2 books, forbes, hbr • bentley publishing group – 23 years • ceo … · 2017-02-28 ·...

2/28/2017

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About Robert Sher

• 2 books, Forbes, HBR

• Bentley Publishing Group – 23 years

• CEO to CEO, Inc. – 9 years

• Midsized company focus

• 95+ clients

CEO to CEO, Inc. 1

POLL

Mighty Midsized Companies 2

Your Current Role/Title is….

• CEO/President/topmost leader• CXO• Vice President• Director/Manager• Other

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Revenues - $10 million to 1B

Complexity

Led by team

Longer term horizon


Headcount - 20 to 5000 What defines

MIDSIZED?

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Growing

A pleasure to own or lead

Predictable results

Serve its owners

What Does It

Take For A

Midsized

Company To Be


Strong & Resilient


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1. Letting Time Slide-Slide Away

2. Strategy Tinkering at the Top

3. Reckless Attempts at Growth

4. Fumbled Strategic Acquisitions

5. Operational Meltdown

6. The Liquidity Crash

7. Tolerating Dysfunctional Leaders

Midsized companies demand different leadership approaches and processes.

Seven Silent Growth Killers

Tolerating Dysfunctional Leaders


Silent Growth Killer #7

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The Evolution of a Leadership Team


10Mighty Midsized Companies

Small teams work well with one leaderCEOs of small businesses tell their helpers what to do, and it works well. One leader is enough most of the time.

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At midsized, leadership shortage kills growth.At midsized, one leader can’t direct so many helpers. The CEO can’t step away from the business even for short times, even to grab new opportunities or to fight disasters. The team breaks apart and the CEO spins out of control.


Upgrade helpers to leaders, starting with a few. To grow, a few helpers must be upgraded to leaders, who can follow a plan and deliver results, with less help from the CEO.

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Mighty Midsized Companies

13

Our Loyalty Must Be Upwards

• The CEO is responsible for the mission. Her first loyalty must be there.

• C suite’s first loyalty must be to the CEO.

Loyalty cascaded upward keeps us aligned

Loyalty focused downward creates

silos and dysfunction

Why We Outgrow Our Leadership Team (p 170)


Silent Growth Killer #7

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POLL


What percentage of your leaders have a great team under them whom they can depend upon to perform at a high level without micro management?

• Awesome: 80‐100% • Good: 60‐79% • Dicey: 40‐59%• Bad: 20‐39%• Ugly: 0‐19%


A team of leaders with an operating system makes for a star CEO and accelerated growth.With leaders in place and working on a shared plan, the CEO can leave his team to run the day-to-day business and bring value into the business.

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CXOs must upgrade their helpers to leaders at ~75M


Strong leadership teams drive growth = Mightiness!

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Leadership Team Assessment

A

D

C

B

Challenge Level10

9

8

7

6

5

4

3

2

1

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

CHALLENGE LEVEL

Our challenges are not getting more complex.

10= Yes. Each year’s challenges are about the same complexity as last year.

1= No. Our challenges are dramatically more complex each year.

Page 4



A

D

C

B

Challenge Level10

9

8

7

6

5

4

3

2

1

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

LEADERSHIP ACUMEN

The members of our leadership team are awesome leaders with strong, eager followership.

10=Yes.1=Sadly, no.

Leadership Acumen

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A

D

C

B

10

9

8

7

6

5

4

3

2

1

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

Leadership Acumen

Experience

Challenge LevelEXPERIENCE

Our leaders are deep and strong in skills and experience that is highly relevant to our growth path.

10=Yes, absolutely.1= Sadly, no.



A

D

C

B

10

9

8

7

6

5

4

3

2

1

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

Experience

Long Term Thinking

Challenge Level

Leadership Acumen

LONG TERM THINKING

Our leaders have ample time to think long term, strategize, and dodge problems before they appear.

10=Yes.1= No.

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A

D

C

B

10

9

8

7

6

5

4

3

2

1

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

Calculating Your Effectiveness

1. A+C (7+6=13)2. B+D (7+8=15)3. Multiple the two sums (13*15=195)4. Divide by 4 (195/4=48.75%)

Challenge Level

Leadership Acumen

Experience

Long Term Thinking

POLL: Can you expect growth?


Given the leadership effectiveness score, how realistic are your expectations of growth for your business?

Realistic. We are highly effective. I’m not so sure. We have equal

strengths and weaknesses. This webinar is making me nervous.

We have LOTS of work to do.

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Your Current Org ChartPage 5‐6


Org Chart of the

FUTUREAnnual Revenue Growth Rate Headcount

Got Cash?

L / M / H

# of Locations

Assumptions

Page 7‐8

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Next Steps


• You must list and address your bottom two leaders

• You must list and address your top two leaders


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The Leadership Environment Counts

Is there a crystal clear plan?

Do we measure performance of each leader appropriately?

Are there rewards for leaders who succeed and discomfort for those who fail?

Is success and failure clearly defined?


2013 Facts:

1. $18M Revenues; Break even; 7% sales growth.

2. Founded 1980. COO became CEO.

3. No firing rule. Top 3 leaders started in 1985.

4. CEO bright, energetic, introverted, frustrated.

5. Leadership team (managers) working, but disengaged.

CEO: “Help me fix this ‘beast’ up!”

Client Case Study: Wholesale Food Distributor

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Must Managing a Midsized Firm be a Game of Whack-a-Mole?



Promote warehouse manager Leadership

Re‐arrange sales territories Tactic

Upgrade website Project

Grow 15% Goal

Spend 7.2% on trade show budget Budget

Manage customer service and sales team. Responsibility

Zero the credit line once per year for 30 days Priority

Review employees Performance

Quarterly business review meeting Communication


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Roadmap:1 per leader

1. Future state2. Why we exist3. KPIs4. Operational strategies5. Projects

Operational PlanA Building Block of the Leadership Operating System


Client Example: Operating Plan Portal

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2014 Facts:

1. Strategy was straight ahead. Operations needed the focus.

2. Created an operations plan set (7) thus engaging the leadership team to run the business better.

3. Monthly plan reviews.

4. Profits jumped from 0.4% to 3.5% profit.

5. Sales grew same as previous year.




2015 Facts:

1. Hired VP Sales in January, who diligently managed the sales team.

2. By year end, 18% growth, 6% Net Profit.

3. Strategic shifts – geography and customer type.

4. Hired VP Operations (second executive hire) early 2016.

5. Now 12 plan set.

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Becoming a MightyMidsized Company

At Work


A Leadership Team in a Balanced Orbit:The Leadership Operating System at Work

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Which Business Will You Lead?

What is your next right step?“Knowledge without action is futile.” -Abu Bakr

Complimentary 90 minute consultation

No expectations / No obligation / No costAgenda:1. ID your biggest challenge/opportunity

2. Focus in on the best strategy to address it.

3. List and choose the tactics that will make a difference.

4. Choose the right next steps to take now.

We enjoy helping eager, pro-active leaders who seek to turn the knowledge gained in this presentation into action, but we have limited capacity to do so. If you want to do this work with us at no cost or obligation, call or e-mail Jan by end of business today to schedule your meeting: [email protected] / 925-829-8190 x101


2 books, forbes, hbr • bentley publishing group – 23 years • ceo … · 2017-02-28 ·...

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