Description: Howard Mann is a business advisor and strategist to a select few middle market CEO's. He engages as a second CEO to get specific initiatives completed so businesses reach their potential. He is the author of the acclaimed book, Your Business Brickyard, that helps brave leaders build business that endure in good times and bad.
new york (12382) business strategy (554) acquisitions (492) mergers (416) business broker (186) raising capital (41) strategic advisor (23) interim ceo (19)
...and yet tens of thousands fail every year. Many more struggle along for years before the pain is so great they are finally put out of their misery. I am in the business of fixing businesses that are not working well and the single biggest impediment to turning a business around is that most business owners do not ask for help until it is too late (if ever).
Why would a smart business owner or CEO not ask for help when the likely alternative is their business ceases to exist? Why would an entrepreneur choose to put their savings, home and family at financial risk when simply calling someone with the right expertise could change such an important outcome? Having worked with dozens of businesses over more than two decades (and made the tough call for help for my own business before that) there is one word that keeps coming up.
You do not want it to look like you do not know how to run your business. You lie to yourself that the problems are only temporary. You do not want to admit things are not going well. Plus hundreds of other excuses that prolong the simple, and immensely brave, act of raising your hand and saying “I need help.”