A Chat With David Isham, president/CEO, National Roper’s Supply

CS: Is there anything that sticks out as your greatest career challenge?
Isham: Ultimately, you have to come to grips with the fact that you’re limited by what you can get done in a 24-hour day. I had to develop patience. Some things just take longer, and you have to be okay with that. My family is very important to me. I have four kids. The challenge is always to balance your family life with your professional life. And in my case, my professional life was already my lifestyle. Keeping all of that in perspective was a challenge. Early on, it was tough to give up pieces of the company. Ten years ago, it was my dad who was my mentor, and he said, “You’re getting to a point where you can’t do all of this anymore.” He gave me some words of wisdom in business. He told me that for him, he could only effectively manage three or four people at a time. At that time I had about 20 people who were reporting to me. That’s what’s stuck with me, finding good people to help you out.