The Origins of Mighty Midsized Companies Bob Morris Interviews Robert Sher

Morris: Before discussing your new book, Mighty Midsized Companies, a few general questions. First, who has had the greatest influence on your personal growth?

Sher: Warren Bennis, the author of On Becoming a Leader and so many other groundbreaking books, really made me a better leader. It was an incredible awakening. I started reading his books as they came out in the mid 1980’s and was so honored when he agreed to endorse my newest book, as it turned out just a few weeks before his passing.

Morris: Who’s had the greatest impact on your professional development?

Sher: In 1996 I joined a peer group of CEOs in an organization called “The Alliance of Chief Executives,” in Northern California. Sitting with peer CEOs every month and learning from their wisdom (and their mistakes) formed a quantum leap in my learning. I still actively

Ins mniaThe CEO

Factor

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Elevating successful CEOs and their teams

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What keeps CEOs awake at night –

and what to do about it.

Insights from

March 2015

Robert Sher

Why Mighty?I’ve delivered my book talk over 30 times now and it’s still fun each time to tackle the questions coming from the audience, and to see them relate to the content. Most have lived through at least some of the killers! It’s also been fun being inter- viewed so many times, and some of the journalists’ questions have pushed me to

dig deep to articulate my reasons for writing Mighty. Bob Morris did a great job of probing, and in this issue I’m sharing his questions and my answers.

Please join in the conversation by signing up for a webinar, by attending one of my events, or commenting on my on-line posts.

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participate in Alliance groups. You see, when you run just one business, there is a limit on how many things—good or bad—can happen to you that turn into lessons. In a group of 12, the process is accelerated, since you learn from your peers’ experiences. Similar groups exist everywhere in the country. Vistage, YPO and EO are three of the largest.

Morris: Years ago, was there a turning point (if not an epiphany) that set you on the career course you continue to follow?

Sher: In 2004 I was sitting in my CEO group, sharing some frustrations (for the umpteenth time) about seemingly intractable problems that were keeping me from leading my company to the next level. The group—

who had known me for years—hammered mercilessly on me for over an hour (we CEOs are hard-headed and often need a drubbing to take notice). Their point was that I needed to find a solid long-term solution or move on with my career. That day I went back to my office and triggered the series of events which led to my exit and to founding my own consulting firm in 2007. I’ve never looked back. Interestingly, as consultants we often play this role for clients who need a push, or perhaps a little confidence and guidance to make courageous changes.

Morris: To what extent has your formal education been invaluable for what you have accomplished in life thus far?

Sher: It has been very important. It gave me a solid understanding of the basics of business, like accounting and marketing. It seemed slow and laborious at the time, but from every class, I drew nuggets. Realize that I worked while going to school, leading what was then a small busi-ness, so I had every chance to practice what I learned. I got my graduate degree in an execu-tive program when I was 27. I realized, to my surprise, that I was truly an executive. Too often, small and middle market business leaders exist in an isolated world. They don’t know what they’re made of or how they stack up. That certainly was true of me, and my confidence took a big step up from the experience.

Morris: What do you know now about the business world that you wish you knew when you went to work full-time for the first time?

Sher: The importance of building a strong, deep, wide network. I grew up being taught about hard work, but teamwork and friends were not emphasized at all. I got a long way with hard work and good insights. It wasn’t until later that I learned that who you know (and who you’ve helped along the way) is a powerful factor for success. And helping people is gratifying as well!

Mighty Tools

Is Your Company At Risk From the Seven Killers?

Throughout Mighty Midsized Companies we made reference to tools that will help you take what you read in the book and apply it to your own company. The link below allows you access to these tools, at no cost. Each one takes just five to ten minutes, is anonymous, and gives you a results page and score.

http://www.ceotoceo.biz/mightytools

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Morris: In your opinion, why do so many C-level executives seem to have such a difficult time delegating work to others?

Sher: They haven’t learned the discipline of earned trust. Earned trust means you require a new hire to show—to prove—that they can deliver. As they do deliver, they get more and more latitude, and soon the boss can delegate freely. Instead, what happens too often is they delegate too much too quickly, the new hire disappoints, and the boss starts to think he or she can’t trust anyone ever again.

Morris: The greatest leaders throughout history (with rare exception) were great storytellers. What do you make of that?

