Article
Meet Aaron Roth: The Advisor Who’s Been in the Seat
July 9, 2026
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The advisors who make the biggest difference with leadership teams aren’t the ones who’ve read the most books. They’re the ones who’ve held the accountability. Who’ve managed a P&L, built a team from scratch, and had to answered for the results.
Aaron Roth is that kind of advisor. He joined the Lawrence & Co team roughly a year ago, and here’s what you should know about him.
What He Brings to the Table
What I find most valuable about Aaron is the sheer range of seats he has actually sat in. He’s been a banker. He’s led sales. He’s done a lot of M&A. He’s served as a COO and as the president of a company. He’s worked in private equity, and he’s done strategic advisory. On top of all of that, he spent years working alongside one of the best growth CEOs our firm has ever worked with, which is its own kind of education.
From Player to Coach
Very few advisors have carried that much real accountability across that many parts of a business. It means that whatever a CEO is wrestling with, whether it’s capital, sales, an acquisition, building the team, or sharpening the strategy, Aaron has very likely been responsible for it himself. He’s not advising from theory. He’s advising from experience.
From Michigan to the C‑Suite
Aaron grew up in Southern Michigan, the youngest of three brothers. He spent his whole childhood trying to keep up with guys bigger and faster than him. That chip on his shoulder drove a career spanning banking, fleet management, industrial sales, M&A, COO, and president. He didn’t advise on those jobs, he did them.
He encountered the Scaling Up framework and the One-Page Strategic Plan as a president inside a client company. While others treated the OPSP as a quarterly reporting exercise, Aaron used it as his operating system, every day.
“I used the one-page strategic plan to run my business. The others looked at it like a presentation. I used it every day.”
That’s when I told him he’d make a natural advisor. And several years later, here we are.
The Problem He’s Most Obsessed With
Ask Aaron what he sees most when he first gets inside a company: lack of prioritization and action. Not lack of ideas. Lack of disciplined focus on what actually matters.
“CEOs can have great conversations and come out of a quarterly meeting ready to change the world. Then you come back 90 days later and nobody did anything. Being very busy is not the same as being effective. To make an impact on growing the business we need to work on the best few things.”
He’ll also push back hard on the assumption that good performers automatically become good leaders. Most companies underinvest in management and leadership training. They promote someone who’s great at their job and expect them to figure it out. That’s leaving too much to chance.
Managing is not the Same as Leading
What He Learned the Hard Way
Early in his advising work, a CEO kept calling Aaron with operational questions that felt out of scope., Aaron resisted. He later realized that was exactly the value the CEO needed from him.
“That was the value he most wanted from me. And I missed it.”
Today, he takes his cues from clients. His job is to help the CEO grow, and whatever gets them there fastest is the agenda.
How He Stays at His Best
Aaron starts his day with his faith. Exercises regularly. Protects time with his family, including five grandkids, all close by. And he golfs. Not casually. He’ll hit balls at lunch if he can. He comes back with twice the energy he had.
On leadership, his favourite line comes from Jim Collins:
“Leadership isn’t getting people to do what you need them to do. It’s getting people to want to do the right things.”
That’s what he’s working toward with every team he sits with.
Watch the full interview with Aaron below.
About Lawrence & Co.
Lawrence & Co. is a growth strategy and leadership advisory firm that helps mid-market companies achieve lasting, reliable growth. Our Growth Management System turns 30 years of experience into practical steps that drive clarity, alignment, and performance—so leaders can grow faster, with less friction, and greater confidence.
About Kevin Lawrence
Kevin Lawrence has spent three decades helping companies scale from tens of millions to hundreds of millions in revenue. He works side-by-side with CEOs and leadership teams across North America, the Middle East, Asia, Australia, and Europe, bringing real-world insights from hands-on experience. Kevin is the author of Your Oxygen Mask First, a book of 17 habits to help high-performing leaders grow sustainably while protecting their mental health and resilience. He also contributed to Scaling Up (Rockefeller Habits 2.0). Based in Vancouver, he leads Lawrence & Co, a boutique firm of growth advisors.