Reinventing BODs — LeanBOD™ To The Rescue…
For many years, my business objectives were clearly defined: to join Advisory Boards of open-minded and innovative entities. The goal was to offer the best AI Investment Advice to VCs/CVCs/PE investors and their investees. And yet, I quickly realized that I had a problem…
Over the last 30+ years, I found that many organizations are building remarkable, mile-deep, domain-specific knowledge at their BODs (which includes the competencies of the CEO). What is often missing at such companies, is the proper balance between KNOWLEDGE & IMAGINATION.
But don’t just take my word for it. This is why I often quote Albert Einstein on the above: “Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the entire world, stimulating progress, giving birth to evolution”
The fact is that there is not a single top athlete who does not have a coach. And yet, only 20% of CEOs are coached by Advisors — the other 80% may never become the top performers they could have been. So, my CEO recommendation is quite clear:
“Amateurs don’t use coaches, professionals do… and so should you”
To make things worse, even the 20% of CEOs who used advisors — wouldn’t acquire such help and talk to an advisor without a referral. Not surprisingly, the gene-pool of good advice is shrinking dramatically in all such cases…
And when the CEOs dismiss my help and say that they already have an advisor — I frequently point out that it is like saying:
You bought a business book in the past and do not need to look at another one…
Not that increasingly diluted brand recognition of a generic “advisor” helped, either. The last time I Googled the word “advisor” — the search engine came back with about 921,000,000 results (yes, it’s not an error, I’m talking about 921 million…).
And if you think that Social Media helps to separate the wheat from the chaff — think again. Even though a good advisor helps you think, finding a good outside advisor by the CEO is like finding a proverbial needle in a haystack… So, it’s time to call for a BOD Calvary to the rescue…
Therefore, I asked myself a simple question:
1) If offering ADVICE to CEOs is facing such an overwhelming roadblock — what is the most pragmatic way to meet such a challenge?
2) And could BOD play a greater role in helping the company to meet and exceed its growth targets, bring new & untapped revenue streams to boost ROIs, and deliver the results as planned?
The answer to the above recently dawned on me:
The easiest way to solve such a problem is to… bring a Co-CEO onboard!
IMHO, the merit of the outside Co-CEO has nothing to do with how many years the CEO was involved within a specific industry. For example, my structured finance expertise was acquired by financing over $1B of Renewable Energy projects.
And now, I apply such skills to Healthcare, Fintech, Transportation, Construction & Manufacturing sectors. What I enjoy the most, is successfully porting breakthrough strategies from unrelated fields — to new markets!
Chances are, that many companies already have considerable domain-specific expertise — and it’s time to start looking for outside-the-box thought-leaders. After all, the most successful entities are striking the BALANCE between:
· Domain-specific experts AND generalists
· Mile-deep AND mile-wide points of view
· Strategists AND tacticians
· Leaders AND managers, etc.
Why? Because there are significant benefits to BOTH. And only by using both types of advisers, the companies can gain from new and innovative recommendations and insights. The best turnarounds and pivots occur when companies take outside advice seriously…
I recommend using the following COMMON-SENSE approach to solve the proverbial Expert/Generalist dilemma:
· Generalists — use such outside advisors to reinvent old business models & generate new growth strategies
· Experts — use domain-specific experts to significantly accelerate, enhance, and optimize the revived growth strategies
· Verifiers — repeat the process when the growth flattens…
Based on my 30+ years of entrepreneurial experience, I’m convinced that companies succeed when they are READY to act and keenly OPPORTUNISTIC. Besides, every successful company must also be LUCKY to be at the right time and at the right place — to take advantage of the unfolding opportunity…
I wrote about BODs before but never in the context of a LeanBOD™. According to Wikipedia: “Lean startup is a methodology for developing businesses and products that aims to shorten product development cycles and rapidly discover if a proposed business model is viable; this is achieved by adopting a combination of business-hypothesis-driven experimentation, iterative product releases, and validated learning”…
It further adds that: “Similar to the precepts of lean manufacturing and lean software development, the lean startup methodology seeks to eliminate wasteful practices and increase value-producing practices during the earliest phases of a company so that the company can have a better chance of success without requiring large amounts of outside funding, elaborate business plans, or a perfect product”…
Now, wouldn’t the same principles apply to the role of the BOD? How else can the BOD help the company to expedite finding & replicating the “brightspots”, and to ensure that the CEOs zero-in on a low-hanging fruit?
And if the Minimum Viable Product (MVP) hypothesis doesn’t work exactly as planned? — PIVOT! In other words, if the Co-CEO failed to demonstrate an exceptional level of both: competence AND integrity — quickly chose another advisor from the existing pool of Advisory Board members…
Unless CEOs resemble Moses and can part water, BODs must insist on having a competent Advisory Board in place and choose the right Co-CEOs from it…
Seeing the big picture is equally important as paying attention to domain-specific details. And who can dispute the famous proverb that: “the two heads are better than one” — just ask Merriam-Webster Dictionary… It says: “it is easier for two people who help each other to solve a problem than it is for one person to solve a problem alone”
Jointly, Co-CEOs can have a better look at all pictures, big and small — not just the numbers. After all, Blockbuster, Kodak & Nokia had good accountants too…
Like in PROCUREMENT, single-source seldom works. Dual redundancy does. So, why should progressive BODs leave the company’s fortunes in the hands of a single executive?
