Hypertherm’s Rob Masson on navigating crisis with teamwork

<p>Rob Masson is the CFO at Hypertherm, a 50-year-old company that is a leader in industrial cutting systems. He’s also a former Naval aviator who learned critical leadership skills firsthand. Rob joined us on the Modern CFO Podcast to share his unique perspective on management and the ways in which empowered, confident employees helped Hypertherm weather the COVID-19 crisis. </p><ul> <li>Visit <a href="https://www.hypertherm.com/en-US/">Hypertherm</a> </li> <li>Connect with Rob on <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-masson2/">LinkedIn</a> </li> </ul><p><b><br></b></p><p><strong>Key Takeaways<br></strong><br></p><p><strong>Weathering COVID-19</strong></p><p>The pandemic took an early toll on Hypertherm, but the company stayed true to its employee-centric values. </p><em>“We suffered, you know, over a 30% loss in sales almost overnight in April, and that caused a whole chain of events...We're an employee-owned company. We all share in the success of the company. And so we're all committed to each other. We have a no-layoff philosophy. So a lot of the normal things you do in public company settings and others, we don't do. And we have a very strong passion for that. So we will cut costs. We're very aggressive with that. But in terms of commitment to people, we don't do that. We come together as a team and solve the problem.” </em><p><br></p><p><strong>Overcoming obstacles as a team </strong></p><p>Teamwork enabled Hypertherm to bounce back from COVID-19 amid global challenges.</p><em>“It was quite a dramatic response from us internally to reset for the new norm. And then there were a lot of things on the capital structure side that we thought about with the treasury group and working with our banks, just to make sure we were secure from a cash flow and keeping that going...we serve some essential end markets. So we worked very diligently to keep our supply chain open, to make sure we had raw materials, stock, etc., since we source from all over the world. So it was really a team effort.” </em><p><br><