Half the office quit in a week, and the company came out of it better.
In this episode of the Business and Faith Podcast, John Staub talks with JR Bussard, chief operating officer of Cornerstone Companies, the family-owned luxury window and door firm in West Palm Beach he runs alongside his father and his three brothers. At the beginning of 2025, fifteen to sixteen employees became roughly half that inside a single week, and the entire inside office was gone. JR walks through what rebuilding actually cost: teaching himself accounting, cycling through fractional CFOs and an HR firm that didn’t stick, and rebuilding estimating by calling builders directly to ask what the numbers should look like. He makes the case that you can lead by the principles of Jesus without making faith a condition of employment, and he leaves listeners with one rule for delegation that most owners learn too late.
Chapters:
00:00 Half the Office Gone Overnight
00:19 Meet JR Bussard and Cornerstone Companies
01:08 Business as a Ministry
01:41 A Tested Stone in a Make-or-Break Industry
03:33 Opportunities, Not One Big Moment
07:01 Obsessed With Getting Better
07:24 Fail Fast and Move On
10:09 The Parable of the Talents
14:30 Leading by the Principles Without the Sermon
16:38 The Week the Office Emptied
19:07 Rebuilding While the Showroom Opened
22:59 Process as a Priority
27:50 If You Cannot Document It, You Cannot Hand It Off
31:19 A Word for Middle Managers
Links:
John Staub: / john-staub
JR Bussard: / jr-bussard-0937bb122
Cornerstone Companies: https://cornerstonecompaniesfl.com
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The Business and Faith Podcast, where we learn from leaders whose experience and faith shape how they grow their organizations on purpose. Brought to you by Dataliction. Follow us and keep the conversation going. Enjoy this episode? Leave a review and share it with someone who needs to hear it!