I'm the CEO of a Company Generating $1.7 Billion Annual Revenue. This Ancient Philosophy Is My Secret for Business and Leadership Success. Rocco Mango, CEO of home improvement company Leaf Home, knows what it takes to lead a business to major revenue.
By Amanda Breen Edited by Jessica Thomas
Key Takeaways
- When Mango's friend gave him a book on an ancient philosophy, the CEO realized he lives and leads by its principles.
- Learn more about what working with good — and bad — leaders taught Mango about leading for success over the years.
This as-told-to story is based on a conversation with Rocco Mango, CEO of home improvement company Leaf Home, which offers gutter protection, water purification, stair lifts and more.
Image Credit: Courtesy of Leaf Home. CEO Rocco Mango.
From 2016 to 2023, Leaf Home saw nearly 50% compounded annual growth rate (CAGR). The company boasts 3,514 total employees across 200 locations in North America and $1.7 billion annual revenue for 2023.
I was asked about my personality and how I lead once, and I basically said, "It's like Stoicism."
It's not that I'd studied Stoicism my whole life. In fact, I had a friend who gave me a book about five years ago and said, "Look, I've known you for a long time. I think you're going to enjoy this book on Stoicism because you exemplify a lot of what the book talks about." I honestly had never heard of that before. So I started to read the book and I'm like, Oh wow, this does kind of describe how I behave, lead and run my life.
Related: This Ancient Philosophy Is the Key to Leading Through Turbulent Times
I realized I'd grown to rely on Stoic principles because they're an effective way to manage my life and manage other people.
First, the Stoic perspective has helped me learn not to worry about things that I can't control. It also allows me to see challenges as opportunities. If you flip the script and fix the problem, it's probably going to lead to a lot more opportunities. Another aspect that resonates with me is maintaining an even keel, not making decisions based on emotion or gut reactions. Finally, treating people fairly is another critical tenet.
Image Credit: Courtesy of Leaf Home
I learned some of these lessons from the leaders I've had and the mistakes I've made over the years.
Early on in my career, I was always the youngest person managing people. I typically managed older folks because I climbed the ranks pretty quickly, and I thought by virtue of my role, people would listen to me.
One time, when I was a manufacturing manager, I had all the supervisors together. I was upset by how things were going, and I was kind of letting them have it: You need to do this, you need to do that. I was frustrated, and they were all just staring at me blankly. Like, Who's this guy? What does he know?
Then my boss, the plant manager, gave me some essential advice: You can't go into a room and just fill it with uppercuts. I remember it like it was yesterday. You have to earn the right to tell people what to do or how to do it. You have to understand what their jobs are. You have to relate to them, and you have to understand their process before you can start barking orders. Nobody's listening unless you earn their attention.
Image Credit: Courtesy of Leaf Home. Water filtration.
I've worked with many leaders over the course of my career, most of whom were not that great, unfortunately. But I learned just as much from the not-so-great folks as the ones who were great. The manager who told me not to fill the room with uppercuts was one of the best. He also advised me not to air my dirty laundry to anybody: If you're telling somebody that an employee who works for you isn't behaving well or doing their job, then you're not doing your job. You need to fix that.
He also spoke about accepting that you can only control the things within your control. Don't worry about the rest or about the opinions of people who have nothing to do with you. Focus on what you can do and your results. He always told me, "I need results from you, and the only way you're going to get results is if you care about the things that you need to care about to actually make an impact."
I've had leaders who were the complete opposite, who taught me it really doesn't work to be hard on people every single day and treat them poorly. But it also doesn't work to be nice to everybody all the time and tell them they're great without ever addressing problems. Having seen both leadership approaches, I'd say I strike a balance between them — I can be hard on people when I need to be, but I can be nice and soft when I don't need to be. It's about figuring out when each is appropriate.
If you're leading people, you often need to be a calming voice. If I'm in a confrontation with someone, the madder or louder they get, the quieter and more monotone I get, which actually makes them even madder than they were to begin with. And then I'll leave dead air there. I'm not awkward in those situations where people say more than they probably want to. Then, things usually calm down.
Also, a lot of times when you're managing people, you'll see team members getting upset with each other. They have differing opinions, they're pointing a finger, they're going down some rabbit hole, and both people are growing more frustrated.
So, I usually let them vent a little bit, and then I'll stop them and then bring them back to, "Okay, here's what I heard. Here's what the problem really is, and here's how we should solve it." I always tell my folks that we need to gang up on the problem, not on the people. Stop pointing fingers. Let's all solve the problem together.
Related: 5 Epic Leaders Who Studied Stoicism — and Why You Should Too
I also learned a lot from watching my dad lead his business. He was a tailor, and we worked directly with customers, so that's how I first understood what good customer service was. I'm an entrepreneur at heart: I actually started businesses when I was really young and then got out of them and further into my career, had four kids and did all those things.
But from working alongside my father, I learned how to treat people and treat the customer. I also learned that you need to innovate. You need to change when it's time to change. You can't run a company the way you started it as it grows.
Especially here at Leaf Home, where we've gone from $100 million in annual revenue in 2016 to more than $1.7 billion eight years later. To do that, you can't do the same things: You need to scale, add processes and innovate your products.
