Tom Ripley, CEO of Lids, on Change Management

Tom Ripley is a Partner and Co-Founder at Ames Watson, a private equity firm that acquired more than a dozen companies in the defense, retail, light manufacturing and service sectors. Over the past 22 years, Tom has developed extensive operating experience across more than two dozen different companies. Today, Tom serves as the Chairman & CEO of Lids Sports Group, South Moon Under, and several smaller holdings. Tom started his career as an infantry and special operations officer in the United States Marine Corps. Tom graduated from the Virginia Military Institute with a BA and an MBA from the University of Chicago.

In this episode, we discuss why Tom is nervous for this conversation (6:25), viewing threats (7:42), what he’s learned from raising autistic twins (9:02), how similar and different their twins are (10:59), how he thinks about nature and nurture (11:58), what he’s learned from his daughters about communication (13:42), the pros and cons of his experience in the marine corps (15:47), a mistake he made early in his career (20:22), change management (23:03), the downsides of having a young leader (24:53), self-determination theory (28:32), what he would change about the marine corps (32:04), 9/11 (35:37), what he feels reliving his 9/11 experience (37:39), when he was in the marine corps (38:39), comparing being in New York for 9/11 and being overseas with the marine corps (39:05), lacrosse (40:50), how he pushes back on the stereotypes of lacrosse (46:13), what it’s been like to coach his son (49:10), the values different and similar to those of the marines that he has tried to pass down to his kids (50:52), competition and selflessness (54:09), how he and his business partner Lawrence met (57:06), what was attractive about Lids (1:01:01), negotiations (1:06:48), leading during the pandemic (1:07:59), what it’s been like for him in 2021 (1:10:46), business partnerships (1:14:31), how many employees he manages (1:16:20), how he trains store managers (1:17:27), and intermittent fasting (1:19:34).

Thank you so much to Tom for coming on the podcast!

I wrote a book called “Shift Your Mind” that was released in October of 2020, and you can order it on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Additionally, I have launched a company called Strong Skills, and I encourage you to check out our new website https://www.strongskills.co/. If you liked this episode and/or any others, please follow me on Twitter: @brianlevenson or Instagram: @Intentional_Performers.

Thanks for listening.

-Brian