Tip of the Spear Ventures

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Business Valuation Services: How Can You Get More Money for Your Business?

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The Point: If you don’t know where you’re going, any road can get you there. Likewise, if you don’t know what your business is worth through a proper business valuation service, establishing business objectives/goals can be a guessing game. Establish objectives/goals too low, and potential is barely reached. Set them too high, and you may never achieve them even in the best of circumstances. A business valuation service establishes the worth of your organization, and as a leader you’d better know what that value is in the event your exit strategy is to sell. In this post, we’ll look at business valuation services as a roadmap to identifying ways in which you can get more money for your business… Enjoy!

Business Valuation Services: How Can You Get More Money for Your Business?

We Have Financial Statements… That Should Be Good Enough

At Tip of the Spear, we recommend to clients who are approaching the conclusion of their business career a solid succession plan or exit strategy. As part of your exit strategy, you’ve decided that you’re going to weigh several options. You may sell the business through a business broker. You could consider providing it for sale to your employees as part of an Employee Stop Option Purchase (ESOP). You might consider handing it down to your heirs as part of a larger success planning moment.

Regardless of the exit strategy you choose, knowing the value of your business can help you get more money. However a fatal flaw that I see many owners falsely create is that their financial statements will suffice. In and of themselves, financial statements do provide a degree of perspective regarding the business and its inherent value. However the same financial statements often omit key organizational pieces that could raise the value. Items such as furnishings, building ownership, geographic location, customer records, intellectual property, etc. account for more business value than a profit/loss statement can reflect. As such, we see business valuation services as a best practice when it comes to selling a business.

Business Valuation Services

Business Valuation Services help you quantify all parts contributing to a company’s value. Identifying the value therein can greatly assist you in establishing both proper asking price for the company as well as accepting the right offer. Typically, we see buyers (External or Internal to the organization) requesting their own business valuation service to collect all pertinent information in an effort to protect them from paying too much for a company.

Purchasing an independent business valuation service can also be used to justify the buyer’s offer to the seller (i.e., Why the offer is coming in at $X instead of $Y as listed). We’ve seen episodes where a bid to purchase is accepted because the business valuation service provided such a thorough report to the seller.

SUMMARY

At Tip of the Spear, we believe that you can and should look to sell your business for as much as possible. Securing a business valuation service as the seller helps establish your selling price as well as acceptable bid to purchase levels. Requesting all potential buyer’s bids be considered serious if they in like kind provide their own is a great move in order to sell and get more money for your business.

 

Sam Palazzolo

The Leadership Challenge: Employee Recognition

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The Point: Gallup reports that employee engagement is at an all time low. The recruiting field warns that the “War for Talent” will become increasingly difficult to wage successfully. With these two signs pointing towards greater recognition of employees, we started wondering why is it then that employee recognition is so difficult for so many? In this post we’ll take a look at employee recognition, and five (5) actions you can take to recognize your stakeholders as a leader… Enjoy!

The Leadership Challenge: Employee Recognition

We Recognize Our Employees (Don’t We?)

Randy was a relatively new team member in an archaic organization whose new CEO screamed “We’re going to change, like it or not! The foundation for this change is going to be our people… The most important asset this organization has” to the press. It was this battle cry that got Randy excited enough to leave his previous organization and sign-up/on with the current company. He was a hard worker, as well as a subject matter expert that participated in several leadership development programs and knew the value of executive coaching firsthand.

So it shouldn’t surprise you to hear that Randy was the pole-position leader on the Key Performance Indicator (KPI) board for the organization. That’s right, although he was new to the organization, he steadily rose through the ranks and in short-order arrived at the top spot.

No Recognition = No Engagement = No Employment

Here’s where things got a little interesting (or at least our executive coaching conversation took a turn towards a very dark place!) You would think that he would have received a few “That a boy!” or “Great Job Randy!” nods from the superiors in the organization, stakeholders, anyone… But you’d be wrong (Dead wrong as it turned out!) To hear Randy tell the story, “It would have been great if someone had reached out to say ‘Congrat’s!’ to me. But no one did. Not at the time the reports were printed. Not after the reports were distributed. Not ever!”

You could imagine Randy’s confusion: Here he was a still relatively new employee in an organization. An organization whose CEO told everyone and anyone that employees are their most important asset. But an asset that received no recognition whatsoever. Needless to say, on top of Randy’s confusion, he was just plain old pissed with the situation. He lasted a few more weeks before he quit. He’s now being successful somewhere else.

I Wanna Be like Randy, Not Mike!

