I am a dreamer. And I am still trying to win a Missouri State High School Football Championship. Our high school football team worked really hard for 4 years, had a Hall of Fame head coach, many All-State players, and we were always ranked in the Top 10 preseason rankings. I wanted to win a state championship for my teammates, coaches, and the other students at the school more than for myself. Really, I think I was afraid of letting these folks down and I HATE TO LOSE.
That dream has played a big role in who I am. I know it’s silly and I am a little embarrassed, yet not winning the one thing I wanted so badly has driven my work ethic and commitment for 40 years in corporate America. Each season ended in a loss that stung deeply and was unforgettable. I committed not to let that happen again. My teams and I have won a lot. More than I deserve for sure.
Behind that, is that I hate to lose way more than I even want to win. In my final CEO role, I will call my performance a loss. As CEO, I was accountable for the performance of the company and we had a very difficult private equity-backed business carve-out from a public company that did not go well.
So, I am in the midst of setting up an LLC that will enable me to continue to compete. I’ve said many times that I have never been the smartest person in the room and have always relied on my instincts more than my intellect, thus I am starting a company called EQ Growth Solutions. Not very innovative, I know, yet it does make my point.
I got really lucky back in 1981 to be offered a career with one of the leading Medical Device distribution and manufacturing companies. The HR executive I interviewed with asked me what I wanted to do for a living. I responded that I wanted to run my own business (not the best answer for a Fortune 500 company executive, as I reflect on the interview). My dad and brother ran their own trucking businesses, and it was all I knew.
The people that worked at this company had very deep and strong values and believed that the company had a strong purpose beyond making money. It was a company that was a strong competitor and expected a lot from their employees, yet delegated the authority to make decisions close to the customer and I had to figure things out on my own and was expected to take action without asking permission. Great experience…being encouraged to make decisions and if they were not the right decisions to stop and course correct. Something that I think should be encouraged more in today’s business environment.
I learned from some great leaders and people on the front line how to think about business and how to deliver on commitments. Traveling with the Sales Rep based in Wichita, KS in 1982, I got some great advice. “Mike, at the end of every day evaluate each of your customer calls. Was the call a #1, Activity (defined as dropping off donuts, but not talking about solutions for the customer), #2, Productive Activity (presenting a product or solution), or a #3. Production (closing a sale)”. He said, “If you have more 2s and 3s than 1s, you will be a success.” A simple yet, smart guy from Wichita, huh?
So, EQ Growth Solutions’ purpose will be: To help middle-market companies clearly define and execute fact-based growth strategies that deliver value creation and to help develop the leaders of the future with a servant-leadership theme.
I want to share the skills and tools I have used in leadership roles in multiple companies with these middle-market businesses. I believe this will help them develop and refine more fact-based strategies and enhance the precision of their team’s execution of these strategies.
Profitable growth is critical to every company. If your company is not growing, it is dying.
I hope that I can help make dreams come true with leaders and businesses in the future. By following a simple Strategic Management Process(FACTStrat), businesses can produce a fact-based view of the market, competition, customer, and the current dynamics within their business. With these insights, strategic alternatives to current strategies can be developed & evaluated. Then choices can be made enabling the right focus and disciplined execution processes.
Helping business owners and senior leaders develop winning strategies and teams might just get me one last shot at that Championship.
