Every company already runs on a system. Most of the time nobody designed it.
It accumulated. The meeting that got added after a bad quarter. The report someone built in 2019 that nobody reads but everyone still fills in. The handoff that works only because one person remembers it.
These 9 articles are what a designed one looks like. They start with the system you already have and move through ownership, rhythm, measurement, alignment, the 7 levers that move profit and cash, and how to pressure-test an initiative before you fund it. Read them in order. They build.
I wrote them for owners and leadership teams running companies between $5M and $75M, where the founder is still close to the work and the structure has not caught up to the size.
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1
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2
Check What You Handed Them First
Seven questions to ask before you decide someone is failing you.
Read article -
3
Who Owns What: The Map Your Org Chart Isn't
Reporting lines tell you who talks to whom. They say nothing about who owns what.
Read article -
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5
What Your Scorecard Sees That Your P&L Can't
The P&L tells you what already happened, weeks after you could do anything about it.
Read article -
6
Three Questions Your Leadership Team Should Answer Identically
Who are we? Where do we want to go? How are we going to get there?
Read article -
7
Seven Levers Move Profit and Cash. Your Team Should Know All of Them.
Most leadership teams can name two. That is why every proposal is sell more or spend less.
Read article -
8
Pressure-Test the Initiative Before You Fund It
Most initiatives fail at the approval meeting. The failure just is not visible yet.
Read article -
9
The Point of the System Is the People It Produces
Run it long enough, and the meetings and scorecards become the least of what you built.
Read article
Start a conversation
If this sounds like your company, the next step is a conversation. Tell me what is not working and I will tell you whether I can help.