Bill Duguay

I didn’t come to this work from the outside. I started as a laborer and worked my way through the field, project management and professional engineering into executive leadership, the president’s chair and the boardroom.

I learned leadership when decisions had consequences, people were counting on me, and the outcomes were mine to own. Pursuing billion-dollar projects alongside top ENR contractors. Leading a 700-person construction company. Working through the transition to 100% employee ownership (ESOP) first as an officer and Area Manager, then later serving as Executive Vice President and President.

That experience is what I bring into the room with your leadership team.

The teams I work with are usually already successful. They’ve built something substantial. But growth, succession, changing ownership or increasing complexity has changed what the business needs from the people at the top.

Too many decisions may still find their way back to one or two people. The next generation of leaders may need to carry more responsibility. The board and management may need greater clarity about their respective roles. An ESOP may be years beyond the transaction and facing the harder question of what employee ownership looks like when the business still has to perform.

I know some of that pressure because I’ve lived it.

Sureties with a finger on your growth. Bankers scrutinizing your ratios. Insurers watching your risk profile. Major clients betting on your ability to execute. Boards expecting you to plan, predict and perform. And in an ESOP, employee-owners counting on leadership to build something worth owning.

My work is immersive, onsite and shoulder to shoulder with the leadership team. EOS provides much of the operating discipline, informed by Adaptive Leadership, team effectiveness and practical facilitation. I’m direct, curious and comfortable when the conversation gets difficult.

I chose this work because I’ve seen what happens when capable people get truly aligned—and what it costs when they don’t. The goal isn’t to make your team dependent on me. It’s to help good leaders get clear about what matters, say what needs to be said, make better decisions together and stop sending everything back uphill.

I’m also a Professional Engineer and independent director with additional training in governance and employee ownership. Those experiences give me different ways of looking at the same business, but the work always comes back to the people sitting around the table.

The hard work can’t start until the hard thing gets said.