For Tyler Burke, the coming of COVID-19 turned the sometimes challenging, but mostly enjoyable experience of working as a rising leader in his family’s food-and-beverage laundry business into the ultimate test of skills and endurance. “Dealing with Covid revealed some weaknesses in my leadership,” says Burke, executive vice president of Loop Linen, Westwego, LA. “Being a family-owned business, we like to treat our employees like family. I was not ready to make those tough decisions, and I took it hard.”

He wasn’t alone. We interviewed several young and rising leaders of linen, uniform and facility services businesses and asked them ...