S1E3: Bringing Fun and Female Leadership to the Family Business | Kaci King

Kaci King, owner and Visionary at West Ohio Tool Company, shares the challenges facing female leaders and the growth potential of family businesses.

The early days of Kaci’s work with the family company came after years of working in accounting and corporate positions. After becoming pregnant with her first child, she spent the first few years juggling various responsibilities and seeking ways to expand the business.

But with growth came conflict. Kaci had to work with her family to manage the negative opinions of the people around them who made it difficult for the business to break out when its growth plateaued. Their view that she didn’t have a place in the tool manufacturing industry because she was a woman influenced how she transitioned into the Visionary role after her father. 

Kaci credits Traction with changing the company’s direction. But, while making sense of the Visionary role, Kaci hit a point where she realized she needed an Implementer. 

Alex Freytag, an Expert EOS Implementer™, credits his comedic background as the ice-breaker that allowed him and Kaci to build their Visionary-Implementer relationship. 

During their conversation, they discussed the importance of balancing enjoyment and humor with making difficult business decisions and how this has an impact on the overall culture of the company. Alex attributes Kaci’s leadership style to her strong core values and commitment to listening to her team. 

With a change in leadership and culture comes the challenge of getting the right people in the right seats. Kaci and Alex faced that issue early on, and Kaci took on the responsibility of talking to each person on her team.

[18:34] “The idea was to try to really challenge people to step into what their potential is and what the potential of the company is, and what the company needs.”

Kaci walks through how stepping into the Visionary role challenged her to build the right company culture and what it looks like when a new Visionary inherits an existing business and culture – especially as a woman in a male-dominated industry.

Finding the right people for her leadership team has made all the difference. 

Kaci and her team have grown the business to earn contracts with the Department of Defense and NASA, building towards a bigger and brighter future. 

Links

• Kaci King | LinkedIn
• West Ohio Tool | Our Story | Website
• Alex Freytag | LinkedIn
• Traction by Gino Wickman | EOS Worldwide