Build an A-Team

MANAGING THE HUNGRY NEW HIRE

A man who carries a cat by the tail learns something he can learn in no other way.

—Mark Twain

John Gooch was ready for a change. In his mid-fifties, after fifteen years of running his own civil engineering and soil-testing business, he and his partners decided to sell their assets, and Gooch went to work for a nonprofit. When he discovered the new job wasn’t a good fit, he mentioned this to long-time professional friend, Don Cantore, the CEO of Fielder’s Choice Enterprises, an excavating firm specializing in large infrastructure projects. Cantore didn’t know of any available jobs, but after thinking about it overnight, ...