What do new entrepreneurs, investors, CEOs, or consultants subconsciously expect when taking on a promising project?
"Improvements in the business will be radical and immediate."
An experienced person knows that having a vision, an investment thesis, and a strategic plan is one thing, but reality is quite another.
And the larger and older the organization, the bigger that gap.
A new leader bursts into the organization full of energy, making a lot of noise and stirring things up. But then, he gets stuck, like a wasp in a spider's web. The ideas may be great, and the authority and resources are there, but the results just don't come.
That web? It’s the people on the ground, or rather, the network of their interests.
Even if the organization is now one step away from collapse, it’s still serving someone’s local interests. Maybe it’s just inertia, but there’s still some movement. Thus there will be resistance.
It’s like they’d rather end up with nothing than change. And that’s often true. Who is the most open to change? The one who’s lost everything.
That’s why a wise leader renews the organization by forcing it to go through a symbolic death. For example, he might fire most of the staff, tetire an outdated brand, or sell off non-core assets.
Once the company passes through its starting point, it will grow again.
Samo Burja, the founder of the consulting firm Bismarck Analysis, which studies the political and institutional landscape, put it clearly:
"So many people experience in the later, more bureaucratized stages in organization, how difficult it is to fix something that's broken. There's no better moment then the founding of organization or a company to fix something what's broken. Every point later in its history it's going to be more difficult. There will always be vested interests. Right before you create a structure there's no vested interest. Ss soon as you create a structure there's a vested interest. It will automatically fight you. So that's why there's an element perhaps of luck in founding companies and other organizations. And there's also this also sort of flash of brilliance, a spark of brilliance, where everything just works, it just works — too well, and just works from day one."
Sincerely yours,
-Alexander
About me:
As a business therapist, I help tech founders quickly solve dilemmas at the intersection of business and personality, and boost company value as a result.
How can I help you?
If you've long been trying to understand what is limiting you and/or your business and how to finally give important changes a push, then The Catalyst Session is designed specifically for you. Book it here.