashboards.

Whether you're a dealer, distributor, manufacturer, or builder planning your 2026 strategy, this conversation provides the data-driven insights you need to navigate labor shortages, tariff impacts, and regional market variations.

Key Topics: Mortgage rates, Canadian lumber tariffs, household formation trends, multifamily construction, labor inflation, existing home sales, remodeling market opportunities, and regional market forecasting.

Guest: Chris Beard, Building Products Research Director, John Burns Research and Consulting

Length: 46 minutes

In this episode, Tony sits down with Rory O'Neill of Rory Thomas Productions, a longtime friend and expert in video storytelling. They discuss the real value of video in talent and customer attraction, the common pitfalls companies face when creating content, and how to capture the genuine, compelling stories that resonate with both customers and candidates.

From building comfort on camera to identifying what makes a company truly unique, this conversation is packed with insight for leaders ready to level up their brand and recruitment efforts through video.

🎬 Don't miss this milestone episode of Hire Smarter!

VIDEO Podcast here: https://vimeo.com/1092601853

Rory O'Neill

Click Here To Reach Out to Rory O'Neill

Hire Smarter Podcast: Land Banking, Risk Mitigation, and Government Policies Shaping the Housing Market Join industry expert John Burns as he explores the evolving landscape of the housing market. In this episode, John breaks down the significance of land banking, risk mitigation strategies for builders, and the lasting effects of government policies like Dodd-Frank. Tune in for valuable insights on how these factors are shaping the future of homebuilding and real estate. Listen now and stay ahead of the curve in today's dynamic housing market.