DPIT: Leading Through Company Failure w/Tom Shock #369 (46:15)
Dissecting Popular IT Nerds, Tuesday, August 12th, 2025
Crisis leadership: How to achieve 100% team placement during organizational failure
What happens when an IT leader faces both complete organizational failure and explosive business growth?
At Shepherd Electric Supply, Tom Shock serves as Director of Information Technology, leading IT initiatives for a company that has doubled from $250 million to $500 million in revenue over five years. But his most valuable leadership lessons came from an earlier experience: successfully leading his IT team through the complete wind-down of a $150 million organization during Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
From achieving 100% team placement during company failure to managing IT through explosive growth in a 130-year-old industry, Tom discusses the critical frameworks every mid-market IT leader needs. He shares the player-coach assessment strategy that determines optimal focus areas, the leadership presence principles that reduce team anxiety by 75%, and the business-first mindset transformation that turns technical expertise into executive credibility.