And sometimes knowing what question to ask is winning half the battle. For example: can even the best infrastructure CEO quickly learn all about Data Analytics, AI, ML, Blockchains, etc.? Can such a CEO become as knowledgeable as an Adviser with 30+ years of expertise?
Of course, NOT! However, instead of speed-learning every ground-breaking technology a mile-deep — all that a good CEO should do is to be open to the outside advice of a Co-CEO who possesses such know-how. And this is where a hands-on BOD can help the most…
Digitization, IT, and Artificial Intelligence are causing the greatest disruption of global markets and their utmost technological transformation of the last 50 years. Perhaps handling all business areas such as the creation of new revenues, improvements in operational efficiency, new customer acquisition, increased retention & loyalty of existing customers — was well handled by a single CEO in the past.
Looking ahead, the complexities of Data Analytics and the use of Artificial Intelligence will increase in almost all business areas. And I am convinced that making the best decisions by a well-matched pair of Co-CEOs — will become a norm, rather than an exception…
So, perhaps in a post COVID-19 world, it makes a lot of sense to look at the Co-CEO as an Ark Builder and remember what Warren Buffett so brilliantly said: “Predicting rain doesn’t count; building arks… does”
And somehow, I have this sneaking suspicion, a premonition, or a hunch — that our world will soon need more experienced ark builders than lumber salesmen…
But remember this: people make all the difference and I often say that: “even 100 mediocre musicians were never a substitute for a single Mozart, the same way 100 mediocre physicists are not a substitute to Einstein’s brilliance”…
Yes, I’m proud to offer creative, fresh ideas that embrace logic, emotions, and entrepreneurial intuition. Moreover, I stand against mediocrity & my Modus Operandi is quite simple:
If after being on the company’s Advisory Board for 90 days, I am not invited to serve as a Co-CEO… I failed
Unique pattern recognition abilities allow me to see what’s still missing & how to maximize business offerings & profitability. And looking at existing problems with a pair of fresh eyes — often brings a set of creative solutions, that were never even considered in the past.
To me, Business Model Innovation is as disruptive as Technology Innovation. So, I help companies and their BODs developing unique & opportunistic growth strategies with the focus on bringing RAPID & SUSTAINABLE revenues…
In Summary
If you are utterly convinced that the office of the CEO doesn’t belong to the ever-growing list of necessary REINVENTIONS — disregard my recommendations. However, if you begin to see too many cases of the Titanic Syndrome afflicting the corporate world — the time for action is NOW…
It’s not rocket science to spot the underperformers suffering from such an illness: “A corporate disease in which organizations facing disruption create their own downfall through arrogance, excessive attachment to the past, or an inability to recognize the new and emerging reality”
So, my blueprint for the LeanBOD™ reinvention calls for two simple actions:
1. BODs — to mandate CEO’s Advisory Boards and create a pool of Co-CEO talent
2. Co-CEOs — to be chosen by the BODs from the pre-selected members of the Advisory Boards
One more thing… I strongly recommend to the boards adding a “seasoned” Co-CEO to the mix. The surprising findings of the recent MIT study done on 2.7MM business clearly indicate the following:
“A 40-year-old startup founder is 2.1 times more likely to found a successful startup as a 25-year-old, and A 50-year-old startup founder is 2.8 times more likely to found a successful startup as a 25-year-old founder”.
Still not convinced? Well, a 60-year-old startup founder is … 3 times as likely to launch a successful startup as a 30-year-old startup founder. The bottom line: Older Founders Are More Likely to Succeed and BODs should take note of such findings…
As BusinessAI™ veteran w/ 30-yr hands-on AI expertise, I deliver unbiased AI investment advice to separate the wheat from the chaff. By joining Advisory Boards, I help VC/CVC/PE funds to turn their unicorns into stallions… instead of little ponies.
I am on a single mission: to Reinvent Corporate Prosperity. My goal is to stop the Dreams of Wealth from becoming Nightmares of Poverty. My structured finance expertise was acquired by financing over $1B of Renewable Energy projects. And now, I apply such skills to Healthcare, Fintech, Transportation, Construction & Manufacturing sectors.
And it is not about how to score one hit. It’s a process to beat the odds and it needs to be repeated time after time — just as I did w/ Verizon 20 years ago. I reached the stage in my life where I don’t care about office politics and water-cooler gossips. Nor do I offer fake flatteries to CEOs. All I care about is how to solve problems and deliver results — by managing change and uncertainty.
