Mark Langer on Grit, Judgment, and Long-Term Business Building
Mark Langer, Managing Director at CenterOak Partners, reflects on the experiences that shaped his approach to private equity—from early grit and middle-market investing to deploying capital in Africa and building enduring CEO partnerships. He explains why servant leadership, trust, and long-term thinking matter more than control in lower middle-market value creation. Mark also shares candid lessons on risk-taking, mistakes, and navigating the non-linear reality of business building. This is a grounded, hard-earned perspective from someone who has seen the full arc of private equity—hit play.Episode Highlights2:01 – Early lessons in grit, work ethic, and “figure it out” resilience6:02 – Breaking into middle-market investing after 9/11 and choosing the hard path12:05 – Being sent to deploy capital in Africa—and learning fast under pressure17:26 – Why CEO trust and long-term relationships matter more than control19:32 – Reining in chaos in the lower middle market without killing momentum
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