As the host of The Business Philosopher Within You, I sit down with Mike Chaput, founder and CEO of Endsight, to dig into a question too many leaders treat as binary: can you grow revenues and still be deeply values driven? Mike has scaled Endsight from a handful of people to a 140-person firm serving hundreds of clients while keeping values at the center. In this article I break down what we discussed and translate it into practical guidance you can use today.
The origin story: why the name Endsight matters
Mike’s company name came from a moment of constraint and creativity. They were hunting for a domain and backed into Insight, then made it into Endsight to capture two ideas: ending poorly managed IT and seeing customers and people thrive on the other side. That backstory matters because it shows how a company narrative can be discovered and shaped to reflect a deeper purpose.
What vision really is—and who it is for
Too many leaders treat vision as a private mental map or a static slogan. Mike reframed vision as a living, externalized description of a future state that must be useful to every constituency: customers, employees, shareholders, partners, and the broader ecosystem. A useful vision does three things:
Includes as many winners as possible so the future benefits multiple stakeholders.
Functions as a constraint and a guiding north star for daily decisions.
Becomes the rum line—a long-term target that guides shorter-term tacks and actions.
“One of the primary jobs of a CEO I think is to create a vision that can include as many winners as possible.”
Leadership as the first follower of an externalized vision
Mike made a sharp point: leaders should think of themselves as the first follower of an externalized vision. When the vision is visible and tangible, it leads the organization. The leader follows it, reinforces it, and checks that tactics align with that picture of the future. This avoids whipsawing the organization every time external news or an instinct pulls the founder in a new direction.
Choose a BHAG and use it as a rum line
Small, uninspiring goals rarely generate drive. Mike recommends a big hairy audacious goal (BHAG) as the rum line that orients every tactical decision. That long-range target gets fractionated into five-year, one-year, quarterly, and daily actions—so everyone can track progress and experience the psychological lift of moving toward a target.
There is a biological reason for this. Our emotions are tied to progress toward goals. No goals equals no natural positive emotion. A clear target gives people the structure needed to feel accomplishment and purpose.
Employee engagement: move people from toil to meaning
Work can feel like digging a hole and filling it back up—or like playing an engaging game. The difference is whether people experience progress toward a meaningful target. Leaders create opportunities for people to feel progress by setting targets, recognizing wins, and making daily work clearly connected to that rum line. The line between toil and meaning is very thin; a great vision shifts work from the former to the latter.
Endsight’s founding: survival, iteration, and learning
Mike’s early entrepreneurship began at 24 with a business that barely survived the dotcom collapse. Those years taught him that a survival-focused vision is uninspiring and hard to rally people around. When he founded Endsight he leaned into a recurring managed services model after learning from peers. But even then the early strategy needed evolution—vision is iterative, not one-and-done.
Quality as a differentiator: lean thinking and the highest-quality MSP rum line
Endsight’s grand vision is to be the highest-quality managed services provider in the world. That BHAG works as a rum line because it creates clear downstream expectations: customer retention, efficient delivery, high billable-time utilization, and sustainable profitability. Quality at Endsight is informed by lean thinking—minimizing waste, reducing error, and relentlessly improving processes.
Quality becomes the lens for strategic decisions. If an initiative or revenue stream contradicts the noble promise of helping others thrive, it is excluded, even if profitable in the short term. The moral and strategic alignment here is essential to long-term durability.
How to cascade vision into daily operations
Turning vision into daily behavior comes down to rhythms, structure, and communication. Mike described a clockwork cascade:
Annual strategic leadership retreat to set the long-range rum line, five-year and one-year targets, and quarterly rocks.
Weekly strategic leadership meetings to review strategic objectives and an active problem register.
Daily or team huddles to track metrics, escalate blockers, and solve problems in real time.
Start the weekly meetings with recognition and good news to reinforce the human connection. Keep a live problem list and make the meetings the forum to escalate, decide, and remove obstacles.
One-on-ones, the racecar metaphor, and accountability as a gift
One-on-ones are non-negotiable. Mike used a racecar metaphor: if you slow down to make the curve, your tires grip and you exit faster than someone who blows through and loses traction. In organizations that means taking the time for consistent one-on-one coaching, development, and problem solving even when it feels costly or time-consuming.
“Accountability is a gift.”
Great managers do more than monitor metrics. They get curious, go to the gemba (the place where the work is done), and empirically observe what is happening. Metrics flag the issue; observation explains it. The manager then coaches, clarifies expectations, trains, or holds an accountable conversation. Done well, this is a partnership: managers help people win, develop, and grow.
Radical candor and the human backbone of feedback
Mike referenced Kim Scott’s Radical Candor to describe how feedback should land. The ideal quadrant combines direct challenge with sincere personal connection. If you challenge without connection you become abrasive. If you protect feelings without candor you become ruinously empathetic. Radical candor is about being both human and direct.
Start a one-on-one by asking how the person is. Build trust. Then use data and observation to surface issues and collaborate on solutions. Frequently a manager’s job is to diagnose whether the problem is capability, clarity, or motivation and then tailor the next steps accordingly.
Values that actually work: memorable, branded, deep, and aligned
Mike shared a practical approach to values that I want to call out because so many companies fail here. Values fail when they are:
Unknown to most people
Poorly articulated or forgettable
Unaligned with strategy
Endsight uses a compact, branded values framework: RSVP. It is memorable, clear, and layered:
R Respect and Connect
S Servant’s Heart
V Value Value Value
P Progress over Comfort
Each letter comes with two words for quick recall, four or five belief statements that describe behaviors, and a deeper library of source material and books that provide philosophical grounding. This creates a values system that is memorable, deep, aligned to the vision, and complete enough to guide behavior.
Why brand your values
Branding values makes them accessible. People remember images, acronyms, and icons. When values are both memorable and tied to clear behavioral examples, they become actionable operating rules rather than inspirational wallpaper.
Putting it all together: a practical checklist
If you want to start applying these lessons this week, here is a short checklist inspired by Mike’s playbook:
Write or revise a BHAG that functions as a rum line for 5 to 10 years.
Make your vision external and visible. The leader should be the first follower.
Create a short, branded values mnemonic and pair each value with clear behaviors and source material.
Set annual, quarterly, and weekly rhythms: offsite strategy, weekly leadership syncs, daily huddles.
Institute regular one-on-ones. Use them for connection, coaching, and accountability.
Use data to flag problems, then go to the gemba to observe and diagnose.
Prioritize quality as a systemic discipline informed by lean thinking and measure it.
Final thoughts
Scaling revenue without sacrificing values is not only possible—it is an advantage. When vision, quality, and a values-driven operating system align, you get durability, higher engagement, better financial returns, and a company people want to be part of. As Mike put it, the leader’s job is to create a future where multiple stakeholders can win. That is both a moral stance and a sustainable business strategy.
If you are ready to build that future, start with one thing: make your vision visible and your values memorable. The rest is a disciplined practice of rhythm, coaching, and ruthless prioritization.
Get In Touch With Mike Chaput
Mike can be reached through his Linkedin account. To find out more about Endsight, visit their website.
This article was created from the video “Can You Scale Revenue Without Sacrificing Values? (Lessons from a CEO)” with the help of AI.
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