Long before I was sitting in boardrooms, closing deals, or scaling companies past eight figures, I was down in the trenches — literally. My early career was in the mining sector, one of the most volatile, high-stakes industries you can work in. And while my journey eventually took me into healthcare, tech, and corporate leadership, the lessons I learned underground have stayed with me every step of the way.

Mining isn’t just about extracting resources. It’s about understanding risk, patience, long-term value, and the importance of executing with precision — even when the odds aren’t on your side.

Here’s what the mining industry taught me about business — and why I believe more CEOs could benefit from a bit of underground thinking.

Risk Is Real — So Treat It With Respect

In mining, risk isn’t theoretical — it’s physical, financial, and environmental. You’re making multimillion-dollar bets based on what’s under the ground, often with incomplete data. Commodity prices swing. Geopolitics change. One misstep can set you back years.

That kind of pressure teaches you to respect risk — not fear it, but not ignore it either.

In business, I see too many leaders swinging between extremes: either paralyzed by risk or charging ahead blindly. Mining taught me to evaluate risk with discipline, to make contingency plans, and to always — always — protect the downside.

Before I expand a business line, hire aggressively, or take on new capital, I go through the same mental checklist I learned in mining:

• What’s the worst-case scenario?
  
• Can we survive it?
  
• Are we betting the farm — or just planting a field?

Patience Isn’t a Weakness — It’s a Weapon

Mining projects can take years — sometimes decades — before they generate profit. You spend millions before you see a return. And most of the time, the groundwork isn’t glamorous: surveys, permits, environmental assessments, feasibility studies.

That timeline teaches you one of the hardest — but most important — skills in business: patience.

In today’s world of fast funding rounds and quarterly pressures, patience almost feels outdated. But the truth is, sustainable businesses grow steadily, not explosively. Mining taught me to take the long view. I’d rather build something that lasts 20 years than something that trends for two.

Patience doesn’t mean moving slowly. It means moving intentionally.

Operational Discipline Is Non-Negotiable

When you’re working with heavy machinery in dangerous environments, there’s no room for sloppiness. Processes save lives — and dollars. That culture of operational rigor stuck with me.

When I became CEO of CTS, one of the first things I focused on was tightening our systems. We documented processes, measured performance, tracked growth, what was working and what was not.  That discipline didn’t slow us down — it allowed us to scale faster and more confidently.

In mining, discipline keeps people safe. In business, it keeps companies healthy.

The Real Value Is Below the Surface

In mining, the value isn’t in what you can see — it’s in what you can’t. The richest deposits are underground, out of sight, buried beneath layers of dirt, stone, and uncertainty.

That metaphor applies beautifully to business.

Some of the best ideas, partnerships, and innovations I’ve been a part of weren’t flashy on the surface. They took time to uncover, effort to develop, and belief to stick with them until they paid off.

The lesson? Don’t be afraid to dig. Don’t abandon something just because it doesn’t deliver immediate returns. Whether it’s a slow-burning business line, a quiet team member with hidden talent, or a long-term customer relationship — the real payoff often lies beneath the surface.

Weather Is Unpredictable — So Build Resilient Systems

In mining, you learn quickly that you can’t control everything. Weather delays happen. Equipment breaks. Markets tank. Your job isn’t to control chaos — it’s to build systems that can operate in chaos.

That mindset has served me well in every industry I’ve worked in. Whether it was navigating COVID in the healthcare space or managing supply chain issues in tech, I’ve always come back to this idea: what systems do we have in place that allow us to keep moving, even when the conditions are tough?

Hope is not a strategy. Resilience is.

Every Inch Matters

Mining is measured in inches. If you drill even slightly off course, you might miss the entire vein. That precision mindset translates directly into how I think about business.

Whether it’s a sales process, a client handoff, or a recruitment funnel — the details matter. When we grew CTS from $850K to $17M+, it wasn’t because of one massive pivot. It was because we improved a thousand small things by a few percentage points.

Big results often come from small refinements.

Mining Was My MBA

I didn’t go to business school. But mining was the best training I could’ve asked for. It taught me to respect risk, lead with discipline, and think long-term. It gave me the grit to push through hard conditions and the wisdom to wait for the right opportunity.

So now, when I sit in the boardroom, I still carry the mindset I learned underground. I don’t chase hype. I don’t panic under pressure. And I don’t take short-term wins at the expense of long-term value.

In business — just like in mining — success goes to those who dig deep, plan smart, and stay patient.