Tip of the Spear Ventures

A Family Office that behaves like Venture Capital | Private Equity | Business Consulting

Sam Palazzolo, Managing Director

The Leadership Challenge: Insecurity – 3 Tips!

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The Leadership Challenge_Insecurity 3 Tips

The Point: What do you get when you cross a bully, a know-it-all, an underperformer, a spotlight-grabber, a perpetual reward-seeker, a comparer, an imitator, and tenure? The answer: an Insecure Leader! It got us wondering here at Tip of the Spear HQ just why/how could the trait of insecurity actually take root and grow within a leader in the current workplace. So, in this week’s post we’ll explore the topic of being insecure as a leader along with 3 tips… Enjoy!

So You’re Telling Me You’re an Insecure Leader?

I’m fortunate, in as much, I typically love the consulting work we do at Tip of the Spear (M&A, Sales/Business Development, and Turnaround). However I sometime question my “fortune” when I have an experience that goes sideways, and that’s exactly what happened on a recent consultation visit when insecurity raised its ugly head.

It’s customary during an initial consultation visit to (1) provide introductions, (2) establish a baseline of current activities, and (3) determine desired outcomes for this, as well as future, consulting sessions. Pretty standard stuff, right? Wrong, especially when insecurity is present! Less than twenty minutes into a recent initial consultation session the “Insecure Leader” of the operation voiced their frustration with the process, insisting that introductions and baselines were a waste of time, and that assistance is needed in this/that area (Insecurity?) However, with little/no context provided as to whether or not the “this/that” areas, (Again, insecurity?) were truly where assistance was needed. It left me wondering why I was there if help wasn’t warranted…

What the Insecure Leader is Actually Saying

Insecurity can raise it’s ugly-head in leadership in many ways…

  • There can be the classic bully (I’m the leader and I said you need to do it). There can be the know-it-all (I’ve been there/done that and I know this company/industry/world inside and out)
  • There can be the underperformer (I’m a little behind the 8-ball this month, but it’s the fault of the customers/employees/your visit taking me away from important items/etc.)
  • There’s the spotlight-grabber (Failure is shared by all, but victory is all my doing)
  • There’s the imitator (Just tell me the best-practices going on out there… Pay no attention to our business basics that we fail at)
  • Lastly, there’s tenure (I’ve been here 30+ years…Enough said!)

How to Avoid an Insecure Leader – 3 Tips!

So what should you do when you encounter an Insecure Leader? It’s not a matter of “if” as the saying goes, it’s a matter of “when” you encounter an Insecure Leader. The following are 3 tips to assist you, whether you are managing-up or managing-down with an Insecure Leader:

  • Insecure Leader Tip #1 – Find Pride: Insecure leaders typically share a narcissistic view of the world. What’s not good enough for the goose must be good for the gander. Helping them find pride in themselves and their operation can greatly assist insecurity within the Insecure Leader.
  • Insecure Leader Tip #2 – Celebrate Success: Recognition NOT of how great the Insecure Leader is, but in the potential for greater success is what I’m talking about here. There often is too much coddling of the Insecure Leader and not enough having of tough or difficult conversations. If you’re always telling the Insecure Leader that they’re great, you’re not valuing them, yourself, or your performance potential with them.
  • Insecure Leader Tip #3 – Pull the Plug! I have a friend who is a Psychologist. I asked him once “What do you do when you have a really difficult patient. One where you’ve tried everything and they are making little/no progress. What do you do?” He told me that after he buckles-back and doubles-down to insure that no stone has been left unturned, and once he is satisfied that his efforts have been exhausted, he simply pulls the plug!

SUMMARY

In hindsight, I should have taken “Insecure Leader Tip #3 – Pull the Plug!” and ran instantly away from the insecurity present, and more importantly the Insecure Leader. In a consulting capacity, one of my former principal associates shared that he often felt like he wore a bull’s-eye on his back. In the subsequent days since my Insecure Leader encounter, I noticed a warm/burning sensation in my back (figuratively, not physically). I reached back and touched what turned out to be the handle of an ax buried deeply between my shoulder blades. Yep, should have taken Insecure Leader Tip #3!

