I can’t name the company because 99% of you reading this will recognize it. I recently went to a Mariners game with the company’s CEO and we got to discussing his efforts to improve it.
He talked about product mix, margins, new product variations, and other things. I asked him about the volume of the product line he wants to scale and when he answered I said, “That’s all?” He then shared statistics on others in his industry, which told me how much potential there is along with the hard work needed to catch up.
He also shared how he meets resistance to any and every new idea and said:
I’m going to have to make some changes on the management team.
If your team is (too) comfortable something has to change. Being in a comfort zone means they don’t want change. This is different than what I regularly see. It’s often the owner who is doing very well, doesn’t want to change things, grow, add people, etc. (which is what business buyers like as it means opportunity).
The abovementioned business brought my friend in to fix things as they’ve been underperforming. And it comes back to the adage, if what you’re doing doesn’t work do something different.
Good CEOs, like my friend, must make tough decisions. Making those tough decisions is what makes them good CEOs or owners.
“Why should I care about posterity. What has it ever done for me?” Grouch Marx
“It’s very pleasant to be praised, but it doesn’t actually help you.” (Painter) Francis Bacon
