CEO Think: Blog
How Did Your Mid-Market Company Run Out of Money?
When a mid-market company is in need of a transfusion of cash, nothing else seems to matter. This article looks at the high cost of a cash crash. It also addresses some best practices best implemented long before trouble arises that will minimize the pain and give you a better chance to survive. READ MORE >
Will Instagram Be a Billion-Dollar Loss for Facebook?
Facebook has just acquired Instagram – a billion dollar proposition. But what will happen to that acquisition? Will it truly be “integrated” into the Facebook business? If you’re a mid-market company, with limited resources both human and financial, what do you risk when making an acquisition?
Why a Loyal CEO Can be Deadly
Being a loyal CEO can be deadly. But isn’t loyalty good? Admirable? Yes, but not always. Not when the CEO is loyal to people who aren’t loyal to the company.
Fire the Founder?
Founders have different aspirations. Some founder CEOs are eager and able to develop their CEO skills enough to run a mid-market company, while others are not. Those who want to keep the job must build those skills rapidly, ahead of the needs of the business, if they hope to keep the backing of their investors.
Why Half of All M&A Deals Fail, and What You Can Do About It
One of the main reasons acquisitions fail is that they are doomed from the start. Some deals just shouldn’t be done. This Forbes article suggests five critical questions
The Unpredictable CEO’s Destruction of their Senior Leaders
What a waste when bright, competent senior leaders who report to the CEO hang back, and fail to lead their company assertively. When they tiptoe around the CEO and wait for permission to take charge.
Part II: Where’s the Boss? Driving Results in a Meeting
Last week I ranted a bit about how CEOs shouldn’t listen to the “time-wasting” bad rap that meetings have, but instead should make their meetings powerful, where they leverage the collective wisdom and experience of their top teams. This week I’m enumerating specific techniques to make meetings produce real results.
Part I: Where’s the Boss? Driving Results in a Meeting
I came across this article last week in the Wall Street Journal titled, “Where’s the Boss? Trapped in a Meeting” that made it sound like CEOs weren’t productive and spent large amounts of time in meetings, at lunches and traveling, with as little as six hours per week working solo.
Necessary Roughness
Nobody wants to start a fight. Yet in many cases “playing nice” is uncalled for and may indeed hurt your business. Ask yourself these twelve questions before you cross the line.
Thoughts about Conveying Gravitas
What is “Gravitas” and how is it conveyed by CEOs in a business situations?
Robert Sher is founding principal of CEO to CEO, a consulting firm of former chief executives that improves the leadership infrastructure of midsized companies seeking to accelerate their performance. He was chief executive of Bentley Publishing Group from 1984 to 2006 and steered the firm to become a leading player in its industry (decorative art publishing).