So what can you do as a leader in your organization to properly recognize your employees so as to have engagement levels soar and turnover diminish? The following five (5) actions are recommended from our leadership development and executive coaching conversations:

Action #5: Timeliness Counts

If you see someone doing something great, recognize them right then and there. Why wait for the Friday Staff Meeting or to get back to your desk to send out the email to the entire department? Instead, let them know that you recognize what they did, and more importantly that you appreciate it.

Action #4: Alignment Counts

Recognition hits new levels, and is shared by all, when the recognition comes in the form of alignment with business goals. Imagine our poor friend Randy and his smashing of the organizational KPIs… The alignment opportunities are endless to tout, that is if you actually do measure KPIs that effect your business!

Action #3: Authenticity Counts

Ever get one of those fake leadership moments? A moment where you’re not certain what they might have taught in the leadership development classroom, but whatever it was it didn’t work? If you’re employees aren’t getting the “real” you, ask yourself who they are getting? Odds are, if you have low authenticity you have low trust, and low trust moments are never a position of strength to lead from.

Action #2: Quality/Quantity Count

While Randy would have been happy with any recognition, our executive coaching research leads us to believe that the recognition should be in correlation to the business goals (See #4 Action above). Too much and it comes off as Pollyannaish… Too little and it comes off as skating the associate.

Action #1: Recognition Definition Counts

If you are confused as to the identification of just the right amount of recognition to provide, please stop guessing and ask your associates. They will tell you! We typically see leader after leader attempt to either “cookie-cutter” approach recognition programs or provide what they would like to receive. Neither is a good moment. Executive Coaching and leadership development should provide you with plenty of ammunition to overcome the leadership challenge at hand, especially when you ask.

SUMMARY

So there you have it… The problem of employee recognition as told through the saga of Randy and his former organization, along with five (5) actions you can take to insure that you are on the right path.

 

Sam Palazzolo

PS – You may enjoy several of the other posts I’ve recently written:

 

The Leadership Challenge: Why Aren’t There More Women In Leadership?

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The Point: According to the Pew Research Center, there are few differences between men and women on key leadership traits such as intelligence, capacity for innovation, being compassionate, and organization. Today women represent only five percent (5%) of CEOs for Fortune 500 companies. So if that’s the case, why are the pipelines to C-Suite opportunities appearing to widen? In this post, we’ll look at four (4) critical lessons women in leadership can undertake to break-through the glass ceiling… Enjoy!

The Point: According to the Pew Research Center, there are few differences between men and women on key leadership traits such as intelligence, capacity for innovation, being compassionate, and organization. Today women represent only five percent (5%) of CEOs for Fortune 500 companies. So if that’s the case, why are the pipelines to C-Suite opportunities appearing to widen? In this post, we’ll look at four (4) critical lessons women in leadership can undertake to break-through the glass ceiling… Enjoy! There Aren’t Opportunities Here for Women Susie was a team leader for one of the organizations that I worked with on an executive coaching/leadership development engagement a few years back. I remember her, because sitting on the high potential selection committee allowed me to see that she was an exceptional candidate on paper, as well as in person. She was not only smart, but extremely extroverted and ready to take on any/all challenges on her desired path to the top of the organization. So it was surprising for me to learn in a follow-up call that she was going to leave the organization that five years earlier she described as her “dream” company. What could have possibly happened? In our brief conversation I learned that while opportunities were talked of a lot, they rarely materialized in reality. In fact, Susie described the log-jam of women that were doing great things in the organization, but seemed to be bumping their heads against the proverbial glass ceiling. As such… She was moving on. 4 Critical Lessons for Women in Leadership At the 9th annual “Women Who Lead” conference lessons are shared regarding leadership from high profile women. Here are four (4) critical lessons presented: Lesson #1: You Control Your Self Image Let’s face it, we live in an image-centric world! Constant reminders can be seen on television of “that” family that really doesn’t do anything, yet we’re somehow attempting to keep up with them… It makes no sense! While it’s an easy trap to fall into, avoid looking at others and attempting to alter who you are by the way you look. While the experts suggested that you determine what your image is, what people not only treat you like, but what they call you. Lesson #2: We All Must Get Along Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on how you look at it, men and women both have to get along and work together. The advantages are numerous, but let me summarize them by saying that after every leadership development program I’ve identified that the perspectives each bring to the table are in fact different. Perhaps not as different as Mars or Venus, but different perspectives will bring about different methodologies that enhance the operation. Lesson #3: Your Mindset = Your Success If you have the right mindset, anything is possible. If you don’t have the right mindset, hardly anything is possible! Ensuring that you conduct the proper “check-up from the neck-up” is crucial if you want to continuously drive for success. I typically have a conversation with executive coaching clients about goals, and ensuing targets along the way towards those goals. Most leaders, female and male alike, can typically rattle off these moments. It shouldn’t surprise you then to hear that when I ask them what their mindset will need to be like in order to accomplish those same goals that most get a confused look on their face… Almost like their mindset is an afterthought, or an outcome of accomplishing goals. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Lesson #4: Become Risk Verse What do you value as a leader? In executive coaching sessions I typically hear that most female leaders value a healthy balance of work and life. In the work-life, they value having alignment with the organization. Alignment within an organization specifically along goal, values, and culture components. But what if you don’t have such alignment? What if you play it safe all the time? Remember, the spoils in life rarely ever go to the losers (and argue with me all you want, business is about winning!) Furthermore, spoils even more rarely go to those that play things safe (Read that as playing within your comfort zone!) SUMMARY In this post we took a brief look at four (4) lessons that women can review in order to consider when pursuing leadership positions. Controlling your self image, working together with men/women, your mindset adjustment (if necessary), and accepting risk are all part of the equation. Think of these as mere “starting line” considerations, as the race to attain/sustain leadership positions can be a long one. Equipping yourself with the right foundational strategies for leadership success will ensure that you move in the right direction. Sam Palazzolo 

