December 2023

Happy New Year’s Eve!

As always, I’ll start with a reminder that at Purpose Group, we buy, grow, and hold purpose-driven businesses. We believe business should be a force for good in the world, and we’re inspired to help prove that notion one portfolio business at a time.

 

An update on Gerald Printing

As I mentioned in my last update, I assumed the interim CEO role at Gerald Printing in early November. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed working more closely with the leadership team since then. They are so eager to work together to build a business that they can collectively feel proud of, and their renewed energy is inspiring.

I hosted a “Growth Summit” in late December, the first-ever held at Gerald, and included the leadership team of eight people and another eight “up and comers” in the organization. The feedback I received was that it was “energizing,” “inspirational,” and “the first time I’ve ever been included in something like this in my career.”

We followed that up with the annual holiday party the next day, which the leadership team branded as One Team.

In Q1, we will begin phase two of the Purpose Playbook, working with the entire company to unearth our Purpose, Vision, Tenets, & Values. We will follow that up in Q2 by building out Phase 3 of our plan: The Great Game of Business.

To say I’m excited about kicking this process off with them would be underselling it. I simply can’t wait.

Additional updates

  • From the start, my plan with this newsletter was to begin with a relatively short cadence — I decided on monthly — and ultimately expand it to something more manageable for myself and for you, the reader. To that end, starting in 2024, these will become quarterly updates (though feel free to reach out to me at any time.)
  • I’m working on adding a password-protected section to the Purpose Group website so that these updates can be accessed in the future, mainly for new subscribers if they wish to go back and “catch up” on our progress. I also like the accountability of having a living record of our progress (and my commitments).
  • I thought I’d share a bit of my holiday reading as it pertains to our mission at Purpose Group:
    • Poor Charlie’s Almanack. I’m near completely obsessed with Berkshire Hathaway, and I’m currently reading two other books on their journey, but due to Charlie’s recent passing (RIP, Mr. Munger) I felt like I should include this one for you to check out.
    • Unreasonable Hospitality. Fred Castellucci (friend, Purpose Group investor, and Atlanta’s greatest restaurateur) suggested I read this a while back, and when I saw it in my new favorite TV show (The Bear), I decided to give it a read. It’s helping me redefine what I thought was superior customer service, and I’ll likely have the leadership team at Gerald read it in 2024.
    • Dear Shareholder. This book pulls together the great annual shareholder letters of the past, and it’s particularly insightful as I plan for my first such letter in the coming months (while this newsletter is for “friends” of the fund as well as shareholders, you’ll have to be a shareholder to receive our annual letter.)

Thanks as always for your support and belief in what we are building at Purpose Group. We appreciate you being on this journey with us.

Jeff

*If you want a copy of any of my books (The Turnaround Leadership Series) to understand more about our Purpose Playbook methodology, please let me know, and I’ll be happy to put a signed copy in the mail for you.

As a reminder, these are the characteristics we typically look for in our portfolio businesses:

  • Enduringly profitable
  • Minimum $1M annual EBITDA
  • Over ten years in business
  • Industry Agnostic (though we prefer business-to-business companies)
  • Within a 6-8 hour drive from Atlanta

If you know of any businesses that meet that criteria, please let me know.