Welcome to “Building Leaders,” a brand new series from KnowHow where we dive into how today’s restoration leaders are setting up their teams for success in the future. Inspired by our latest book, Building Leaders, each interview features in-depth conversations with industry leaders actively preparing their teams to tackle the leadership challenges of tomorrow.

If you want to stay ahead and ensure your team is ready for tomorrow’s challenges, you’re in the right place. Expect real advice, actionable insights, and plenty of takeaways to help you build a team ready for whatever comes next.

Ready to build the leaders of tomorrow?

Ask anyone in restoration, and they'll tell you it’s an industry that never stops moving. Despite rapid growth and an essential place in disaster recovery, today’s restoration companies face a new and uncharted challenge: a shortage of leaders with the skills and motivation needed to carry the torch forward. Burnout among seasoned leaders, the influx of younger generations with different motivations, and a mounting backlog of urgent tasks have left many asking: Who will lead tomorrow?

Mark Springer, former owner of Dayspring Restoration and past RIA president, has seen this tension firsthand. Mark grew up in his family’s restoration business and watched the industry evolve.

He’s learned that leading a company is only half the job. The other half is ensuring the next generation is equipped to take over, with the skills and purpose they crave. While the restoration field has historically relied on hard-won experience and “trial by fire” learning, the incoming generation is looking for more—mentorship, personal growth, and a path to meaningful work.  But with leaders stretched thin by daily demands, few companies are prepared to give them that.

“If we don't cultivate and develop leaders, we are going to be limited in how far we can take [our] organization[s],” Mark says. This knowledge guides his urgency and practical steps toward building the next generation of leaders.

Mark Springer: From Montana with Love

Growing up in a family of restorers, Mark had front-row seats to the various phases of the restoration industry. When he was 11, his dad started Dayspring Restoration in Missoula, Montana, a business Mark saw “go through different stages” and helped steer “in different forms.”

Dayspring started as a single location and eventually grew into several offices across Montana, United States. In 2020, Dayspring was acquired, and it became the first platform company in FLEET Response, a national restoration company across the United States. 

Mark credits a lot of this success to two things: Grace and his ability to learn from failures. 

Failure as a Foundation for Leadership

At the beginning of Mark’s career, failure was an unlikely teacher, pushing him to understand the principles of effective leadership.

“I had come to a point where I realized I was focused on the fact that I was not the man I needed to be,” Mark shares. And that realization, he adds, took him “on a journey to understand the fundamental concept of leadership that would enable [him] to build a company that would attract, develop, and inspire other leaders to become a part of what [he was] doing.”

But before this decision, Mark had an epiphany: He realized he could either double down on his mistakes as a leader or reflect on them, improve on them, reshape, and recalibrate his strategy.

With the latter path as his springboard, he spent his 20s devouring best-sellers on leadership, from military generals to sports coaches and celebrity CEOs.

But Mark says that he found these books “unrelatable,” forcing him to switch strategy. 

“I ultimately started talking to and just interviewing people I really respected,” Mark says. “I started asking them, ‘What shaped you as a leader?’ ‘What were the important milestones in your journey and your life that helped you become the person that got you to where you are today?’”

Along with these questions and a list of resources that shaped their leadership journey, Mark finally built his foundation for being a leader. Interestingly, it wasn't until he started developing himself as a leader that Mark started thinking about how investing in others made sense.

The Cost of Not Building Leaders

Ask Mark what he thinks is the biggest mistake a business can make, and he'll probably answer: “Not building tomorrow's leaders.”

For him, the cost of not building leaders affects both the individual and the growth of any company. 

If an organization is to be successful and advance in its marketplace, Mark explains that much of that growth will “directly correlate to the quality of the leaders within the organization.”

This is true because there’s only so much an individual can do to take a business far. But a team of leaders in respective core business functions? Immense progress and scale like never before. 

Another reason to build leaders is that doing the opposite guarantees that people will leave. The reality, Mark shares, is that “at some point, quality leaders are drawn to leaders that they respect who also inspire them.” 

And if your organization can’t provide that environment for them—if leadership isn’t institutionalized or codified in the culture—the people who need to be successful will seek it out in other places and apply the leadership lessons they learn in those organizations. 

Practical Steps For Building The Next Generation of Leaders

Mark has seen meaningful results and continued success in his mission to understand what tomorrow’s leaders need and how to develop them accordingly. He shares a few insights for achieving similar results with your business.

1) Start by leading yourself.

Before you can lead others, you have to lead yourself. Mark’s first piece of advice is to begin with an honest assessment of where you stand as a leader, an experience he describes as “very humbling.

• Embrace assessment tools like the Leadership Practices Inventory for a 360-degree view of your leadership style. This kind of self-reflection can be uncomfortable but is essential, revealing blind spots that may unknowingly affect how you work with others. Without addressing this, Mark cautions, “We are always going to be limited in the trajectory of our leadership.”
• Reframe your relationship with criticism. For Mark, shifting from seeing criticism as “an assault” to viewing it as “a gift” has been transformational. “Most of the time,” he explains, “when criticism is offered [even in ways we don’t like], there is truth in it.” 