There Aren’t Opportunities Here for Women

Susie was a team leader for one of the organizations that I worked with on an executive coaching/leadership development engagement a few years back. I remember her, because sitting on the high potential selection committee allowed me to see that she was an exceptional candidate on paper, as well as in person. She was not only smart, but extremely extroverted and ready to take on any/all challenges on her desired path to the top of the organization.

So it was surprising for me to learn in a follow-up call that she was going to leave the organization that five years earlier she described as her “dream” company. What could have possibly happened? In our brief conversation I learned that while opportunities were talked of a lot, they rarely materialized in reality. In fact, Susie described the log-jam of women that were doing great things in the organization, but seemed to be bumping their heads against the proverbial glass ceiling. As such… She was moving on.

4 Critical Lessons for Women in Leadership

At the 9th annual “Women Who Lead” conference lessons are shared regarding leadership from high profile women. Here are four (4) critical lessons presented:

Lesson #1: You Control Your Self Image

Let’s face it, we live in an image-centric world! Constant reminders can be seen on television of “that” family that really doesn’t do anything, yet we’re somehow attempting to keep up with them… It makes no sense!

While it’s an easy trap to fall into, avoid looking at others and attempting to alter who you are by the way you look. While the experts suggested that you determine what your image is, what people not only treat you like, but what they call you.

Lesson #2: We All Must Get Along

Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on how you look at it, men and women both have to get along and work together. The advantages are numerous, but let me summarize them by saying that after every leadership development program I’ve identified that the perspectives each bring to the table are in fact different. Perhaps not as different as Mars or Venus, but different perspectives will bring about different methodologies that enhance the operation.

Lesson #3: Your Mindset = Your Success

If you have the right mindset, anything is possible. If you don’t have the right mindset, hardly anything is possible! Ensuring that you conduct the proper “check-up from the neck-up” is crucial if you want to continuously drive for success.

I typically have a conversation with executive coaching clients about goals, and ensuing targets along the way towards those goals. Most leaders, female and male alike, can typically rattle off these moments. It shouldn’t surprise you then to hear that when I ask them what their mindset will need to be like in order to accomplish those same goals that most get a confused look on their face… Almost like their mindset is an afterthought, or an outcome of accomplishing goals. This couldn’t be further from the truth.

Lesson #4: Become Risk Verse

What do you value as a leader? In executive coaching sessions I typically hear that most female leaders value a healthy balance of work and life. In the work-life, they value having alignment with the organization. Alignment within an organization specifically along goal, values, and culture components.

But what if you don’t have such alignment? What if you play it safe all the time? Remember, the spoils in life rarely ever go to the losers (and argue with me all you want, business is about winning!) Furthermore, spoils even more rarely go to those that play things safe (Read that as playing within your comfort zone!)

SUMMARY

In this post we took a brief look at four (4) lessons that women can review in order to consider when pursuing leadership positions. Controlling your self image, working together with men/women, your mindset adjustment (if necessary), and accepting risk are all part of the equation. Think of these as mere “starting line” considerations, as the race to attain/sustain leadership positions can be a long one. Equipping yourself with the right foundational strategies for leadership success will ensure that you move in the right direction.

