Thinking Aloud
These are occasional essays, mercifully short and sometimes longer, on business, leadership, strategy, and related topics that may be worth thinking about. We’ve been at this long enough to have some views, and writing is one of the better ways to figure out what you think.
We’re not claiming expertise we don’t have, just sharing the way we think about things, connecting dots that seem to connect, and occasionally disagreeing with received wisdom. Views are still evolving and we reserve the right to think differently down the road; that may be a sign of progress rather than inconsistency.
Read what interests you.
One business we invested in I had never heard of before, and in 45 days we had completed due diligence, borrowed what was needed, and acquired it from departing owners. That's the fastest I've ever done it. Great business, humming along, looked good on paper; that's why you paid a premium for it. Now it's on you to figure out and generate a return to justify the premium. The game clock has started. Clock's running. Tick tock.
You wake up in the middle of the night thinking about what you do all day. Are we making progress? Are we closing the gap? Is the gap closeable? Is it the right gap? (There’s more than one.) Are we losing ground? What am I missing? Because what I don’t know may in fact hurt me, and everyone else. Is this going to end up where it needs to be, or am I going to lead this team right off a cliff? I’m putting in crazy amounts of time, Lord knows, but are we going anywhere, or not?