Sam Palazzolo

PS – Last year I published my fourth book. Titled “Leading at the Tip of the Spear: The Leader” it’s a look into how you can become the best leader possible. You can check-it out here on AMAZON. All proceeds go to The Javelin Institute, a 501(c)(3) whose aim is to assist families who’ve experienced hardship through death, divorce, disease, or drugs.

PPSS – My next book, titled “Leading at the Tip of the Spear: Leadership Strategy” is due out next month. The work is a look into how you can develop your best strategy for yourself/your organization. If you’d like to receive the Introduction please drop me an email at info [at] javelininstitute.org.

The Leadership Challenge: Competitiveness

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The Point: If nothing truly happens in business until you sell something and the Darwinian principle of “only the strong survive” is alive and well in business today, we scratched our heads here at Tip of the Spear pondering exactly what role individual competitiveness plays across industry. After all, is your ability to compete a signal of success or certain doom/failure in business (and therefore in life)? So in this post, we’ll explore the leadership challenge of competitiveness… Enjoy!

The Leadership Challenge Competitiveness

Is Competitiveness an Economic Model?

Your ability to compete and win in business is a key differentiator for leaders that want to succeed. Have a good idea that you know will be the organization’s next homerun? You’d better be prepared to compete to get it on the agenda for the upcoming leadership meeting. Want to ensure that your monthly goals are met, even though it’s the final week of the month and you’re only 2/3 of the way there? Better fire-up the troops (yourself?) and get those competitive juices flowing STAT!

But what is it all worth, and why exert the effort? After all, aren’t there 12 months in a year (So what if we miss one month’s goals as long as we achieve the annual?) The truth is that while you can’t build a successful leadership career in one-month, the converse relationship of undoing a career can occur in a single moment (NOT the extended timeline of a 30+ day month!)

When it comes to career path success, a leader today will share with you that success can only come through successful competitiveness versus their peers. There are only so many “slots” on the career pyramid at the top to be had. Regardless of the “flatness” of your organization, there are/will always be more people clambering for these leadership roles than there are spots available to house them all. In other words, it’s a matter of economic supply and demand with competitiveness playing the differentiating factor.

Competitiveness Craziness

Amazon reached headline state for all the wrong reasons regarding competitiveness not too long ago. In 2015, the New York Times wrote how workers at Amazon often “complained about 80-hour work weeks, interrupted vacations, coworker sabotage, and little tolerance even for those struggling with life-threatening illnesses or family tragedies.” Worse yet, those that went out on maternity leave were left little time for maternity duties (as work was expected to still maintain a priority, especially seeing how there were countless others more than willing to take the place of those vacating).

Even the Whitehouse has been the subject of competitiveness craziness. Under the Jimmy Carter administration, an edict of spending more time in the evening with family was levied. However, most chose to work late into the evening as opposed to letting peer competitors pass them by in the dog-eat-dog world that is politics.

I’m a Leader… How Do I Become More Competitive?

I worked with a client that had a “Want to Move Up? Screw Up!” policy whereby in order to achieve a promotion, the leader would have to essentially make a mistake (potentially costing the organizations hundreds of thousands of dollars!) The organizational leaders questioned competitiveness, and instead rewarded those that in their eyes “put themselves out there for the sake of innovation where others did not.” With organizational politics at fever-pitch levels, what then is the poor high-potential future leader to do?

SUMMARY

It’s important to know the culture of the organization at which you are competing. Know that organizational leaders reward the “bowl people over” theory of competitiveness? Begin bowling others over for success! See that “slow and steady wins the race” at your firm? Then curtail competiveness (but still ensure that you end up in the winner’s circle at the end of the race!) There simply is no “One Size Fits All” rule here when it comes to competitiveness, but culture identification is key to success.

 

Sam Palazzolo

 

PS – If you enjoyed this post on the leadership challenge of competitiveness, then I know you’ll enjoy my new book, “Leading at the Tip of the Spear: The Leader” It’s filled with antidotes to allow you to succeed on your leadership journey. Click the hyperlink above (or here: www.LeadingattheTipoftheSpear.com)

 

The Leadership Challenge: Ownership Mentality

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The Point: At Tip of the Spear Ventures, we believe in leading from the front… Not the middle, and certainly not from the rear. This leading from the front-mentality is one that we encourage our Business Advisory Service clients (M&A | Sales/BizDev | Turnaround) to take as well. However, working with leaders that have a leading form the front focus is only part of the business-battle, and a minority one at that. You see, we’ve determined that the majority business-battle is to get stakeholders engaged with the Tip of the Spear Ventures’ leading from the front-mentality as well. At the heart of this conversation is the leadership challenge of ownership mentality. So in this post, we’ll explore what it takes to not only create and develop such ownership mentality, but ensure that it is sustained as well… Enjoy!

