E139: Become an exceptional leader with Bob Ruffolo

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Bob Ruffolo is the founder and CEO of IMPACT, a company focused on helping people find success with inbound marketing through education, events, and agency services. They’ve twice been recognized as HubSpot’s Partner Agency of the Year. 

Beyond being driven to grow IMPACT, Bob strives to be at the forefront of the inbound marketing movement and loves helping similar agencies execute their growth.

Episode highlights:

• How Bob started his agency…at the start of the recession.
• How to make your team happy, and how to keep them happy.
• Bob’s expert opinion of making quick changes vs slower-paced changes with a company.
• Surprising things that came up when searching for ways to become a better CEO and leader.
• What a 360-degree survey is, and how it can help a leader (even though it’s hard to digest!).
• The toughest time for agencies is when they have this many employees. Bob got stuck there for years.
• Run time: 38:26
• Best advice received: Feedback is a gift, embrace it.
• Habit that contributes to success: Reading
• Recommended tools: Gazelles website
• Recommended book: Scaling Up by Verne Harnish and Good to Great and Great by Choice by Jim Collins

Links:

• Impact
• Digital Sales And Marketing World
• FB page
• LinkedIn

Quotes:

• “I had no idea that this would turn into a full-fledged agency.”
• “We kinda learned on the job, on the fly.”
• “We got much more intentional about our culture.”
• “We’re a very fast-paced company and we change rapidly.”
• “The only person who could fix that was me.”
• “I think that built a lot of trust with the team.”
• “You don’t advertise your sacrifices.”
• “I would be nothing without my leadership team.”
• “My team has made me look a lot better than I really am for the last 10 years.”
• “When everything clicks, things start breaking.”
• “You can’t shut down when things get tough. You have to get excited, you have to get creative.”

Takeaways:

• Get an outside view of how people view you. It’s likely quite different than you think!