Glenn Gow, The Scaling Executive Coach and host of The Scaling Executive Podcast, sat down with Tom Ragen, CEO of Color Communications since 2018, to talk about how Ragen makes high-stakes calls without waiting for complete information. When a CEO has gathered roughly 80% of the available information on a decision, Ragen holds that the right move is to decide and adapt rather than wait for more data, a discipline he credits with helping him navigate the urgent, time-pressured decisions required to turn around Smyth Companies’ finances. As Ragen puts it: “Having 80% of the information is enough to make a decision.”
This episode is for CEOs who feel stuck waiting for complete data before acting, or who are actively combining two company cultures after an acquisition.
Key Takeaways
- Ragen’s day-one integration playbook: complete due diligence before the deal closes, then lay out the vision to the new leadership team on day one with specific, results-based goals, followed by regular feedback loops to track progress.
- Ragen’s Change Master framework targets four levers in an acquisition: structure, process, people, and culture, and uses communication, learning, and reward plans to put them into practice.
- In the two private-equity-owned companies Ragen has led, he pairs the PE firm’s numbers-driven view of an acquisition’s value with a deliberate focus on culture, holding that the real value of an acquisition comes from culture, not the spreadsheet alone.
- Ragen treats a room where “everyone looks to me to solve the problem” as a warning sign of a skill or confidence gap on the team, not a permanent requirement of his role.
- After Color Communications’ COO passed away, Ragen installed two new operational leaders within roughly six months, framing the gap as a skills and confidence issue rather than a talent shortage.
How CEOs Combine Two Company Cultures After an Acquisition
Ragen built his Change Master framework while leading Fort Dearborn Company’s largest acquisition to date, a deal worth roughly 25% of the company’s existing revenue. The framework identifies four things a CEO can change during an acquisition: structure, process, people, and culture, then uses communication, learning, and reward plans to activate each one. Ragen still applies the same framework today. He described using it the day before this conversation, in a meeting about a change at his company’s New Zealand facility.
When two companies come together, Ragen’s rule is to name and respect both cultures before deciding how to combine them, rather than replacing the acquired culture with the parent company’s own. He explained: “The leverage of the acquisition comes from the culture.” At Ragen’s last two companies, both private equity owned, he found that PE partners are strong at identifying an acquisition’s financial value but often weaker on the cultural side. Ragen’s job is to draw out that culture and apply it toward a clearly stated future state, then invite the acquired team’s input on how to get there, rather than dictating the outcome unilaterally.
Ragen also ties successful integration to speed on day one. Before the deal closes, he completes due diligence so that on day one with the new leadership team, he can lay out the vision with specific, results-based goals, then follow up with regular feedback loops to track progress.
How CEOs Scale Leadership by Building Teams That Solve Problems Without Them
Ragen treats a specific moment as a warning sign that a CEO has stopped scaling: “It’s always a bad sign when I am in a room and everyone looks to me to solve the problem.” When that happens, Ragen looks for a talent or skill gap on the team rather than assuming the company simply needs him to keep solving problems personally.
Ragen points to an athletic coach’s answer, often attributed to Nick Saban, when asked why he was so hard on his assistant coaches: “They helped me scale. They’re me.” Instead of one coach solving every problem, ten coaches solve problems in parallel. Ragen applies the same principle to his own leadership. After Color Communications’ COO passed away, Ragen installed two new operational leaders within roughly six months. Ragen frames that gap as a skills issue rather than a talent shortage: the incoming leaders needed specific new skills, plus the confidence that they already had what it took to do the job without having been asked to prove it yet.
The Framework: Three Principles From This Interview
| Principle | What it means in practice | Named evidence from this interview |
| The 80% Decision Rule | Act once you have roughly 80% of the necessary information, then adjust as new data arrives instead of waiting for certainty | Ragen credits this shift with helping him make the urgent, time-pressured decisions required to turn around Smyth Companies’ finances after early-career habits of doubting every data point |
| Culture Carries the Acquisition’s Value | Name and respect the acquired company’s existing culture, then apply it toward the combined organization’s stated future state instead of replacing it | Ragen built this discipline leading Fort Dearborn Company’s largest acquisition to date, worth roughly 25% of the company’s existing revenue, and still applies the same framework today, including a recent integration decision at his company’s New Zealand facility |
| Scale by Removing Yourself From the Solution | Build a team capable of solving problems without escalating them to the CEO, treating a “solve it for me” pattern as a skill or confidence gap to close | Ragen installed two new operational leaders at Color Communications within roughly six months after the company’s COO passed away, closing the gap with skill-building and confidence rather than replacing the model entirely |
Quotes from This Episode
- “Having 80% of the information is enough to make a decision.” — Tom Ragen, CEO, Color Communications
- “The leverage of the acquisition comes from the culture.” — Tom Ragen, CEO, Color Communications
- “It’s always a bad sign when I am in a room and everyone looks to me to solve the problem.” — Tom Ragen, CEO, Color Communications
- “They helped me scale. They’re me.” — Tom Ragen, CEO, Color Communications
Frequently Asked Questions
How much information does a CEO need before making a decision?
Tom Ragen, CEO of Color Communications, holds that roughly 80% of the available information is enough to make a decision, as long as the CEO and team are skilled enough to adjust once new data comes in. He developed this discipline while making urgent, time-pressured calls during a financial turnaround at Smyth Companies, after realizing he could not wait to know everything before acting.
How do CEOs combine two company cultures after an acquisition?
Ragen names and respects both companies’ cultures first, then applies that culture toward a clearly stated future state rather than replacing it outright. At his two private-equity-owned companies, he pairs PE partners’ financial view of a deal with a deliberate focus on culture, since he holds that an acquisition’s real leverage comes from culture, not the spreadsheet.
How can a CEO build a team that solves problems without them?
Ragen treats a room where everyone looks to him to solve the problem as a warning sign of a skill or confidence gap on the team, not a permanent leadership requirement. After Color Communications’ COO passed away, he installed two new operational leaders within roughly six months, closing the gap by building their skills and confidence rather than continuing to solve every problem himself.
Executives Work with Glenn Gow to Scale Their Companies and Careers
Glenn Gow is The Scaling Executive Coach. He coaches ambitious executives into the CEO seat and CEOs into successful exits. With 25 years as a CEO and 5 years in venture capital, Glenn helps leaders scale their companies by scaling themselves first. If this conversation was useful, you can apply for executive coaching with Glenn Gow or apply to be a guest on The Scaling Executive Podcast.