By accepting feedback—even the uncomfortable kind—leaders can address hidden areas impacting their teams, turning blind spots into opportunities for growth. This mindset shift lays the groundwork for authentic leadership, creating a leader who is effective, self-aware, and trusted by others.

2) Be mentored and be mentoring.

Mark learned early that one of the most effective ways to grow as a leader is to “always look to be mentored and be mentoring, at every stage of life.” He believes that regardless of your experience level, seeking mentorship and providing it to others is valuable in strengthening your leadership muscle. While many leaders hesitate to mentor because they don’t feel “100% ready,” Mark stresses that mentoring is as much about self-growth as it is about helping others.

• Seek out a mentor. A mentor’s wisdom helps you avoid common pitfalls and accelerates your growth. “Being mentored by someone with wisdom can shortcut some of the traps we might otherwise fall into,” Mark says.
• Embrace mistakes. Even with a mentor, mistakes will happen. Learning to grow through mistakes rather than avoiding them is part of the leadership journey.
• Mentor others to reinforce your knowledge. Mentoring helps you “anchor in” key leadership principles by articulating them, even if you’re still growing.
• Use the “see one, do one, teach one” approach. Like medical students who observe, practice, and then teach procedures, leaders can learn effectively by following a similar approach. Start by watching and learning from your mentor, apply those insights in your role, and share what you’ve learned by mentoring someone else. This three-step approach ensures that lessons stick and become a core part of your leadership style.

3) Embrace a servant-leadership mindset.

It’s counterintuitive, but effective leadership begins with learning to serve others—an approach Marks says sharply contrasts with today’s self-absorbed culture. In today’s fast-paced “what’s in it for me” world, adopting a servant-leadership mindset helps leaders shift their focus from themselves to lifting those around them. For Mark, this mindset naturally leads to a core guiding principle: leave things better than you found them.

• Serve before you lead. True leadership isn’t about self-gain but about making a positive impact on others. Ask yourself, “How can I serve my team to help them grow?”
• Leave things better than you found them. Mark emphasizes this as a guiding rule in everything from workspaces to relationships. “How do we leave this industry, this organization, better than we found it?” he asks. This mindset shapes decisions and drives a positive, lasting impact.
• Focus on impact, not credit. Drawing from Ronald Reagan’s wisdom, Mark reminds leaders: “There’s no limit to what one can achieve if he doesn’t mind who gets the credit.” Focusing on the impact rather than recognition encourages a culture of genuine growth and success.

4) Practice relentless execution.

Developing leaders is not a separate task from building a business strategy; in fact, Mark argues that it’s a core part of it. On the other side of the strategy coin is developing the muscle to execute, a term he aptly summarizes as “relentless execution.”

Relentless execution isn’t just about getting things done; it’s about committing fully to a strategy, executing, adjusting as you go, and learning from what doesn’t work.

• Commit deeply, but stay flexible. Every strategy requires intensity and the willingness to adjust when it’s not working. Avoid doubling down on initiatives that don’t serve your goals by assessing and pivoting as necessary.
• Acknowledge failures openly to build trust. Leaders who admit when they’re wrong create a culture of honesty and trust. Mark shares how his team re-evaluated a failed initiative in energy services: “At a certain point, I had to say, ‘I was wrong on this.’” Admitting mistakes empowers your team to do the same, encouraging a focus on improvement rather than defensiveness.
• Regularly reflect and realign. Mark emphasizes the importance of stepping back to reach a consensus about the right path and course and making sure that you’re moving closer to your goals every quarter. Setting time to reflect builds alignment and renews focus across the team.
• Keep your team focused on the big wins. Regularly recalibrating strategy doesn’t mean abandoning long-term goals. As Mark reflects, “Our network of satellite offices across Montana wasn’t easy to launch, but by staying the course through challenges, we eventually hit on all cylinders.” Sustained focus helps achieve those “big wins” that define long-term success.

Building The Next Generation of Leaders

To recap, Mark encourages four actionable steps for building leaders of tomorrow:

Tip #1: Lead yourself first. Get an honest assessment of where you stand as a leader by embracing assessment tools and reframing your relationship with criticism. As Mark says, criticism is a gift, not an assault. 

Tip #2: Seek out a mentor and mentor others, even when you don’t feel ready. Mark explains that learning from others and teaching what you learn helps to reinforce the learning. Or, more aptly put, “see one, do one, teach one.”

Tip #3: Serve before you lead. Instead of asking what others can do for you, ask what you can do for them. This mindset helps you go above and beyond and develop the muscle to leave things better than you found them. 

Tip #4: Finally, constantly practice relentless execution. In other words, hold regular reviews to assess progress, reflect on past decisions, and recalibrate strategies as necessary.

If you’re ready to build tomorrow's leaders, start with these steps and remember that leadership is a journey of incremental progress over perfection. 

Craving more from Mark? Watch the full interview, or listen to our new audiobook for a different experience.

Invested in learning more about other restoration leaders who are building the leaders of tomorrow? Check out our podcast episode with Ben Looper. Ben’s advice on how to proactively plan for the leadership challenges of tomorrow is a game-changer for restoration teams. It’s packed with practical, real-world wisdom, so you don’t want to miss out on it! 

See you in a month for our next installment of Building Leaders! For more resources on succession planning or scaling your operations, visit tryknowhow.com.