January 29, 2016
Olivia Wolak

5 Lessons to Inspire Your Business Growth Plans

Olivia Wolak | President, Association of Interim Executives

Despite the bitter Chicago cold, wind, ice, and snow (sounds appealing doesn’t it!?), there is something energizing about this time of year. January is a fresh start. A blank slate. But also a time to apply lessons learned. It’s easy to jump back into the daily grind without first reflecting on what actually happened the previous year to set a strong foundation for growth in the year ahead.

There were a lot of moving parts that made up our year at the Association of Interim Executives. Thousands of conversations with owners and executives, further development of the Rapid Executive Deployment program, our first interim executive annual conference and more. While those developments were visible signs of progress, there were underlying themes that helped serve as a driving force.

Here are 5 things I learned from owners, entrepreneurs and other brilliant minds:

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January 27, 2016
Richard Lindenmuth

7 Turnaround Tips From an Interim CEO

Richard Lindenmuth | Interim CEO, Turnaround

I’ve done it for three decades, turning around companies from agriculture (such as Styrotek) to telecommunications giants (such as ITT). As interim leader, I have to parachute in, quickly gain trust and respect from all levels, determine a course of action, and unite everyone to stay that course—all within a limited timeframe.

It takes leadership strategies far beyond business and managerial chops, though certainly those are necessary. You can’t lead effectively without a connection to the people in the company; emotional intelligence is a must. Think of it as ‘strategic empathy’—being sincerely focused on the individual, but always with the big picture top of mind.

Whether you are an interim or a permanent CEO, these 7 tips for using strategic empathy bear relevance for anyone in a leading role.

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January 11, 2016
Lyle Banks

How Businesses Can Counteract Stasis

Lyle Banks | Interim CEO

Over the years I’ve encountered far too many business owners who profess comfort with their current levels of revenue, service, culture and rightful place in society. When asked about growth plans, they offer some variation of the line “If I had any more business, I would lose the capability to service my existing business.”

I call that business situation, Stasis. Some of the definitions in Webster are:
• a state of static balance or equilibrium : stagnation
• a state or period of stability during which little or no evolutionary change occurs

For me, Stasis is synonymous with Disaster.

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January 5, 2016
Daniel Fuhrman

Why M&A Integration is Hard … and What to Do About It

Daniel Fuhrman | Interim CEO, CFO, Turnaround

Everyone has read studies proclaiming the majority of acquisitions fail to create shareholder value.  Yet we are witnessing a roaring M&A market with very frothy valuations and no lack of buyers willing to venture into the game.  Great for sellers.  Timing is everything – private equity groups are finding rich exits to vintage deals entered into prior to the great recession that for years looked like they would be losers.  These favorable returns are giving private equity investors even more reason to bring fresh capital to the table.  Meanwhile, strategic buyers, armed with high valuations on their publicly traded shares and plenty of cash on hand have the wherewithal to bid aggressively, further driving up prices.

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December 18, 2015

Interim Execs 2015 Year In Review

2015 has been an amazing year here at the Association of Interim Executives. We parachuted executives into companies worldwide and saw powerful collaboration taking place among the RED Team, an elite group of interims.

As we reflect on the past year, we are more confident than ever that together we can better the world by deploying great leadership. Please enjoy these 5 highlights from 2015.

We wish you a prosperous and peaceful 2016.

Happy Holidays!

-The Association Team

December 1, 2015

Restructuring Can Transform a Company Into a Compelling Investment

UBS recently published an article that gave a good synopsis of what a restructuring entails, especially regarding public companies:

“A restructuring marks a challenging and sometimes disruptive time in the history of any corporation that has ever undertaken one. Managements rarely aspire to undergo a restructuring, but in some cases, it is the best path when a company has an urgent need to turn around its fortunes, improve its reputation, or restore its competitive position. The process can entail major changes in the organizational structure, staff, asset base/product line, or cost structure. History tells us that a positive outcome is not assured, as not all restructuring plans are carried out effectively.

 

A successful restructuring begins with a vision and an achievable strategy for implementation. A well-executed restructuring or turnaround can transform a company that is weighed down – by an inferior product line, a heavy debt burden, inefficient operations, or a damaged reputation – into a strong competitor with dramatically improved financial results.”

See the entire UBS article on restructuring and turnarounds here. The Association is home to top interim executives, many of whom specialize in providing the leadership to transform struggling companies.

October 26, 2015
David Johnson

Case Study: Taking a Nonprofit Organization Back to Financial Health

David Johnson | Turnaround

Overview
On March 30, 2015, I began my tenure as an interim manager (Interim Chief Operating Officer) at ChildServ, a social services agency that had recently celebrated its 120th anniversary serving at-risk children and families in the Chicagoland area. While I was new to the role, I had the benefit of not being new to the organization. In fact, I had served on the Board of Trustees of ChildServ for the prior 15 months, resigning only after my Board colleagues had voted to have me take on the difficult task of driving badly needed change from within.

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September 16, 2015

Register for October 5 Webinar: How IOT Will Change Your Business

Hosted by the Association of Interim Execs, CXO Chat is where top company founders and top leaders have real conversations around the high points and challenges in building and transforming a business.

October 5, 2015 @ 10am CDT

Join us as leaders discuss where Internet of Things (IOT) is going and how it will impact your company. Machine intelligence and connectivity is becoming embedded in your washing machine, your light bulbs and even your grandmother. Is your business ready?

Register Now.

hardik_bhattHardik Bhatt was a Senior Director with Cisco and led market development for Internet of Everything for their Global Public Sector. He is now CIO for the State of Illinois, charged with the modest mission of transforming, aligning, and streamlining all state agencies in their use of technology to better deliver services.
 

imadImad Mouline, co-founder and CTO of Everbridge, heads up market strategy, product roadmap, innovation, and R&D, including current IOT product launches. Imad has served as CTO and co-founder of several technology companies that achieved home run results.

August 6, 2015

Yoav Cohen Video Interview: On Turnarounds

Association of Interim Executives member, Yoav Cohen, is an interim executive who has successfully helped turn around many struggling companies. In a recent interview with MeetAdvisors, Yoav shares his experiences, and the warning signs owners should look for if trouble’s coming.

“Many people who run companies get comfortable with the familiar and are not managing the changes demanded by the market,” Cohen said.

July 8, 2015

The Downside of Management Consultants

Many companies are starved for effective leadership, and as a result the demand for great interim executives who will come in and do the work is increasing. Consider this passage from the book Traction:

The inability to make a business vision a reality is epidemic. Consider it a new take on an old quote: Vision without traction is merely hallucination. All over the world, business consultants frequently conduct multiple-day strategic planning sessions and charge tens of thousands of dollars for teaching what is theoretically great material. The downside is that after making you feel warm and fuzzy about your direction, these same consultants rarely teach you how to bring your vision down to the ground and make it work in the real world.

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