 

Sam Palazzolo

The Leadership Challenge: Office Backstabbing – 5 Leadership Lies to Avoid

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The Point: In the art of a knife fight, two individuals each equipped with a knife circle each other thrusting their weapons at one another. It’s a rudimentary form of face-to-face-combat. And given your odds as a leader, nine times out of ten you’d bet on yourself to be victorious (we’ll give one out of ten to your combatant!) But what if (1) you don’t have a knife, (2) you’re not expecting a fight, and (3) you aren’t facing your competitor… Now the odds have swung completely around and not only are you favored, but defeat is all around you. Sound like your typical office backstabbing incident? In this post, we’ll take a look at how you as a leader can not only fight this unfair fight, but come out victorious in the end in knowing/using to your advantage the five lies of office backstabbing… Enjoy!

The Leadership Challenge: Office Backstabbing

Knife Fighting Fantasy

Here’s an interesting leadership challenge to ponder: To say that all is fair in love and war is one thing, but is all fair in the office while at war (Business is war, right?) If business is in fact war, there are two rules you need to keep in mind right from the start when it comes to office backstabbing:

  1. Whatever you do, you must live to fight another day, inevitably to fight against the next backstabbing episode.
  2. If you are successful to live to fight another day, you’ll want to insure that you don’t compromise your ethics/end up on the wrong side of the battle in the eyes of Human Resources (HR) or the law.

Remember, being a leader is tough work. You “give blood” every day at work, and it’s your career on the line and personal lifestyle that could be sacrificed if unsuccessful. Don’t let anyone tell you that don’t have the right to defend yourself, fight back, or take action. Here then are the 5 lies to watch out for:

Lie #5: You’ll Have Plenty of Time To See Them Coming

In all the executive coaching conversations that I’ve had with clients over the years where the topic of backstabbing was brought up (I’ve worked with 500+ leaders to date), only one of them ever said that he saw it coming. This leader was no less aware of his surroundings, the stakeholders actions that he worked with, nor out of touch with the business at hand. Yet, time after time I heard how they felt completely blindsided by the attack.

Backstabbing Avoidance Tip: Watch your back at all times, and get stakeholders (think of them as the trusted “inner circle”) to watch your back as well!

Lie #4: There’s Going to be a Backstabbing at High Noon

The majority of the executive coaching conversations I heard excuse after excuse regarding backstabbing avoidance being taught in leadership development programs. The problem is that in leadership development programs the scenarios presented were never real. Instead, the backstabbing scenes were like something out of an old Western movie instead of the stealth business streets pounded daily by these leaders.

Backstabbing Avoidance Tip: Your backstabber isn’t watching old Westerns nor are they participating in leadership development scenarios. They are moving like a terrorist and as such act with a high level of randomness.

Lie #3: But How Can I Avoid the Fight?

Most leaders believe that they can get out of any situation that they are put into… Good situations… Bad situations… Either way, the leader believes that they will come out the other end victorious. This is plain stupid and wrong! This lie can usually be heard by leaders when they start the rebuttal with “But…” In all the cases I’ve heard, of the millions of possible options the leader could have taken they always seem to focus on staying and fighting. Remember Dale Carnegie’s advice on winning an argument: The only way to win an argument is to never get into an argument in the first place.

Backstabbing Avoidance Tip: Think back to Rule I above… You need to live to fight another day. Staying and fighting will accomplish little. Running away is your leadership ego perception at work… Think of it instead of taking the high road!

Lie #2: They’re Going to Backstab You in a Certain Way

Think of the typical leadership development office backstabbing case that you’ve explored (You have explored the topic in your leadership development program, right?) What did it consist of? Typically, let’s think of the scenario of a disgruntled worker. Perhaps they’ve been passed over for a promotion, or better yet they don’t want in on the latest program of the month (Change isn’t their thing, you know?) Now you probably know how to handle this type of case with tact and polish… This backstabbing is pretty easy!

However, what if the associate is going stealth? They’re publishing information online about you, the company, and what a joke the whole scenario is. You didn’t cover that one in leadership development did you?

Backstabbing Avoidance Tip: Just as you’d brainstorm solutions to a problem, attempt to brainstorm problems and what your solutions will be. Think of it as a contingency planning exercise.

Lie #1: They’re Going to Listen to Your Logic and Admit They Were Wrong

The leadership fantasy that you’re going to overcome a backstabbing by hearing your assailant out, confirming that you correctly heard what they said, and then attempting to educate them from your perspective will get you nowhere. Avoiding a backstabbing shouldn’t rely purely on opportunity and chance.

