PMCC Interactive

Category: General Blog

  • Turn the challenge of C level exodus into an opportunity

    What are you thinking when you must replace a C- Level Executive?

    Most organizations grapple with replacing C level executives when one of the existing leaders decides to or is forced to leave.  Others, have the luxury of a bit more runway when they see either great new opportunities or significant challenges looming.  But the thinking around these three situations should likely be similar. 

    When a position is vacated, or a Leadership need arises, the functional requirements of the role  are usually pretty evident.  The subject matter expertise and specific “technical skills” for the role are also generally well understood.  The tricky part is deciding what “stance” you want a new leader to hold and what experiences would help create that stance and be good for your organization to access.  and experience are important but not the only set of considerations in choosing a path forward.  This note is about the six things you should consider as you paint in the shaping experiences you hope to find in a new C level Leader. To read more: https://pmccinteractive.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/20220510-c-level-exodus-turns-into-an-opportunity.pdf

  • The Disruptors and S-Curves

    Getting steeper, shorter, choppier, scarier? You decide. Your stance will help you think through how you want to address your situation.

    Take a read: https://www.notboring.co/p/who-disrupts-the-disrupters

  • The conversation about the role of the CFO- and where she adds the most value continues- but the bottom line is that Finance counts!

    Thirty some years ago, we began research on the role of the CFO and the impact of financial leadership on the performance of the enterprise.  After interviewing and reviewing more than 50 organizations and engaging thousands of CFO/Financial leaders in workshops around the world, we found that there were several determinants of success.

    Moreover, we found great frustration on the part of CFO’s wanting a seat at the “business management/Strategy table” and the rest of leadership questioning why they needed/should have that seat.  While that conversation continues, the accompanying link to the Visual Capitalist shows that significant progress has been made and that the conversation continues and that is a good thing.

    Enjoy the link:  https://www.visualcapitalist.com/future-of-the-cfo/

    Meanwhile, each day, we continue to prompt the conversation and help Clients create value by  improving the business of their business

  • Creating enterprise value: Getting to know more and getting to no faster- Finance Business Intelligence

    Yesterday we had the opportunity to work with a great group of financial and marketing leaders at a forum hosted by Waypoint Consulting and Host Analytics.  In our work we explored the value of strategic, financial and operational  information to increase an organization’s insight into their business and ultimately increase the wisdom of the leadership team in managing the business.

    We shared our experiences with under achieving and underperforming companies.  We noted that  most all of our underachieving and underperforming clients that they suffered from a lack of good information about their business in general- and in the really challenged situations that they lacked insight into operations, customers, and in turn, markets.  And, of course, the pathway to creating value for them is to harness those insights and make smart moves to create value.

    We also explored and wondered why this topic continues to be of interest today, almost 20 years after finance business intelligence came into prominence as a key distinguishing factor for financial and economic performance.  We discussed possible organizational barriers to creating more robust financial planning and control processes and how more effective financial planning and control processes coupled with relevant, reliable and readily available finance business intelligence can combine to drive significant enterprise value.  

    We enjoyed the morning with a great group of leaders.  If you want to learn more, read here: 20170315 FPM-Symposium-pmccv only

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  • Helping create value in underperforming and underachieving Private Equity Investments

    The Best way to make money is to start by not losing it.  PMCC Ventures has worked with scores of private equity backed companies to improve performance and move from the bottom 50% of performers to the top 50%.  Our 35 years of experience span industries, company size, stages of development and  range of performance.  These individual experiences are good and interesting.  The combination of the experiences provides our clients with significant value.  We understand that underperforming is not a comfortable place for most organizations- and we know how to help stabilize the organization to enable it to execute a thoughtful and productive process to become the best it can be.

    The core investment hypothesis generally revolves around finding several good business ideas and businesses and provide capital to help them become value creating sustainable businesses.  That is the straightest path to value creation.

    Sometimes, companies stagger along that path.  Changes might occur in markets and industries, the company is leapfrogged by competitors, or the company just isn’t executing the way it needs to.  The bottom line is that the company slows progress and its  performance begins to deteriorate yields on investment.

    Most Private equity firms plan for and build to manage the upside.  That makes sense until the arrows start pointing down.  Our approach is to support our clients dealing with downturns, and underperforming and underachieving investments.  We have the skills experiences, and track record to help clients get out of the hole and back on the path to performance and value creation.

    If you want to learn more, click on the link below.

     

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  • Best wishes for a prosperous, healthy, happy and meaningful 2017

     

    As we move on to a new year, I wanted to take a time out to thank all of you that have supported PMCC Ventures in 2016.  I appreciate it.  We had an interesting year, and I hope we continued to serve our clients in the exact way they needed support- and to help them create value.

