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VO L . X X V I N O. V I § 2 M A R C H 2 3 , 2 0 2 0 32 2018 Kathie Leonard President and CEO / Auburn Manufacturing Inc. What she is doing today: President and CEO of Auburn Manufacturing Inc., with 51 employees. Key lessons learned as a manager: • I've learned the hard way that two-way communication is key to good management. I assumed that by communicating openly and honestly, folks would naturally reciprocate. Not everyone is built that way, it turns out. So I'm still learning ways to better increase two-way communication, whether in a group or one-on-one. • As an entrepreneur, I value my autonomy. But as a manager, I've learned that not everyone wants to work in that environ- ment. We make technical products, requiring standards and structure, so it stands to reason that a good portion of our workforce wants more structure in their jobs, not less. • Changing a policy here or there doesn't make you a wimpy manager! Times change and so must we change. An unwritten policy of not re-hiring folks who choose to leave the company for greener pastures has been overturned several times recently — to our benefit. In fact, over 10% of our new hires last year were folks who came home to AMI. Some folks may find out that a greener pasture may not be as fertile as they thought! Advice to Maine's next generation of business leaders: Maine is still a great place to be in business. You have the advantage of mak- ing a real impact on your community; you can bend the ears of your local, state and federal legislators; and you can maintain a healthy balance between your personal and work life. Enjoying what you do and where you live are more important than just a top-line income number or just a tax rate. What's next: We're actually looking into the pros and cons of another expansion here in Maine! We've been through a lot of ups and downs in the last decade, including Chinese dumping into our markets. But we've survived it all and see a lot of new opportunities for our specialty fire-resistant, energy-efficient textile products! Josh Broder has helped Tilson grow to 600 employees. Kathie Leonard, president and CEO of Auburn Manufacturing Inc. Being able to imagine a radically different reality is a key leadership skill, followed closely by the ability to communicate that vision to others.– Josh Broder Josh Broder CEO / Tilson What he is doing today: CEO of Portland-based Tilson, with 600 employees. Key lessons learned as a manager: • I can accomplish very little by myself, and everything good in our business comes from great people working together as a team. Great people pulling in the same direction can overcome any challenge. • Being able to imagine a radically different reality is a key lead- ership skill, followed closely by the ability to communicate that vision to others. • Growth requires cash, investors and bank partners are critically important team members, and treating them as team members rather than vendors is the only way to go. Advice to Maine's next generation of business leaders: ink big and imagine your business as the driving force in your industry, and then communicate that vision to others — your team, your cus- tomers and your partners. What's next: Tilson is scaling to serve companies and communities designing and building 5G, smart cities, broadband and intelligent transportation. We have recently added a number of senior team members to our growing information security and utility infrastruc- ture consulting group. We will add several hundred team members in 2020 so we can build America's information infrastructure for the most impactful technology companies in the economy.