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Dear News Contact or Industry Writer,
If you can’t wait and need a quote right now, I have assembled several quotes on various topics listed below. I hope this will be an added value.
Thanks for the opportunity.
If you don't plan 3-5 years in advance of a targeted
You can’t work up to the day of your retirement and then just let go. Planning for the day, in 100 different ways, will make all the difference in the world in the success of your transition.
Family members may be good, or bad buyers, for your business. The more professionally crafted the sale, though, the fewer hard feelings down the road.
No deal is done until the last dollar has been received and the last statute of limitations is passed. Until then, you are still in the business.
Don’t spend $30-50,000 on having your (privately-held) business evaluated. A good valuation can be had for less than $10,000 in most cases.
If someone offers to sell your business and wants $30-50,000 for an up-front evaluation, first ask how many businesses s/he has sold and get (and check-out) references. Some firms make their living on selling expensive studies, not selling businesses. Nobody knows all the buyers in the marketplace. It may take as much as 3-4 years to get the buyer you want. Don’t sign an exclusive representation agreement to sell your business with anyone. Non-exclusive agreements keep them on their toes and keep the door open for new players.
Who comes next is as important to your job as this month’s productivity goals.
Leaders who identify and groom successors early have the luxury of peaceful vacations, minimally stressed recovery periods when sick and more quality time with their families and loved ones.
You can’t depend on tests along for succession.
Your best workers probably won’t be your best successors. Leadership is about “seeing to it that something happens,” not in doing it yourself. Your best workers may have trouble letting go.
On the way up the ladder of success, nobody forgets where you came from. Leave a mess behind and the smell rises.
Having a plan only increases the likelihood of success. Not having a plan ensures the likelihood of failure.
People who complain that plans don’t work don’t really understand planning. They want a guaranteed product. Life is short on guarantees and is only a product when you are dead. Planning is a process, and, like life, it changes.
You know children are growing when their clothes no longer fit. The same is true for organizations. Getting new outfits is harder for organizations than for kids. There’s a lot to be learned in that.
Strategy in its simplest form is getting to see the movie, get the ice cream cone, or pick the restaurant you want. It’s about getting everyone to agree – with you.
General Electric used to identify its leaders as “growers,” “caretakers,” and “undertakers.” Growers are the visionaries who see possibilities in what is yet to be. Caretakers are the caregivers who see possibilities yet to be discovered in what already is. Undertakers see the possibilities in liquidating what has been while it still has some worth. We need them all.
Maximizing shareholder value should be about fine-tuning, not about destroying essence.
Too many supposed leaders are content to do the “right thing,” without first deciding what is necessary to “do things right.” Focus on wants, not needs.
Perception opens doors. Performance keeps it open.
Too many executives ask, “How much do I have to do to keep my customers happy?” Not enough ask, “How can I improve my customer service [customer relationship management is the new phrase on the block] today.”
When a customer calls me and asks for something, I get a knot in my stomach. I hate it. I should have anticipated his/her want and called first.
Positioning = branding = sustainable advantage = permission = acceptance. Isn’t that what we all seek?
When I am in dialog with a customer, I am listening more than speaking, thinking more than proposing, and learning more than teaching. Afterwards, my work begins.
A good licensing program just makes you more important to your customers, or more important to more customers. It’s like getting extra topping on your dessert without having to ask for it.
Licensing lets your ideas and creations grow through the vision of other eyes that see added value in your original ideas – and will pay you for their use.
Enforcing intellectual property rights internationally can be tough. Your best bet is to perfect your rights in your home country, evaluate how to best protect them in your most profitable markets and keep innovating. The more you keep changing, the harder for the cheats to keep up. Many turnarounds don’t fail. No, they are successful in harvesting assets and letting the turnaround experts and their advisors pocket huge fees.
Bankruptcy isn’t a successful strategy for the smaller, troubled, company. Most small companies who use Chapter XI bankruptcies end up liquidating in a Chapter VII proceeding or are just wound up. The secret to a successful small company turnaround is to employ strategies to keep away from the courts and the bankruptcy attorneys.
If your bank recommends a turnaround consultant, be wary. Ask the consultant how much of his/her business is from bank referrals. If the number is significant, ask yourself if the consultant might not have a conflict of interest.
The IRS can be a friend to the troubled company. While the bank may control the assets, the IRS can control the cash flow. Since neither bank nor IRS wants to put companies out of business, working with them can forge a successful turnaround strategy.
Don’t be bullied by collection agencies or attorneys. Try to re-establish a dialog with your creditors. At best (in most locations), the collection process can take years. You have time before any assets can be attached to get your company out of trouble. Buying off a bully in the early days can severely damage cash flow and hurt your chances of a recovery. ISO 9001 isn’t either a fad or a magic bullet. If you don’t use it as window dressing, it can help long-tem productivity and growth. If just for show, it’s a waste of time and money.
ISO 9001 is a good route to take if you need a CE Mark. It gives you control and independence and paves the way for broader gains. CE Mark, while European in origin is accepted as the prevailing standard in many countries around the world.
Excess inventory and operating expenses are your enemies. Trim them with Theory of Constraints (TOC) techniques.
Many popular productivity tools are over-sold, over-hyped and result in under-performance. Why? Impatient management and in-and-out consultants often don’t provide adequate training and ramp-up for them to really take root and produce. Patience is called for!
Complicating systems more than necessary results in working harder, not smarter.
Project management is coming back into fashion as a hot topic. Unfortunately, little that has been learned in the past decade has made its way into the curriculum. The buzzwords are new but the not the techniques. Good mergers are like good soup. Make sure you have a good recipe and don’t eat until the flavors have a chance to mix and mature.
More sales don’t necessarily bring more value. More valuable synergies bring more value.
You are not free from a deal’s impact until the last check is cashed and the last statute of limitation is passed.
Mergers should be like romances, not seductions. In seductions, all too often the truth gets lost in the passion of the moment.
Recent Press
“John Reddish works with leaders who want to master growth, transition and succession.” He can be reached at e-mail, or by calling 1.800.726.7985.
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The Hero's Journey
Most of us have heard of the hero's journey and the late Joseph Campbell who wrote extensively on it and other...
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