A few days ago, I dragged a buddy, Ali, into my program day at the gym—fourth week, failure sets, the kind of session you don’t invite friends to unless you’re feeling mischievous. Mid-set he’s chirping in my ear, making me laugh, trying to keep up. Afterward I was wrecked in the best way.
That workout reminded me of something simple and easy to forget: there is this intangible, hard-to-quantify value of working out with a partner versus by yourself. Put the right two people together and suddenly one plus one equals three.
That same multiplier is exactly what business leaders need to create inside their companies. In a world where technical skills are replicable and knowledge is cheap, the differentiator isn’t what you know—it’s how quickly you build trust and chemistry so people will act on what they know.
Chemistry Beats Pure Competence
Most leaders hire for competence: can they do the thing? But over time, competence alone doesn’t create velocity. Without chemistry, teams drift into silos. People posture instead of telling the truth. Meetings drag on, but little moves forward.
The work still gets done, but with drag—slower, more expensive, and less fulfilling. Competence is table stakes. Chemistry—how people work together—is the force multiplier. Miss it in hiring or promotion and you end up with a culture of managed impressions instead of candid execution.
Hungry, Humble, Smart—With a Twist
Patrick Lencioni’s framework of the Ideal Team Player—Hungry, Humble, Smart—remains one of the best filters for building teams. But each attribute needs a modern twist:
- Hungry isn’t about being a workaholic. It’s about being engaged and eager to move the ball forward.
- Humble isn’t timid or soft-spoken. It’s curiosity. Great leaders are “very curious. They want to know what you think.” They ask before they tell.
- Smart isn’t IQ—it’s EQ. It’s knowing how you show up in a room, how you impact others, and adjusting so your message lands.
Hire and promote with this lens and you don’t just get performers—you get multipliers.
From Small Talk to Real Talk
Charles Duhigg’s new book, Supercommunicators, highlights research known as the Fast Friends model, which shows that trust accelerates when people ask thoughtful personal questions—and are willing to answer them honestly themselves.
The move is simple: start with safe, accessible questions that go just beyond small talk, then gradually step into more vulnerable territory. It’s not about oversharing. It’s about curiosity and connection.
Try questions like these:
- On-ramp questions:
- “What’s one win you’re proud of this month?”
- “What’s one obstacle that’s slowed you down recently?”
- Deeper connection questions:
- “What’s something you’ve learned the hard way that still shapes how you work today?”
- “What do you wish more people understood about the challenges of your role?”
- “When you’re at your best at work, what’s happening around you that makes it possible?”
- “What’s one risk you’ve taken recently that you’re proud of—whether it worked out or not?”
Answer first yourself—briefly and candidly—so people know it’s safe to be real. Over time, these exchanges create psychological safety, speed up feedback, and unlock execution.
AI Changed the Value Stack
Not long ago, I set out to sharpen my knowledge of M&A and private equity. Instead of just reading, I asked an AI tool to quiz me with 25 college-level questions, stopping to coach me whenever I missed. It worked. I closed knowledge gaps quickly and confirmed where I was strong.
That experience drove home a bigger point: knowledge is now abundant and on-demand. The scarce skill is turning knowledge into action—reading the room, inspiring a team, and coaching people through resistance.
In restoration, that means the edge won’t be how well you can write an estimate or operate equipment—it will be how well you connect, align, and multiply people.
Build a Feedback-Rich Culture
Trust is the soil; feedback is the fruit. To cultivate it:
- After-action reviews: Ten minutes after every major project—what worked, what didn’t, what’s next.
- SBI + Ask: Situation–Behavior–Impact, then ask for their perspective. Keeps feedback specific and two-way.
- Close the loop: If people risk honesty, show them what changed because of it.
In an industry where competitors use the same trucks and the same equipment, customers are really buying how you make them feel while solving their problem. A feedback-rich culture drives that difference.
Stories Unite Us
On my 23rd wedding anniversary, I wrote a simple post on facebook. TLDR– basically, “marriage is hard, but worth it.” The response shocked me—it became the most engaged thing I’d ever shared online. Why? Because honesty creates connection.
The same dynamic plays out in business. When leaders share something real—whether it’s a challenge they’re facing or a lesson learned—it gives everyone else permission to speak the truth faster. Truth accelerates trust, decisions, and results.
A Playbook for Hiring and Promoting
If you want more “one plus one equals three” moments inside your company, engineer them:
- Interview for chemistry. Watch for curiosity in the questions candidates ask.
- Use scenarios, not just resumes. “Tell us about a time you changed your mind based on input from your team.”
- Trial projects. Nothing reveals working style like building something together for a week.
- Onboard for connection. Build in cross-functional coffees, peer ride-alongs, and feedback milestones.
- Leaders as repeaters. Vision should be repeated so clearly and consistently that every technician can explain it to a customer in plain English.
The Close: Trust at Speed
The superpower of tomorrow’s leader is the ability to build trust quickly. Curiosity, candor, and consistency sound basic, but they’re rare—and they’re the true differentiators in a world where AI can replicate almost everything else.
Keep raising the bar on technical skill. Use technology to compress the time it takes to learn. But pour your real energy into the multiplier work—hiring for chemistry, modeling curiosity, and creating a feedback-rich culture.
Because what got you here won’t get you there. The edge now, and in the future, is how you make your people and your customers feel while you lead them somewhere better.
If you’d like to check out Brandon and I’s conversation on this topic- click here:
Chris Nordyke
Chris Nordyke is the co-Founder and President of Floodlight Consulting Group and Floodlight Sales Partners. Chris speaks throughout the year at industry events, and conducts live workshops focused on commercial sales and ops, customer experience strategy and building enterprise value. He is also the co-Host of the Head Heart & Boots podcast, a popular restoration industry show. For more information on Floodlight’s fractional sales management solution, visit https://www.floodlightgrp.com/
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