My ancient website hasn’t received much attention in a while, so I finally got back in the saddle to share another family business tale from a few years back! I have always enjoyed working with small to medium sized businesses. Of course, most smaller businesses are family owned, and sometimes families act like….families. Yes, shocking. What […]
Inflation, Pricing and Competitive Advantage
This is an update to a post I made back in January 2014 – over eight years ago! We haven’t had much inflation in the last eight years, but things changed quickly, didn’t they? Much has been written on the subject of competitive advantage. What is competitive advantage? In plain speak, it’s the unique characteristics […]
High Growth Companies – Preparing for the Seasons of Management
I’ve worked in a leadership role with many businesses over the last four decades – service providers, mature operating companies, turnarounds, and high growth startups. For me, startups were the most fun – I guess I enjoy managing chaos? For this article, my focus is on startups that have made it past the starting gate. […]
CEO Job Description?
Some time ago, I was helping a small business onboard a new chief executive. While we were negotiating the CEO’s employment agreement, the CEO’s attorney asked if we could prepare a detailed job description outlining all of the duties and responsibilities of the CEO. I think I had a mic drop moment as I thought […]
Rise to Your Level of Incompetence? Why Not?
A while back, I was on the periphery of a conversation about people “rising to their level of incompetence.” Although this is usually thought of in a negative context, I believe that this can be a great thing — if done the right way…
Creating Extraordinary Transferable Value in Your Closely Held Business
I recently attended a business panel presentation, and the topic was “navigating business lifecycles – from early stage, to maturity and beyond.” During the Q&A session, one of the attendees asked about attributes that can create significant business value in the eyes of an acquirer. This made me think back to some mental notes that I have made over the years. Some […]
From Pride to Arrogance – The Fine Line
I’ve worked with a number of small businesses that have a strong culture founded on excellence. In these companies, a key piece of this culture is company pride. In one company I worked with, employees even joked about getting tattooed with the Company’s Pantone color code!
Stop Selling After You’ve Closed the Deal
First, I’m not a salesman, a sales coach or a sales consultant. There are many people who are far more qualified than me to explain the sales process and closing techniques. That acknowledged, I have had two sales experiences over the last few weeks that compel me to write this. In both cases, the salesperson […]
Cavalier about lawsuits? Think again – a defendant’s perspective
Often times during business disagreements, I hear owners and executives say “let them sue us — bring it on!” While that might be our initial response in the middle of a rip-roaring business dispute, trust me — don’t let feelings and emotions drive your actions when lawsuits are involved. Why am I writing this? I have been a […]