 The Leadership Challenge Ownership Mentality

The Sales Strategic Plan

I just met with another client working within our Business Advisory Services’ Sales/BizDev consultation offering at Tip of the Spear Ventures. After flushing out the Sales Strategic Plan and assessing a baseline measurement of right here/right now as well as where they’d like to go (Goals?), we started to build the Action Plan. Our Sales Strategic Plan action planning process consists of not only breaking down goals for implementation, but also taking into consideration contingency planning and the like (Time/Accountability commitments are most definitely established!)

Central focus of this Sales Strategic Planning process is a communication plan. We’ve typically seen the best-developed sales strategic plans lose tremendous momentum, and some even jumping the rails, when communication gaps are present (meaning communicating the vision of the plan is omitted/forgotten). I’m not certain about you/your company, but from my experience and the leaders I work with, mindreading is still a skill that is severely lacking in today’s workforce. If only there was a way to achieve clairvoyance on the way to achieving the Sales Strategic Plan… If only there was a way!

Ownership Mentality

One of the organizations we worked with had a great plan (No bragging on my part here, while we provide “curbs” to the Sales Strategic Plan “road” we in no way/shape/form create the plan without organizational leadership input). With Sales Strategic Plan finalized, timelines established, accountability accounted for, contingency plans planned, and communication channels outlined it looked like the organization would easily breeze through the plan execution and sustainment initiative. And then reality smacked us all down!

If You Build It, Will They Really Come?

One of the critical Sales Strategic Planning steps that went overlooked was will the employees (Stakeholders) actually buy in to the new goals and ensuing process changes required in order to accomplish said goals? While the stakeholders were more than up to the task from a skill-level qualification (Some would argue over-qualified), they were severely under-qualified when it came to their mentality (or attitude). You see, the stakeholders traditionally were given a parent-leadership model, whereby they were expected to execute the directives of leadership not with understanding/agreement, but because leadership told them to do so. The Sales Strategic Plan was in dire straights if this ownership mentality could not be created!

Gordon Ramsay Just Gave You 24 Hours… Uh Oh!

I just watched an episode of Gordon Ramsay’s “24 Hours to Hell & Back” series. I’m a huge fan of Gordon’s restaurants (he has several by Tip of the Spear Ventures HQ in fabulous Las Vegas, Nevada USA). I’m an even bigger fan of his straight to the point leadership style (I would argue that he operates at the Tip of the Spear!) I mention the show because it dawned on me while writing this post that this show is not only challenging leaders to lead at the Tip of the Spear, but also employees/stakeholders.

In a crucial scene in each of the episodes, Gordon pulls the entire restaurant full of employees and customers over to his “Hell on Wheels” truck where they watch hidden camera footage of what exactly is wrong with each restaurant. After this review (and they’re often shocking!), Gordon declares to the restaurant staff that they should grab their phones, call their loved ones, and tell them that they are not coming home tonight because they have 24-hours to save the restaurant (In other words, he’s requiring them to pull an all-nighter like you used to do when cramming for an exam in school!) And then it hit me…

Why Would Your Employees Act Like an Owner?

While the pomp/circumstance of having Gordon Ramsay work with you/your business for what essentially boils down to a 24-hour window to accomplish the beginnings of a turnaround, why on Earth would an employee (stakeholder) take on such an owner mentality? There’s a good reason for the owners of a business to pull all-nighters in order to save their business… Because it’s their business! Employees (stakeholders) are just that… They are employees (stakeholders), and NOT owners. As such, what’s in it for them?

– Better employment terms? Doubtful

– More money? Uh, no

– A job that they can come to tomorrow? They can probably find a job somewhere else

– The chance to get yelled at by Gordon Ramsay himself? Most definitely!

