Paul Raiche likes to surround himself with a certain type of employee at Ceratec, Quebec City, Quebec, the ceramic tile distributor where he serves as president and CEO. "We need a team of troublemakers," Raiche says during the most recent MDM 7 Minutes With … exclusive interview.
"For me, it's having the right players around the table and being able to build a team that can think out loud and challenge each other," says Raiche, who in 2007 became president of Ceratec, the company his father, Jean-Paul Raiche, had run before him. "That's what keeps me awake at night is to see how quickly the team can adapt to this kind of philosophy."
Raiche says talent – acquiring it, cultivating it and retaining it – along with teamwork and learning compose the core of his company's focus for immediate success. But those elements also are critical for Ceratec's long-term succession plan, something Raiche understands as the leader of a company that's been in his family since the early 1980s.
"With succession planning, you have to be comfortable with the unknown," Raiche says. "… I think it's really important for us, as an organization, to have a really solid team of players that we're able to be an organization that adapts and changes and keeps ourselves viable."
Listen to the entire 7 Minutes With … interview with Raiche and Ceratec here.