Cole Porter - What It’s Like Running a 40-Year Family Business

Today’s guest is Cole Porter, president of Porter Steel.   Porter Steel is a family business that Cole’s father started in the early 1980s, and today it employs more than 170 people across the Southeast.   In this conversation, we talk about Cole’s journey stepping into leadership, taking over the business, and navigating what it actually looks like to grow a company without losing your values, your people, or yourself in the process.   We start with Cole’s recent focus on health and fitness, how discipline in the gym has translated into discipline at work, and why taking care of himself has become a non-negotiable as the pressure has increased.   From there, we get into the realities of running a construction business: long sales cycles, tight margins, workforce challenges, safety, systems, and the weight that comes with knowing your decisions impact a lot of families.   Alright — let’s get into it.