SUMMARY

In summary, in this post we’ve explored the leadership challenge of ownership mentality. While it’s critical to have all leaders and employees (stakeholders) on the same page in order to accomplish strategic plan goals, it’s even more important to identify just how leaders are going to foster an ownership mentality for all.

 

Sam Palazzolo

M&A: The New Rules of Mergers & Acquisitions – 5 Tips!

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The Point: As part of our Business Advisory Service for Sales/BizDev at Tip of the Spear Ventures, we’ve encountered a number of organizations that are considering selling/merging with another organization. As such, they’re great candidates for our M&A (Mergers & Acquisitions) advisory service. With each passing year where we offer M&A consulting, we find that the best plan is to prepare for the M&A activity, including putting together a team of professionals (In addition to consultants, attorneys, CPAs, etc.) But what if we don’t assemble a top-talent team to assist with Mergers & Acquisitions? In this post, we’ll explore the new rules of mergers and acquisitions, along with providing 5 tips… Enjoy!

New Rules of Mergers & Acquisitions 5 Tips

5 Tips (Rules?) to Follow in Mergers and Acquisition

Often essential for a company’s revenue column, mergers and acquisitions must be done in the right way to ensure that post-M&A creation is as profitable as pre-M&A activity. Why conduct the M&A after all if there would not be significant gains to be had? What follows are 5 tips (or rules) that should be contingency-planned in order to create successful mergers and acquisitions outcomes:

Rule #1: Establish a Dedicated Transaction Team

The timeline for completing a merger or acquisition is often very tight. The firms that will be used, the market specializes in transactions between listed companies and Legal services to reduce costs and since more and more transactions are cross-border, it is a good idea for a head of legal to build relationships with colleagues/consultants around the world.

Rule #2: Pay Special Attention to Regulatory Issues

In the new rules of merger and acquisition, one should pay special attention to regulatory issues. Rarely does a merger stumble because of a regulatory barrier, but if you wait too long before you evaluate that risk, it’s never a good strategy. The experts are unanimous: Legal counsel must ensure that no one in-house is committing a blunder causing a regulatory incident.

Rule #3: Think Team Integration Going In/Coming Out

If it is not necessary to put the cart before the horse and operate as a single entity before having accomplished all the mergers and acquisitions obstacles. It is nevertheless necessary to foresee potential blows from a lack of team integration well in advance of the M&A activity. An Integration Team is therefore responsible for identifying the departments whose operations will be merged and which departments will not be merged.

Rule #4: Do Not Be Afraid to Say “No”

Mergers and acquisitions transactions are relationships that grow and require companies to redefine themselves. If the transaction risks losing value rather than creating it, it may be better to retreat, pass, or say “No.” The fact is that the teams negotiating the transaction are so focused on the realization of the deal that they sometimes do not have the necessary distance to notice the problems that arise during due diligence. These problems are sometimes manageable by changing some of the terms of the initial agreement, but they are sometimes too important to ignore. If it’s not a good deal, regardless of ego/time involved thus far, you’re probably better off pulling the M&A plug!

Rule #5: Take Lessons from Each Transaction

The more we make, the better we are especially if you take the time to take stock after each M&A transaction. What worked well? What were the problems overcome? What were the problems we were unable to overcome? What did we not anticipate that we should anticipate next time? These “lessons” provide the “equipment” for creating lists of things to check for during the next transaction (In an effort to avoid repeating similar errors).

SUMMARY

In this post, we’ve looked at the new rules of mergers and acquisition along with 5 tips (rules?) Equipping yourself/your M&A Team with detailed information and new phases to be explored should allow for more fruitful future mergers and acquisitions activity.

 

Sam Palazzolo

The Leadership Challenge: Turnover – 4 Tips!

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The Point: As leaders, we know that turnover is “bad” for business. We’ve all seen the stories and statistics regarding how employee turnover costs a business roughly two-times (2x) the staffer’s compensation according to industry expert estimates. But we started thinking here at Tip of the Spear, is there a time when the costs associated with employee turnover are worth it? In other words, would you gladly pay 2x a staffer’s salary to see them simply go away! So in this post, we’ll explore the leadership challenge of turnover, along with 4 tips… Enjoy!

The Leadership Challenge Turnover 4 Tips

Be Successful Somewhere Else!

