Strategy 4 Saturday Blog (<4 minute read)
(Picture: Carl J. Cox, Marie Osmond, Erin Gibney) )
The Case for Why People Still Matter
It’s 2020, I’ve been hired by a small, private equity firm to investigate a business. The question is why have they not been meeting investors’ expectations?
Keep in mind, when I’m asked to get into a situation, it’s not as if the private equity firm has not been trying to make changes through their weekly or monthly calls. But for whatever the reason, things have not progressed in the right direction. So, I am asked to take a deeper look, to find out what’s going on.
I come into every situation with an open mind because I want to clearly understand what is going right and what is going wrong.
Did we simply set expectations that were too high? Has the market experienced a downturn? Are our products not providing high enough value? Has our cost structure grown too far beyond our growth?
(Picture: Erin Gibney & Carl J. Cox at Parker Seminars in Las Vegas, March 2025)
Our Principle-Based Process
We focus on a principle-based process to evaluate the situation. Part of our process involves conducting surveys to identify the current state of an organization, from the leadership and the board expectations. We do StrengthsFinder assessment to understand the strengths, and perhaps the gaps, in our existing leadership team. We will use our growth driver analysis to identify the best opportunities to increase the valuation multiple.
What is holding the company back and preventing an increase to the multiple of the company?
We facilitate the CAPTAIN Strategy methodology as outlined in Lost at CEO: An Entrepreneur’s Guide to Strategy.
And in every situation, it becomes self-evident that there are changes that need to be made. And every time, some part of the leadership team is working well and another part of the team is not. That means there tend to be some uncomfortable conversations. But I’d also argue, they are the most crucial conversations.
It’s the People
See, no matter what type of artificial intelligence that we use, and our amazing processes, it is people that drive the culture and decisions of the organization. If there are people in that organization who are not interested in seeing change, seeing growth, they may have a fixed mindset with their processes and procedures from the past.
Ah-ha Moments
My favorite part working with companies is when the Ah-ha moment happens! When existing team members say, “I see it now, I see where I could be making changes, I could be doing something different, and I’m excited to make changes going forward.” And then, they do the most important thing. How do we make sure that happens next?
What Happens Next
When companies respond, change happens and it happens quickly. The momentum starts to impact everyone on the team in the right direction.
Yet, there are other times when people don’t want to change. It becomes self-evident. And you don’t have to wait 3 to 6 months to figure it out. They simply don’t do the weekly sprints and you learn in weeks not months, they have not bought in. They have agreed; but find a way to be too busy. They are the ones with excuses.
The Tough Conversations
And that’s when the tough conversations have to happen again. When life is so short, it’s important to act.
But when you start taking other people’s money, whether it is in the form of bank loans, friends and family, investment, angel money, venture capital, or private equity…those people are expecting a return on their investment.
They want that investment back, and as a leader, it is your responsibility to make sure that happens.
So act, and if you aren’t acting in the ways that creates a positive return, seek outside assistance. It is not a sign of weakness when you seek council. We believe it’s a sign of strength.
Don’t be the one with excuses. Get the results that matter. People depend on you.
We have recorded all of our episodes for the $4M Strategies podcast. Thank you for all the support this past year.