Unless your backstabber is a simpleton, the odds of you successfully absorbing the backstabbing, confirming why you’re being stabbed, and then pulling yourself together to have a legitimate debate is very, very slim. The reality is that you cannot safely control the situation. While there may be actions you can take to momentarily delay the backstabbing, unfortunately I typically hear of horror stories where there was simply too much bludgeoning absorbed by the leader to adequately mount a counter offensive.

Backstabbing Avoidance Tip: Throw logic out the window, and think fight or flight… with heavy emphasis on the flight!

SUMMARY

In this post we’ve taken a look at two rules to keep in mind when experiencing office politics. We’ve also reviewed five lies that leaders typically have in mind when countering backstabbing. Remember the two rules and you should be able to live to lead another day!

 

Sam Palazzolo

PS – You may also enjoy some of the other recent posts I wrote:

 

The Leadership Challenge: Succession Planning

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The Point: There is a growing leadership void left behind by retiring baby boomer leaders. Human Resource Executives are finding it difficult to identify/locate replacements. Part of the difficulty lies in defining leadership, developing leaders, and ability to deliver such development opportunities effectively. What’s a poor leader to do if they can’t identify/create a succession plan? Perhaps they could delay/refuse to retire? Seriously though, read on for details on the problems, as well as solutions to create successful succession plans… Enjoy!

The Leadership Challenge: Succession Planning

Succession Planning is More Difficult in Today’s Economy

Nearly two out of every three Human Resource (HR) Executives that participated in a recent poll claim that succession planning is more difficult in today’s economy (The actual number was 59%). Their comments were captured in The Global Workforce Leadership Survey conducted by SABA (A large HR software service provider). With approximately four (4) million baby boomers retiring each/every year, there simply isn’t enough quality candidates to fill this void.

The findings of the survey show that the biggest obstacles for powering future business growth are threefold: (1) Differences in perspective surrounding leadership, (2) Leadership development, and (3) Accessibility to online tools for that leadership development.

Come Out, Come Out, Wherever You Are – The Leader Within That Is!

Human Resource Executives report difficulties in identifying leadership in current employees nearly half the time (46%). Part of this difficulty lies in employees that rarely list leadership skills (only 36% do).

But this begs the question, and lies at the heart of this fundamental problem… What are Human Resources Executives doing if they (1) don’t cultivate a leadership development environment and (2) how do they not know their own employees?

Technical Skills Aren’t Enough

Marshall Goldsmith, one of my mentors in Stakeholder Centered Coaching, is famous for his line regarding “What got you here, won’t get you there.” In other words, according to Marshall your technical skills will get you your first leadership position, but it’s your non-technical skills that will get you your second. What exactly are these non-technical skills though?

Non-technical skills are often considered “soft” skills. They have nothing to do with the specifics of your job (Engineering, Finance, Marketing, etc.) However, they have everything to do with the performance/quality/results of your job. Think of these non-technical skills as consistent qualities that leaders posses regardless of function and you get the idea (Time management, project management, communication skills for leaders, etc.)

So Where Are All The Future Leaders?

I shared The Global Workforce Leadership Survey results with a client of mine, and her response was a classic! “Sam, what were you expecting? Have you ever tried to complete a job application on a SABA run software system?” In less than an instant I knew exactly what she was saying. The truth of the matter is that I have in fact completed a job application online using a SABA run system and found the process to be brain damage! I know that career moves are supposed to be taken seriously, and time to complete an application should not be a consideration. However, I seriously doubt that a Millenial generation (or any other generation for that matter) is willing to put themselves through this long, tedious, and laborious process. I doubt any of the other job applicant software packages are any easier though.

So if you, your organization are like the Human Resource Executives that participated in this survey, you probably are having a difficult time locating employees that want to step into leadership positions (or worse yet, are choosing incorrectly from your talent pool!) Here’s a thought… Why not ask current baby boomer leadership who should/shouldn’t be considered prior to their departure?

SUMMARY

So in this post, we’ve taken a look at how succession planning is more difficult in today’s economy, how part of the problem might just be human resource executives reliance on brain damaging software systems for applicant tracking, if you are relying on your technical expertise to carry you up the leadership ladder you’re kidding yourself, and a potential solution regarding how you can/should/might locate future leadership for your organization.

Sincerely yours,

 

Sam Palazzolo

PS – You may also enjoy some of the other recent posts I wrote:

Sam Palazzolo is the Managing Director at Tip of the Spear Ventures, an agile Venture Capital and Business Advisory Services firm specializing in Executive Coaching, Leadership Development, and Communication Skills Training for Leaders.