Services
| I have spent most of my career trying to be clear.
I’ll try again by listing the tools we bring to our bosses:
These are really cool ways of getting past the navel-gazing of running a company. I mean, what is more misleading than seeing only inside information? Yet even inside is a goldmine of data that is commonly untapped. *** An executive from a client’s largest customer once said to me, “I don’t understand his success, since he knows nothing about business.” In my view, his words are a profoundly interesting way of defining an oddball entrepreneur. From startup I knew my client lacked business knowledge. But I was just as sure he could deliver a first-rate product fit to his customer. Except for the stellar return-on-assets, the growth, and the wealth that all flowed from this ability [knowledge], I suppose the exec was right, my client didn’t know “business.” |
All the tools I developed were to get his economic timing right. Volatility matters. He had a family and hopes for the future.
All the tools I developed were to try to slow the inevitable decline — from what an entrepreneur is naturally — into a business exec, a manager. In my view, neither pays as well, or is as satisfying. But then that is only what I’ve seen over 40 years. Another 40 years and I’ll become dogmatic. I was taught entrepreneurs fail due to poor management and lack of capital. I see now that managers and capital are what entrepreneurs get from the fruits of their success. I was taught we can’t predict or time investments. I have found that timing is inevitable. If you add outside data, economic insight, and a real understanding of the entrepreneur, prediction and good timing are not only practical but essential. From my earliest days I dreamed – too much I suppose – of the days when I could place these tools in the right hands. Now I can. It is a great time. So maybe a career isn’t too long a time spent trying to be clear. |