Mighty Midsized Companies: How Leaders Overcome 7 Silent Growth Killers

by Robert Sher

Overview

Most midsized company leaders want their businesses to become mighty growth machines. Unfortunately, sometimes that growth slows, stops, or goes the other way, and their leaders don’t know why. Is it the market? Is it the product? Is it the leadership team? Is it something he or she has done wrong–an ill-conceived deal; an unrealistic strategy?

Because business consultants focus on big companies that can afford big consulting fees, and because the problems of the Fortune 500 are very different than those of midsized businesses, there have been very few books that provide relevant growth advice for midsized company leaders, or can point out where the growth-killing potholes hide.

But not anymore.

Robert Sher focuses exclusively on midsized companies. He has long been an advisor to CEOs and their teams at many midsized businesses. His new book Mighty Midsized Companies: How Leaders Overcome 7 Silent Growth Killers gives readers the inside story on many highly-successful midsized companies and describes the critical factors that have powered their success. Sher has spoken to (and advised) many of the leaders of these companies, and he understands what drives midsize company growth as well as the issues can creep up to kill it.

Sher’s book is devoted to the executives who run America’s 200,000 midsized companies as well as those 370,000 businesses with 20 or more employees who are on the verge of becoming midsized. It explains how CEOs and their management teams have overcome the growth killers and instituted mechanisms for avoiding them in the future.

For leaders of midsized companies, and for people who would like to turn their smaller businesses into bigger ones, Mighty Midsized Companies is a unique and essential read.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781629560083
Publisher:	Bibliomotion, Inc.
Publication date:	05/05/2014
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	256
File size:	85 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

For more than two decades, Robert Sher was the CEO of a mid-sized company. Since 2007 he’s been a personal advisor to more than 80 mid-market company CEOs and their management teams, helping them identify the growth killers and help the company recover. Since 2011, he’s been researching the vulnerabilities of the middle market, and has interviewed over 100 middle market executives (most of whom are not his clients). Sher began writing about these issues as a columnist at Forbes.com in early 2012, the publication’s only contributor focused on the management challenges of mid-market companies. More recently, Sher was asked by CFO magazine to write a regular column in its online edition for mid-market chief financial officers.

Table of Contents

Foreword Jim Horan xiii

Acknowledgments xvii

Introduction 1

1 Letting Time Slip-Slide Away 17

2 Strategy Tinkering at the Top 39

3 Reckless Attempts at Growth 63

4 Fumbled Strategic Acquisitions 81

5 Operational Meltdown 107

6 The Liquidity Crash 133

7 Tolerating Dysfunctional Leaders 161

Conclusion; Becoming a Mighty Midsized Company 189

Appendix 209

Notes 221

References 223

Index 225

About the Author 235

Editorial Reviews

06/02/2014
Consultant Sher, formerly the longtime CEO of a midsize company, worries about the state of the American midsize firms. As the founder of CEO to CEO, Inc., he works with business leaders to help medium-size companies grow and expand. This primer is aimed at the leaders of midsize companies, which make up a significant portion of the American economy; there are nearly 200,000 companies with revenues between $10 million and $1 billion, some privately or family-held, and some publicly funded. Problems specific to midsize companies are not always visible or widely discussed in M.B.A. courses or the media, he argues. These companies struggle with low tolerance for risk, few ways to develop talent, less strategic thinking, and less seasoned talent. The titular seven silent killers are letting time slip-slide away; strategy tinkering at the top; reckless attempts at growth; fumbled strategic acquisitions; operational meltdown; the liquidity crash; and tolerating dysfunctional leaders. Using numerous case studies and presenting thorough plans for overcoming each of the silent killers, Sher writes passionately about the ways in which leaders can become aware of these challenges and rally their management teams. This is a quiet but hard-hitting game plan. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

“Problems specific to midsize companies are not always visible. Sher writes passionately about the ways in which leaders can become aware of these challenges and rally their management teams. This is a quiet but hard-hitting game plan.”
—Publishers Weekly

“Robert Sher has written a very important book in these times of economic uncertainty, and every executive team member of a midsized company should read it.”
—Warren Bennis, author and Distinguished Professor of Business Administration at the University of Southern California

“Through interviews with CEOs as well as real life case studies, author Robert Sher shows readers how to keep a midsized company healthy and avoid the seven dangerous mistakes that kill growth.”
—Ken Blanchard, coauthor of The One Minute Manager and Legendary Service

“Robert Sher offers powerful insights into how to address the critical issues that can derail growth in midsize companies.”
—Douglas Conant, former CEO, Campbell Soup Company and the New York Times bestselling author of TouchPoints

“Mighty Midsized Companies superbly identifies the seven silent killers which routinely throw a wrench into a company’s development and provides excellent solutions for fostering success. A terrific read.”
—Stephen M. R. Covey, author of the New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller The Speed of Trust, and coauthor of Smart Trust

“What a valuable book! Sher understands the unique opportunities—and temptations—that middle market companies meet on their road to growth.”
—Thomas A. Stewart, executive director, National Center for the Middle Market

“Robert Sher’s insightful and useful book could only have been created by someone who’s been immersed in this world as practitioner and thought leader. Let’s hope that this book is the first of many to shine the spotlight of public attention on this high-performing sector and its leaders.”
—George Gendron, long-time editor-in-chief of Inc. Magazine and founder of The Build Network for mid-sized companies, a co-venture of Inc. Magazine and Fast Company

From the Publisher