In recessionary times when unemployment rates are high, business leaders cut staffing so as to reduce expenses. Seeing how expenses (costs) associated with labor tend to be some of the most high, and easily lowered through staff reductions, this appears to be an easy fix.

However, the model shifts when times are good and unemployment rates are low. That model then becoming one where the rising tide of revenue conceals the costs associated with labor. In other words, we see less-turnover as a result. But should this be the employee turnover case?

Hire Slow, Fire Fast!

At a recent roundtable discussion, we brought up the topic of employee turnover and the impact “bad” apples (employees) can have on the business. Seated around the table were leaders from a variety of industries, all with the common goal of becoming better (Better businesses, better leaders, better etc.) It turns out that while most leaders looked negatively on turnover for two traditional reasons:

  1. The aforementioned high costs associated with turnover, and
  2. The reasons why employees leave the company.

But just why do we as leaders care why employees leave our company, and are there times when their leaving can be advantageous to our business model? At a firm that I recently consulted with, they had a standard hiring procedure that could be summarized as “Hire slow and fire fast.” In other words, the length of time/people/consensus decision-making involved would be significantly longer than previously conducted. Gone were the days that if a leader needed a new associate they could simply run an ad (or ask a present employee if they knew someone) and hire them once they passed a few high-level cursory questions. If their organizational goal was to attain the best possible employee for the near/short-term, then lengthy job descriptions needed to be written, recruiting strategies (where to place ads, how to screen applications, etc.) put in play, interviews with multiple organizational participants leveraging the same questions, and consensus regarding “best” candidates conducted post-interviews.

Of course, if the hiring process took a long time, then the firing determination needed to be executed with haste/speed! As one leader explained to me, “We need to come to a determination regarding new employees that are underperforming. While we’d love to believe that we’ve given them the proper tools to be able to conduct their new role (Training, technology, etc.), if they are simply unwilling to conduct their jobs according to our expectations then we need to quickly assess this unwillingness and allow them the opportunity to be successful somewhere else.”

4 Tips for The Leadership Challenge: Turnover

What follows then are our summation regarding why turnover might be good (dare we say “Great” for an organization and its leadership):

Tip #4 – Productivity

If you monitor productivity in your business (and who doesn’t?), then one surefire way to identify if employee turnover is warranted is to identify if productivity rates are consistently below target levels. Target levels established at realistic levels typically will define if performance levels are not being attained by staffers now, in the future, or ever.

Tip #3 – Teamwork

Teamwork makes the dream work… or so the saying goes! But what happens when the team has to pick-up the slack of the lagging associate? Is it fair for a team to consistently pick-up said slack continuously? We don’t think so… Teams are only as good as their weakest link, and if the weakest link is the same individual time and again, then turnover is warranted.

Tip #2 – Brain-suck

Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) are the staying force of an organization. They typically are a wonderful resource for new and old employees alike. However, what happens when these SMEs are spending more of their time working with employees that just don’t seem to “get” their job duties? Is this the most valuable time for such SMEs to be spending their time? We don’t think so…

Tip #1 – Training Expenses

For those that know me, you know that I’m a huge proponent of training. Whether it’s in-house or external, whether provided by in-house SMEs (See “Brain-suck” above in Tip #2 for The Leadership Challenge: Turnover) or strategic partners (Do you still call them “Vendors” in your organization? Welcome to 2018!), soft or hard-skill based I believe that training can make the difference for success in individuals as well as organizations at large. However, if training expenses are not showing significant return on investment (ROI), why are you doing them? Isolate monies spent and results returned on training expenses and you’ll gain insight into if turnover should take place (HINT: The answer isn’t necessarily more training, regardless of what your Chief Learning Officer tells you!)

SUMMARY

In this post we’ve explored The Leadership Challenge of Turnover, as well as provided 4 tips for when employee turnover should be encouraged by leaders. Remember, we all should have the expectation to earn a living conducting work. However, some work should be done by individuals willing/able to perform such work.

Sam Palazzolo

PS – If you like this article, you’ll love my new book titled “Leading at the Tip of the Spear: The Leader.” This first in a series of five books takes a look at what it takes to lead from a private equity | Venture Capitalist’s perspective. 100% of the net profits go towards our 501(c)(3) nonprofit at the Javelin Institute. You can purchase a copy from Amazon by CLICKING HERE.