Sher: People learn through stories. They love that mode of communication. When leaders tell stories, their people listen.

Morris: Most change initiatives either fail or fall far short of original (perhaps unrealistic) expectations. More often than not, resistance is cultural in nature, the result of what James O’Toole so aptly characterizes as “the ideology of comfort and the tyranny of custom.” How can we best avoid or overcome such resistance?

Sher: By making people dissatisfied. If people are content and comfortable, they won’t be likely to change. People will become dissatisfied if they yearn for an achievement; if they look forward to an incredible reward. For lower performers, they will become dissatisfied if they are uncomfortable because they’re slid-ing toward the bottom of their team’s perfor-mance range. There is a process to creating a high performance environment, and a way to measure such environments as well.

Morris: Looking ahead (let’s say) 3-5 years, what do you think will be the greatest challenge that CEOs will face? Any advice?

Sher: Every year, more and more, CEOs work in a fishbowl, even those leading closely held companies. Your employees talk on Glassdoor and Twitter, and vendors, customers and everyone else chatters on social media, without boundaries. My advice: stick to your values and lead in a way you can explain and be proud of, no matter who hears about it.

Now Available

Endorsed by greats Stephen Covey, Ken Blanchard, Warren Bennis, Douglas Conant, Thomas Stewart.

5 stars on Amazon, with 69 reviews

“Through interviews with CEOs as well as real life case studies, author Robert Sher shows readers how to keep a midsized company healthy and avoid the seven dangerous mistakes that kill growth. Mighty Midsized Companies is a must-read guide to ensure your organization remains strong and viable.”

- Ken Blanchard, coauthor of The One Minute Manager® and Legendary Service

More information and book trailer at: http://www.ceotoceo.biz/new-book.html

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Morris: When and why did you decide to write Mighty Midsized Companies?

Sher: This book was written because over the years I’ve seen many CEOs from all industries fall into the same traps over and over again. The act of writing is one of the ways I learn and synthesize my experiences, and the creation of this book pushed me to put the thinking into a powerful format that will save many midsized CEOs a lot of grief. The book project began in August 2010 with the development of the idea, a working hypothesis and detailed out-line. The research began in mid-2011 and continued for about two years. The writing itself began in mid-2013 and concluded just as 2014 began.

Morris: Were there any head-snapping revelations while writing it? Please explain.

Sher: Yes. As I strove to distill a central con-cept that tied all seven growth killers togeth-er, the concept of leadership infrastructure popped into my head, and it became the core conclusion of the book. Leadership infra-structure is the sum of all systems, people, and processes that allow leadership of a mid-sized firm to comfortably and consistently grow the firm over time.

Morris: Many of your readers will be surprised to learn that, in the United States, there are about 200,000 midsized companies; that is, those with annual sales within a range from $10-million to one billion dollars. They account for about a third of the U.S. GDP and a third of all U.S. jobs.

What are the defining characteristics of a midsized company that is “mighty”? Of the 200,000 that are now operational in the U.S., about how many meet those standards?

MIGHTY Webinars

Three Canadian webinars in April:

Wednesday, April 8, 2015, 10am PT

“Make it Mighty” with Canadian Guest, Anthony Lacavera

For an executive team, the excitement of leading a steadily or rapidly growing midsized firm can be exhilarating—that is, until growth grinds down to a halt. Join Robert Sher and guest, Anthony “Tony” Lacavera, Chairman and CEO of the Globalive Group and Wind Mobile.

Tuesday, April 14, 2015, 10am PT

Canadian Mighty Midsized Companies Webinar

A fast, one hour overview of Mighty Midsized Com-panies, similar to the presentation Robert delivers in person to audiences from Toronto, Canada to San Francisco.

Thursday, April 16, 2015, 10am PT

“Make it Mighty” with Canadian Guest, Brian Scudamore

Robert Sher is joined by guest, Brian Scudamore, whose franchise 1-800-GOT-JUNK? has grown to 180 locations in Canada, the United States, and Australia. Brian’s story has been told in For-tune Magazine, Business Week, New York Times, Huffington Post, and The Wall Street Journal, to name a few. Brian will talk about keys to scaling his business, and how he avoided or overcame the seven silent growth killers to take 1-800-GOT-JUNK? to nearly $250M.

