Intentional Performers With Brian Levenson

Tom Ripley is a Partner and Co-Founder at Ames Watson, a private equity firm that acquired more than a dozen companies in the defense, retail, light manufacturing and service sectors. Over the past 22 years, Tom has developed extensive operating experience across more than two dozen different companies. Today, Tom serves as the Chairman & CEO of Lids Sports Group, South Moon Under, and several smaller holdings. Tom started his career as an infantry and special operations officer in the United States Marine Corps. Tom graduated from the Virginia Military Institute with a BA and an MBA from the University of Chicago. In this episode, we discuss why Tom is nervous for this conversation (6:25), viewing threats (7:42), what he’s learned from raising autistic twins (9:02), how similar and different their twins are (10:59), how he thinks about nature and nurture (11:58), what he’s learned from his daughters about communication (13:42), the pros and cons of his experience in the marine corps (15:47), a mistake h