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When the Founder Is the Rainmaker: How to Scale Without Losing the Spark
In many founder-led businesses, the founder isn’t just the leader—they’re also the best (and often only) rainmaker. They land the big deals. They have the trusted relationships. They know the pitch inside and out because they are the pitch.
It works—until it doesn’t.
As the business grows, this model creates a bottleneck. Every new opportunity depends on one and only person. And it’s the same person every time. But there’s a downside. When that person is also responsible for running the business, mentoring the team, and shaping the vision, something eventually gives.
Part 4: How Does Employee Engagement Win the Growth Game?
Mon, May 4, 2020 — Culture Shift Now: Getting the Right Help for the Times Co-Authored by Marc Umscheid, CMO, Chief Outsiders and Kristin Anderson, Partner, LeadQuest Consulting Welcome to the fourth blog in our series on the importance of a more engaged culture in fostering growth at your company (if you'd like to read any of the previous posts, they can be found here: Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3). Clearly, a few things have happened in our world since our last blog – namely, the COVID-19 pandemic, and an economic slowdown that has left few businesses untouched, or unscathed. If you have been following our blog series, you may recall that we have been insisting that a carefully crafted culture goes hand and glove with a high effective growth strategy, – making the case for how your leadership shapes the engagement needed for growth. Though the world may have changed – the fundamental principles have not. How you lead your employees now will indelibly reflect upon your cultural and growth mindset. This is now more important than ever.
Keys to COVID-19 Crisis Communications Success: Tips for Every CEO
Wed, Apr 22, 2020 — As the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic continues to mount, the workforce remains ever fearful. With unemployment rising by the millions, and those still employed wondering if—or when—the other shoe may drop at your company, it’s never been more critical to be transparent. Right now, your employees are looking to you for the kind of leadership that will help them, and your company, get through the crisis.
Part 3: How Does Employee Engagement Win the Growth Game?
Thu, Feb 20, 2020 — Assessing the Health of Your Culture Co-Authored by Marc Umscheid, CMO, Chief Outsiders and Kristin Anderson, Partner, LeadQuest Consulting In our first two blogs (Part one and Part two) on the subject of corporate culture, we have been making the case for the importance of a serious, top-down effort to ensure your company is united around a single vision -- and that your corporate culture is working for you, not against you. We’ve seen how such a CEO-led commitment can lead to riches beyond your wildest dreams (or, at least, measurably better performance), and we’ve heard directly from one CEO who grappled with the effects of a toxic culture before his personal involvement – and a committed effort -- restored balance across his organization.
Part 2: How Does Employee Engagement Win the Growth Game?
Wed, Dec 11, 2019 — Shaping a High Performing Culture is a Top-Down Commitment Co-Authored by Marc Umscheid, CMO, Chief Outsiders and Kristin Anderson, Partner, LeadQuest Consulting In our previous blog, we established the importance of corporate culture in the paradigm of business success. Commit to it, and reap myriad rewards, including better hires, more efficient business practices – and more revenue. But, allow your culture to become toxic, and you place more at risk than just caustic commentary at the water cooler. Like any living, breathing organism, toxicity can infect the corporate ecosystem as well – and the responsibility to ensure a healthy, positive environment starts at the top!
How Does Employee Engagement Win the Growth Game? Look to Your Company’s Culture
Tue, Oct 29, 2019 — This is the first in a series of four blogs on the role of company culture as a function of your overall business strategy. Co-Authored by Marc Umscheid, CMO, Chief Outsiders and Kristin Anderson, Partner, LeadQuest Consulting What do you know about your company’s culture? And, more importantly, how it can impact the success—or failure—of your growth initiatives? Companies that do a great job of instilling culture as a way of engaging teams are 21 percent more profitable than their counterparts, according to a 2016 study by Deloitte Consulting. A thriving culture is key to growth because of its tie to profitability and recruiting top employees. With that in mind, it is surprising that only one in four C-suite executives understand their company’s culture – and appreciate its link to performance.
Why Millennial Talent Seems to Be Always Looking for the Next Best Thing
Thu, Aug 21, 2014 — Every generation seems destined to be the most misunderstood generation. This was true for Baby Boomers, Gen X and is especially applicable when attempting to understand the motivations and values of the Millennial generation (also referred to as Gen Y). We’ve likely read about how Millennials grew up on technology and are dependent upon it. We could easily argue with them about their worldviews. While Millennials may be cast as the most misunderstood generation, they’re quickly becoming the most studied and researched generation. Yet despite all the insights we’ve gained, it’s interesting that most Baby Boomers infer they simply don’t understand a Millennial’s perspective on life and work. On the surface, Millennials may come across as being irresponsible, entitled, disengaged, arrogant, idealistic and overly confident. While some of these may be appropriate, from a practical perspective, Millennials tend to be competent, bright and highly focused. The chasm between the generations being, Millennials hold a significantly different worldview about life, their careers and what they expect from their employers.
Marketing Requires Vision
Tue, May 6, 2014 — Over the years that I was in marketing leadership, I experienced the variety of misconceptions that companies had with marketing. It was rare to find a company that viewed marketing as a profitable tool to communicate the vision of the company. Instead, they expected marketing to compensate for their shortcomings, and somehow convince customers to prefer us despite our failures.