The webinars are interactive, with live polling and audience questions (via typing) which Rob will answer during the session. There is no charge. See links to upcoming presentations and webinars here: http://goo.gl/AMSkOy

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Sher: A midsized company that can be called mighty must be growing and resilient as well as a pleasure to own or lead, and must deliver predictable results which serve its owners’ interests. There is very little research on midsized companies, so there is no data as to how many could be considered mighty. My estimate based on personal experience would be under 20%.

Morris: To what extent are the CEOs of your firm’s client companies facing challenges today that are significantly different than the challenges they faced only 3-5 years ago? Please explain.

Sher: I’m sure there are some differences, but largely the challenges are the same, including competition, delivering great customer service, and great products, innovating, managing waste, and finding markets hungry for products.

The reason so many businesses struggle isn’t that the challenges change, it is that the people running them are human and make mistakes. Some learn from those mistakes but many do not, and there are new business leaders emerging every year.

Morris: In your opinion, how can social media be of greatest assistance and value to midsized companies?

Sher: Involvement with social media is about building communities of people who have com-mon interests and want to connect with peers. The first question, for any business, is how inter-ested is your constituency in talking about your mission/products/services? Social media is not a new way to output marketing messages, but a way to engage in discussions. If you have a real community that is large enough to build momentum, it might be helpful. If not, spend your time and money elsewhere. However, like any new global behavior, it is advisable that business leaders engage in it to some extent so they are ready to dive in when an opportunity arises. Remaining ignorant about social media would be a blind spot.

Morris: No doubt many of those who read your book are thinking about launching their own company. In your opinion, what are the most important do’s and don’ts to keep in mind when preparing to do so?

Sher: My book is not for startups. While I’m happy they buy my book, they should skim it to raise awareness of the 7 silent killers, but then they should shelve it. They should not try to run their startup like a midsized business. They should read the plethora of books targeted toward startups (or small business) and follow that advice. Re-read my book when revenue is around five million or the headcount is around 20.

Morris: Opinions are divided—sometimes sharply divided—about the importance of charisma to effective leadership. What do you think?

Sher: If you’ve got charisma, it’s a gift, and you should use it. But leaders who are most successful know they must not only attract and excite followers, but deliver the goods as well. Charisma alone starts to make someone look like a fraud after a while: all promises and no results. Leaders without charisma can succeed as well. They still need to attract people and inspire them, but there are many other ways to do that (a powerful mission, empathy, and on and on).

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Morris: I’ve served as a CEO of two companies and then provided consulting services of various kinds to hundreds of CEOs. I can’t recall a time when the challenges facing a CEO were greater than they are today. What do you think?

Sher: I think it has always been hard. In the good old days, getting data on your own business was incredibly hard. Now with modern computers it’s much easier. In the good old days we had to wait forever to get inputs, sometimes a month after we mailed the letter to get the response. Now it’s just seconds by e-mail. In the good old days, making friends in distant lands and stay-ing connected to them was arduous. Now with social media and e-mail and video chats it’s so much easier.

The leaders of today must learn, adapt, and strive to succeed…and many do. Ditto for the leaders of 2114 and 2214. It is our job, and it will be hard. That’s what makes it fun! Great leaders thrive on challenge.

Morris: What do midsized companies share in common with smaller and larger companies?

Sher: Many things, but first and foremost they all need a powerful strategy that drives growth. Strategies aren’t timeless, so what works at one point may not work at other times. But the best strategies propel growth for periods of years.

Morris: Now please focus on differences between midsized companies and those that are smaller or larger. You suggest that leaders in midsized companies face six challenges that are unique. How so? First, a ‘low tolerance for risk.’

Sher: There is aversion to risk: midsized firms have much more to lose than startups. They have many more employees depending on them and their owners have a larger portion of their personal wealth at stake. Their investors keep vigil on profits and growth to fuel investment value, and typically pay no dividends.

Startups, by contrast, are all about risk. If they fail, everybody goes out and gets a new job. Their inves-tors know the risks and, in the case of venture capital and private equity, have diversified portfolios to man-age that risk.

Deep-pocketed Fortune 500 companies, of course, have the resources to experiment with new products and even new business models. They can assume great risks because they can write off multimillion-dollar failures. But in bootstrapping their small firms into

If you’re a part of an industry association or you know of speaking opportunities for audi-ences of midsized com-pany leaders, please let

us know! Rob will share valuable insights from his new book, Mighty Midsized Companies in presentations that are tailored to your audience. Keynote presentations can run from 45 minutes to 2-3 hours with audience involvement and interaction.

