2015 has been an amazing year here at the Association of Interim Executives. We parachuted executives into companies worldwide and saw powerful collaboration taking place among the RED Team, an elite group of interims.
As we reflect on the past year, we are more confident than ever that together we can better the world by deploying great leadership. Please enjoy these 5 highlights from 2015.
UBS recently published an article that gave a good synopsis of what a restructuring entails, especially regarding public companies:
“A restructuring marks a challenging and sometimes disruptive time in the history of any corporation that has ever undertaken one. Managements rarely aspire to undergo a restructuring, but in some cases, it is the best path when a company has an urgent need to turn around its fortunes, improve its reputation, or restore its competitive position. The process can entail major changes in the organizational structure, staff, asset base/product line, or cost structure. History tells us that a positive outcome is not assured, as not all restructuring plans are carried out effectively.
A successful restructuring begins with a vision and an achievable strategy for implementation. A well-executed restructuring or turnaround can transform a company that is weighed down – by an inferior product line, a heavy debt burden, inefficient operations, or a damaged reputation – into a strong competitor with dramatically improved financial results.”
See the entire UBS article on restructuring and turnarounds here. The Association is home to top interim executives, many of whom specialize in providing the leadership to transform struggling companies.
Overview
On March 30, 2015, I began my tenure as an interim manager (Interim Chief Operating Officer) at ChildServ, a social services agency that had recently celebrated its 120th anniversary serving at-risk children and families in the Chicagoland area. While I was new to the role, I had the benefit of not being new to the organization. In fact, I had served on the Board of Trustees of ChildServ for the prior 15 months, resigning only after my Board colleagues had voted to have me take on the difficult task of driving badly needed change from within.
Hosted by the Association of Interim Execs, CXO Chat is where top company founders and top leaders have real conversations around the high points and challenges in building and transforming a business.
October 5, 2015 @ 10am CDT
Join us as leaders discuss where Internet of Things (IOT) is going and how it will impact your company. Machine intelligence and connectivity is becoming embedded in your washing machine, your light bulbs and even your grandmother. Is your business ready?
Hardik Bhatt was a Senior Director with Cisco and led market development for Internet of Everything for their Global Public Sector. He is now CIO for the State of Illinois, charged with the modest mission of transforming, aligning, and streamlining all state agencies in their use of technology to better deliver services.
Imad Mouline, co-founder and CTO of Everbridge, heads up market strategy, product roadmap, innovation, and R&D, including current IOT product launches. Imad has served as CTO and co-founder of several technology companies that achieved home run results.
Association of Interim Executives member, Yoav Cohen, is an interim executive who has successfully helped turn around many struggling companies. In a recent interview with MeetAdvisors, Yoav shares his experiences, and the warning signs owners should look for if trouble’s coming.
“Many people who run companies get comfortable with the familiar and are not managing the changes demanded by the market,” Cohen said.
Many companies are starved for effective leadership, and as a result the demand for great interim executives who will come in and do the work is increasing. Consider this passage from the book Traction:
The inability to make a business vision a reality is epidemic. Consider it a new take on an old quote: Vision without traction is merely hallucination. All over the world, business consultants frequently conduct multiple-day strategic planning sessions and charge tens of thousands of dollars for teaching what is theoretically great material. The downside is that after making you feel warm and fuzzy about your direction, these same consultants rarely teach you how to bring your vision down to the ground and make it work in the real world.
I was traveling recently near Guanajuato, Mexico, to the small village of Santa Rosa de Lima, population 3000. We visited a cooperative run by five local women called Conservas Santa Rosa. This company was founded in 1998 with support from the government, which sought to exploit natural resources such as wild fruits produced without fertilizers.
They started making strawberry jam by hand for the local communities and now have a contract to supply a national restaurant. With this growth, they have raised the standard of living of over fifty families and are now sending their children to school. They have been recognized by the UN as a successful rural productive project.
40 years in public company management, merchant banking and entrepreneurship in multiple industries has left an indelible imprint on me. In the two dozen businesses that I have been involved with as owner, investor, operator or contractor, my belief is that businesses that seek outside help tend to focus on fixes for weaknesses in growth or profitability. Whether it be failing or non-existent cash flow, troubled industries, poor strategic fits, etc. my belief is that the damage was done far before the negative symptoms occurred. Operating and financial weaknesses are the symptoms of the larger illness.
The root cause is always about two factors: people and leadership. A leader creates the culture for his company and that culture is palpable at every level of involvement including the C-suite, middle management, rank and file, customers and suppliers.
May 27, 2015 marked the first Interim Executive Conference, held in Chicago. The Rapid Executive Deployment Roundtable #1 (RED 1) brought together top executives from as far as Hamburg, Germany to focus on the growth of the interim specialty.
We kicked off the conference the night before at Highline:
One of my early mentors inspired me to restart, after each painful management lesson, by paraphrasing the following excerpt from Teddy Roosevelt’s 1915 speech at the Sorbonne.
“It is not the critic who counts; not the one who points out how the strong stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the one who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends oneself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if one fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that one’s place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”
First-year Change Agent members have access to the Interim Institute’s 4 hour audio program on the Fundamentals of Interim Management, and a one-hour strategy session to help jumpstart their interim career.
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