Know which will build company worth
Your job as an owner/CEO is to build the worth of your company so you can achieve a euphoric exit event one day. Over the years, as you’re trying to build the worth, your company is going to experience good and bad times. Too often owners don’t think about the different types of leadership needed for each.
War time leaders know how to handle downturns, challenging business conditions and even turnaround situations. Peace time leaders don’t. Their style is perfect for when business conditions are stable but they are slower to adapt and drive the needed changes during difficult times.
During challenging times, owners and CEOs that are tuned to this dynamic will know when to bring in outside resources to complement their current leadership. Meaning, if their team is peace time talented but a downturn or big problem arises, they complement them with an interim external resource that is war time experienced. This way you can address the challenge more swiftly while protecting, even building, company worth and you can help develop your team for the future.
But if your leadership is war time seasoned, leading during peace time isn’t playing to their strong suit nor is it of much interest to them. So generally, war time leaders aren’t a good fit for stable businesses operating in mature industries. But peace time leaders can potentially operate during difficult times but should be complemented with war time seasoned resources.
As you think about your leadership team, keep this dynamic in mind. Which leadership does your company have and is it capable of always growing your company worth?