Speaking Opportunities

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midsized companies, many executives have survived hard times by being frugal. Such frugality makes them risk-averse and often holds them back from getting to the next level. That would mean making risky investments in talent, infrastructure, R&D and brand building.

Morris: The second difference is ‘high barriers to internal collaboration.’ Tell us more.

Sher: Midsized companies typically have more than a single office (or even more than a handful of offices), and their dispersed teams must com-municate to conduct business. Yet they aren’t so large as to be able to afford taking their managers away from their daily tasks to attend the off-sites or all-hands meetings that larger companies use to get everyone pumped up and aligned. Nor are midsized companies rich enough to pay for in-house organizational development teams or the other tools that big businesses use to keep top management in synch.

Startups, on the other hand, typically have all their people in one place, focused on the same or closely related tasks at the same time, brewing their coffee in the same kitchen. Collabora-tion is easy when you’re rinsing out your mugs in the same sink. Midsized firms are caught between the benefits of critical mass and the loss of unen-cumbered nimbleness.

CURRENT RESEARCH

How Leadership Infrastructure Helps Midsized Companies

Sustain Their Growth

At CEO to CEO, we’re doing ongoing interviews with midsized business leaders on the topic of Leadership Infrastructure. Currently we’re writing a series of articles based on interviews with CEOs of two portfolio companies, as well as two partners at Genstar Capital, a private equity fund. Our research with Genstar was initiated after hearing their Director of Human Capital, Katie Solomon talk on an Association for Corpo-rate Growth, San Francisco panel.

Read our three articles on Forbes:You’ll find links to these articles

on my home page: www.ceotoceo.biz

How A Company’s Founder Steered Its Culture Back on Course

The CEOs Biggest Ally For Building An Amazing Executive Team

Why A Strong External Bench Of Executive Talent Is As Crucial

As An Internal One

www.gencap.com

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Morris: The third difference is ‘few ways to develop talent.’ Your thoughts?

Sher: Midsized firms—especially those that grow quickly—often don’t have the large HR functions to develop leaders, or the cash to invest in successor positions and training, like large corporations. In slower-growing midsized firms, top managers can’t (or won’t) create adequate opportunities for advancement of younger talent, their future leaders. Midsized companies without multiple business units can’t give aspiring leaders P&L responsibilities. In just about all midsized companies, it is rare to find executives who can spend time mentoring. Everyone is too busy doing his or her own job, making the business run.

Morris: The fourth difference is ‘less investor patience for leaders learning on the job.’ Explain.

Sher: When a business is backed by venture capital or a private equity firm, there’s a hard horizon for an expected return. Investors typically believe that the leaders of the businesses they put their money behind should have the skills they need to succeed. They’re not inter-ested in waiting for them to develop.

If the leaders don’t produce within the investors’ timeline, they will be replaced. This can lead to a turnover rate at the top levels not experienced by smaller businesses—often run by their owners—or larger companies where leadership training is a core activity.

Morris: The fifth difference is ‘less strategic thinking.’ Please elaborate.

Sher: Big firms have chief strategy officers and teams dedicated to strategy, M&A and corporate development. Startups have a central belief in one specific opportunity they race to embrace. Midsized firms, however, are busy making their businesses run profitably, often doing their strategic thinking on the fly, through the part-time efforts of the CEO.

Maybe, once or twice a year, they’ll have an offsite at some nearby hotel equipped with a conference room. Bigger midsized firms (revenue $300M to $1B) might afford a few senior executives in corporate development. But in general, midsized firms don’t have the time, inclination, or skills to plan strategically.

Morris: The sixth and final difference is ‘less seasoned talent.’ Tell us about that.

Sher: In midsized companies, a high percentage of owners, CEOs, and other leaders began at the bottom and rose with the business. So they may never have acquired the executive skills you see in Fortune 500 companies (and don’t often need in smaller businesses and start-ups): disciplined planning, financial acumen, relationship building both inside and outside the business, talent development, mentoring and leadership.

Take any one of my law firm clients: great lawyers, but with no business training or experience. Another client started their retail business in college and grew it to over $300 million revenues in 12 years, without ever having held more than a summer job as a teen.

