Business Owner: Don’t lose your Kevin

Just spoke with a friend yesterday – Kevin - who called me for advice on managing his boss (the business owner). Kevin experienced something very common: a business owner freaking out a few weeks after making a senior hire. It's just a little buyer’s remorse – the reality of the short-term payroll impact hitting home, without any consideration of the long-term benefit.

Now the owner finds himself in a situation where he really hurt his new GM’s confidence in the owner’s ability to lead; if Kevin follows my advice, he’ll immediately call one of the other companies that made him an offer recently.

If you’re a business owner, here are some takeaways:

• Hiring a butt-kicking executive (COO/GM/etc.) is a short-term investment for long-term gain. From my experience (both personal and from working with others), the fastest results (increased profit) came within 3 months. Often the annual investment in this person is paid back within 6 months, and then after that you're using multiples to calculate ROI. You didn’t get into your situation overnight, don’t expect everything to change in 1.5 weeks. 
• Don’t freak out your awesome employees. Your best employees are going to leave FIRST, so don’t shake their confidence in your ability to lead.
  

Warning! Here comes sort-of a sales pitch:

• Kevin's business owner could have used a business coach. A business coach - someone with specific business operating experience, related training, and proven intellectual property - probably would have helped this business owner avoid this entire scenario. Once the word gets out about what happened, other employees are going to start looking for new jobs, too.
• It’s not a sign of your inability to do it on your own when you hire a business coach. The world’s best athletes have coaches; does that mean they're chumps? World-class CEOs have a bevy of advisers (consulting companies, Board of Directors, executive coaches, etc.). Are they suckers? Play like a champion: don’t compete in the business marketplace without a coach. 
• A business coach coaches your business – not your life – and that’s why we get quick results. We focus on the effective execution of your enterprise (leadership, management, metrics, strategy, operations, marketing, sales, etc.). We help you maximize productivity, scalability, profitability, and value. Then, with all the money you make and the time you get back, you can hire a life coach to help you figure out what you want to do next.
  

Go get 'em!

Ingar Grev