SUCCESSFUL ENTREPRENEURS GROW BY LETTING GO
CEOS MUST GROW ALONG WITH THEIR COMPANIES
It takes imagination, courage, tenacity, and a strong work ethic to conceive and launch a new business. Too often the business grows but the founder doesn’t. Starting and maintaining attributes are diametrically opposed. Successful entrepreneurs grow by letting go.
The marketplace is shifting because of global competition and the impact of digital technology—like a wheel within a wheel, so are internal business dynamics. The age-old challenge of managing growth continues. It is a challenge that will eventually confront every CEO. If the management of corporate growth is not dealt with effectively, the entrepreneur’s dream of leading a successful enterprise will never see the light of day.
There are transition points in the lifecycle of every small business. Most start-ups fail their way to success until they reach stage-one maturity (the point where a history of positive performance has been established). Although the majority of business failures occur during the first two years, most bankers believe that it takes at least five years before a CEO will have experienced a sufficient variety of issues to prove that he/she has what it takes to succeed.
The odds of remaining profitable increase after reaching stage-one maturity—as long as the business stays on top of internal and external challenges. Staying ahead of the curve is becoming more difficult in the shadow of increasing competition.
Prosperous stage-one business owners, focus on maintaining profitability. Unfortunately, success seduces many owners into unplanned growth. Next to cash flow and competition, succumbing to knee-jerk expansion is the major destroyer of small business. Unmanaged growth has killed (literally) the health, wealth and relationships of many CEOs. Expansion “dis-ease” usually kick in when the personal will and skill of a CEO is no longer sufficient to drive what has become a larger, more complex organization. Hitting the expansion wall is a critical watershed. To survive, companies have to either return to a profitable stage-one level, or make a transition that creates *transferable wealth and wisdom. * a company not dependent on the CEO or any individual