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Morris: Now please shift your attention to what you charac-terize as “the seven silent growth killers” with which leaders in midsized companies must contend each day. You devote a separate chapter to each. For those who have not as yet read your book, please explain the unique power of each and how to avoid or overcome its lethal impact. First, Letting Time Slip-Slide Away.

Sher: This growth killer is silent almost by definition because it has to do with that most ephemeral and subjective thing, time. When an organization loses the sense that time is a limited resource, deadlines on critical projects get pushed back with few if any conse-quences to the individuals and teams responsible.

It’s very easy to overlook time that slip-slides away, especially if a CEO allows it. Meetings are poorly run, wasting time. The sense of urgency seems to be miss-

ing in the leadership team. In order to overcome this killer, leaders must create a sense of urgency around deadlines by tying projects to the calendar—combining time boxing, expectations, priori-tization and intermediate deadlines. This creates clarity and ongoing pressure, thereby leading to greater appreciation for time, and better results.

Morris: Chapter 2: Strategy Tinkering at the Top

Sher: For midsized companies, tinkering with the business’s core strategy can be deadly, particu-larly when changes are made without proper research, planning, and testing. Rather than assess-ing new strategies in a thoughtful, well-planned manner, they are jumped on as soon as the leader thinks about them. This steals focus and resources from the core business. New strategies are often abandoned in favor of the next idea.

Any changes made should be necessary, well-planned and in alignment with organizational goals. To ensure this is true, leaders should conduct strategic planning and operational planning as sepa-rate tracks, all with a high level of discipline.

Morris: Chapter 3: Reckless Attempts at Growth

Sher: In the effort to scale up, organizations face increased risk and expense. If the attempt at growth costs too much and revenue doesn’t match expense, growth won’t materialize, but a cash crunch will. Signs of this killer are big campaigns with heavy investment that fail because of poor execution, a poor response from the market, and poor forecasting. There are three ways to take the “reckless attempt” out of growth, and the midsized firm must be good at all of them. They are:

• Gaining a deep understanding of your market • Developing well-founded forecasts • Making evidence-based assessments of your ability to execute

A note of appreciationBob Morris provides a great service to us all by reviewing business books with care. Take advantage by going to his blog at http://bobmorris.biz/ and show your thanks by ordering Mighty Midsized Companies (fulfilled by Amazon).

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Morris: Chapter 4: Fumbling Strategic Acquisitions

Sher: Acquisitions can be vital part of a growth strategy, but they can also derail an organiza-tion. Successful less than half of the time, acquisitions are less about the deal and the closing and more about what happens afterward: the integration process and execution of the acqui-sition plan. To beat the odds against acquisition success, leaders must carefully consider four critical factors: (1) alignment with the buyer’s core strategy; (2) the M&A experience level of the buyer’s executives; (3) the fit between buyer and seller as to scale, culture and operations; and (4) the discipline and focus of the integration process.

Morris: Chapter 5: Operation Meltdowns

Sher: They help to explain how a rapidly growing bottom line and a rigorously lean operation can actually be a death sentence under the cover of success. When chaos erupts and operating teams become over-whelmed with customer orders and requests, the company’s income and reputation are threatened.

Leaders must be able to recognize four early signs that an operational meltdown is loom-ing: (1) an overbearing sales culture; (2) out-dated IT or physical infrastructure; (3) a skills

shortage; and (4) too many eggs, not enough baskets. Furthermore, leaders should reduce the organization’s risk of an operational meltdown by creating resilience and gaining a firm handle on budgeting and forecasting.

Morris: Chapter 6: Liquidity Crashes

Sher: Running out of cash means leaderships focus exclusively on finding more cash. A short term mentality takes hold. Layoffs, angry customers, impatient creditors, fearful employees and upset banks and investors can all consume management’s energy. To sidestep this growth killer, leaders must learn to manage their balance sheet, aggressively cut costs upon sensing market weakness, maintain tight bookkeeping standards, relentlessly scan critical business performance metrics and ensure owner liquidity and alignment.

Morris: Chapter 7: Tolerating Dysfunctional Leaders

Sher: Having top team leaders who are no longer effective, or are high-maintenance (requiring babysitting) is a certain growth killer. For a midsize, each functional area leader should be BETTER than the CEO at their function, and should be actively pulling the business forward.

