For Lawrence Krimker, leadership isn’t a title — it’s a responsibility. It’s the daily choice to show up with clarity, to put people first, and to lead with purpose. His career as an entrepreneur and investor is impressive, but what sets Krimker apart is how he leads: with grounded optimism, sharp self-awareness, and an unwavering belief in the power of culture.
At the heart of Krimker’s leadership philosophy is a deceptively simple idea: you can’t build strong businesses without strong people. And strong people need more than incentives or KPIs — they need trust, connection, and space to grow. That’s why Krimker invests so much time in cultivating culture. Not as a branding exercise, but as the engine of everything else.
He speaks often about the importance of “30,000 feet to three feet” leadership. In his view, a leader must keep one eye on the long game — anticipating market shifts, planning strategic growth — while also being close enough to the ground to see what’s really happening inside the business. That might mean shadowing a customer service agent, calling a customer directly, or sitting down with an installer to ask, What’s slowing you down?
This dual lens is what gives Krimker his edge. He isn’t afraid to get into the details, but he also never loses sight of the bigger picture.
Leadership Is Personal
For Lawrence Krimker, leadership is deeply personal. He doesn’t delegate appreciation — he writes handwritten notes to staff and customers each week, celebrating promotions, milestones, or just saying thank you. He prefers face-to-face conversations to email threads. He picks up the phone instead of sending another Slack message.
Why? Because connection builds trust. And trust builds teams that stay, perform, and care. Under his leadership, executive turnover was nearly zero. His company didn’t just earn accolades for growth; it was named one of Canada’s Best Places to Work six years in a row, including being recognized as a top workplace for women.
Krimker’s leadership also extends outside his own walls. While studying finance at Schulich, he led mentorship programs in Toronto’s Jane-Finch neighbourhood, helping aspiring entrepreneurs access funding and launch their first businesses. That same mindset shows up today in how he mentors founders — not just with money, but with honest feedback, strategic guidance, and belief.
Principles Over Ego
In a world that often celebrates ego-driven leadership, Krimker chooses a quieter path: principle-driven decision-making. He doesn't chase attention or credit. What matters most to him is whether his decisions align with his values and move the business — and the people in it — forward.
This clarity shows up in how he builds teams, how he handles conflict, and how he leads through uncertainty. He believes in asking questions before giving answers. Listening before reacting. Owning mistakes and sharing wins.
And when things go well — as they often have in his ventures — he’s quick to give credit to the people around him. In one interview, when asked about achieving a 44% IRR and three-times return on capital, his answer was simple: “That speaks to the quality of our people and the culture we created.”
A Leadership Blueprint for a Changing World
As the business landscape evolves, Krimker’s leadership style offers a compelling model: part strategist, part coach, part culture-builder. He’s proof that it’s possible to lead with both results and empathy — that you can push for performance while staying grounded in human values.
Krimker doesn’t pretend to have all the answers. What he has is something rarer: clarity on what kind of leader he wants to be — and the discipline to lead that way every day.