We only take on consulting engagements when we are confident that we can be effective, and that our clients are ready for the changes that we usually introduce. We always begin with a no-cost discussion, usually by phone.

How We Help

Learn more here: www.ceotoceo.biz/services/how-we-can-help.html

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Organizations must not tolerate high-maintenance leaders or those who are consistent un-derperformers—regardless of their popularity. Leaders must regularly assess the strength of the leadership team, and strive to reduce the range between the lowest and highest achieving performers.

Morris: These “silent growth killers” do indeed comprise a covey of destructive troublemakers. In your opin-ion, what are the defining characteristics of a leader who will be most effective in terms of (a) avoiding them or (b) eliminating them?

Sher: The effective leader must deftly balance the use of process and teams to create the right amount of leadership infrastructure, given the size of the firm. Under their per-sonal leadership, they ought to comfortably assess risks, challenges and opportunities and respond to them appropriately in the normal course of business. They should be able to attract and retain top talent.

Morris: Obviously, these silent growth killers can develop at all levels and in all areas of the given enterprise. To what extent can a comprehensive early-warning system be installed and then maintained to monitor potential threats? Please explain.

Sher: It can be, and in fact, this is what the entire book is about. The level of comprehensiveness depends on whether you can afford it. Sometimes we have to settle for a bit less comprehensive scale, especially if the strategy which drove our growth is long in the tooth. A few key elements are solid planning (including plan maintenance), a strong leadership team, and enough savvy and humility to know when you should call for an expert outside opinion.

Morris: Of all the great leaders throughout history, with which one would you most want to share an evening of conversation if it were possible? Why?

Sher: Nelson Mandela. This guy was jailed for 27 years, and still came out positive and a great leader. Many leaders (including business leaders) fall apart when the going gets rough. He’s a model of never losing hope.

Morris: If you were asked to speak at an graduation ceremony and explain why innovative thinking is impor-tant to personal growth as well as one’s career (no matter what it turns out to be), what would be your key points?

Sher: I would define innovation as solving problems in new ways. The first place to start is to listen to the people with the problem and to ask many, many questions. Then let the new ideas flow, ideally with a group of fellow innovators.

New solutions are of great value to the world. If you can find a process by which you come up with good solutions, you’ll have a great career that will be fun and fresh.

Morris: Long ago, Thomas Edison observed, “Vision without execution is hallucination.” Your response?

Sher: I couldn’t have said it better myself. I’m a pragmatist, so without results, thoughts are just dreams. We need dreams to be turned into results.

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The CEO Insomnia Factor & CEO to CEO Inc.21001 San Ramon Valley Blvd, Suite A4101 San Ramon, CA 94583 e: Jan Dare Brown, j.brown@ceotoceo.biz

phone: 925-829-8190 www.ceotoceo.biz twitter : @RobertSher

The CEO Insomnia Factor March 2015

Morris: Let’s say that a CEO has read and then (hopefully) re-read Mighty Midsized Companies and is now determined to establish or strengthen a workplace culture within which personal growth and professional development are most likely to thrive. Where to begin?

Sher: Begin with a solid strategic and operational plan. This is a roadmap for the business. We can focus everyone on accomplishing this plan, and in order to do so, become clearer about where we each need to grow and develop.

Morris: For more than 25 years, it has been my great pleasure as well as privilege to work closely with the owner/CEOs of hundreds of small companies, those with $20-million or less in annual sales. In your opinion, of all the material you provide in Mighty Midsized Companies, which do you think will be of greatest value to leaders in small companies? Please explain.

Sher: The notion that leadership is an “organism” in and of itself; deserving of study and then construction. Leadership infrastructure requires time, thought, resources and hard work, and if we focus on it, that leadership infrastructure will allow us to have sustainable, long term growth. ■

Robert Sher is the founding principal of CEO to CEO Inc., a consulting firm of former chief executives that elevates successful CEOs and their teams who lead midsized companies. He is the author of two books, The Feel of the Deal (2007), and Mighty Midsized Companies (Bibliomotion, 2014), and is an online columnist for Forbes, Harvard Business Review, Entrepreneur and more. Sher was CEO of a publishing company for more than 20 years before launching CEO to CEO in 2007.