    As we committed at the beginning- now 10 years ago, we are once again sharing our reflections on our key learnings from the past year.  We share them in hopes that you find them interesting, but more importantly helpful in some situation you are yet to encounter.

    Most all of our assignments this past year, revolved around private equity, structured finance or dealing with some sort of performance gap.  It felt good to get back to our roots, as we really enjoy working in this space.  Not sure if it is our familiarity or the dynamics or both…  Each situation was different- and at the same time, they were the same.

    In the world that we work in, it is an oft repeated phrase: “But you don’t understand: We are different”.  So over the past year or so, we concentrated on understanding differences, but of course to do that effectively, we had to also focus on similarities.  We found that there are of course differences—but they are generally rooted in the management team and the backgrounds they brought to the current situation.  In the world of underachieving organizations, there are a lot of similarities- about what the company is experiencing- and how they got into the situations they are encountering.  Our reflections below will share some of those insights.

    We are going to place a lot of focus and intention on underperforming and underachieving organizations in 2017.  We know that there is a lot of opportunity created by organizations as they “bounce off the bottom”.  We want to work with them, to minimize the disruption and maximize the height of the bounce.

     

    Reflections on 2016

    Underperforming and underachieving organizations—similarities and differences-

    Conditions that seem to be common:

    • Markets in flux… Difficult to grasp meaningful movement and change in direction… differing pace and intensity of changes experienced serve to further disorient and generated confidence in a direction to follow
    • Leapfrogging technologies… Shortening product life cycles… Difficulty keeping up with emerging opportunities and disappointments of disappearing opportunities… Uncertainty about where to place bets… Difficult to recover development costs… Staffing and knowledge base challenges…
    • Shifting customer needs, performance and loyalties… Customers face similar challenges… The importance of the relationship to weather these challenges is significant… keeping up with the various stages of relationships and lifecycle events was costly and required a lot of attention and time…Not getting it “right” was a death knell…
    • Critical resources: time, talent, capital and information are in short supply and not optimally applied… The longer the challenge, the more resources evaporated or became stretched… Market and technology changes make it tough to keep fresh and relevant talent available to pounce on opportunities… Capital or loan opportunities are already stretched, making new sources a real challenge to obtain and likely costly… The lack of relevant information- particularly about changing conditions was the most insipient and critically important… Resources frequently diverted to ministerial matters and strategies that were not promising….
    • Shifting contexts are confusing and make it difficult to plan and act- systemically and consistently… Difficulty keeping up with changing situations… Rest of organization characterizes management coping with this poorly, without fully understanding the volume of change, conflicting insights and information that management is juggling….
    • Time and focus shifts to dealing with ministerial duties and away from the things that help an organization create value… Increased time dealing with regulators, lenders, investors, lawyers etc.…. less time and energy available to focus on customers, markets and operations… can become a spiraling situation further driving organization from value added thinking and action
    • Responses become operational… and less strategic…and less cognizant of the system…. less value placed on thinking and more on motion than forward action… concepts of motion and action became confused… More inwardly focused…. People satisfice and focus on surviving and not thriving

    Underperforming and underachieving organizations—Conditions that are different

    • Type of presenting issue…Industry wide… or specific to the organization… influences the dimensions and probability of positive outcomes
    • Management team Experiences… many teams’ experiences and persona are growth oriented… many individuals and rarely teams have the experiences to manage through the downside… Team members selected for deep functional excellence- when the premium capability… is cross-functional systemic thinking and action
    • The starting point… Objectively how deep is deep? … How much effort needs to be extended to get back to “even”
    • Recognition and resolution…How well does the team recognize the challenge at hand?… How prepared are they to come to grips with it… Denial,,, Anger… Acceptance… Resolution and Healing….
    • Time and what has transpired so far…Passage of time and prior decisions and actions can either negatively or positively influence the outcome and the [re] starting point for any transformation activity
    • Capacity and capability… Influence the effort, the timing and the intensity of the change effort that can be applied- and hence the duration of the transformation period
    • The ability to execute the steps needed to … gain control and stabilize- what has been done- what needs to be done… when should it happen… distinguish urgent and critical… What might foreclose opportunities to maneuver later….
    • Resources… Does the organization have the resources (time… capital… talent… information) or can they be secured or created] to accomplish the necessary changes…. If not, what is a practical level of desired achievement in the best possible timeframe…

    Be diligent with diligence

    • Set a plan… Execute the plan…completely…. particularly in new or challenged situations… make sure that the basics of the deal are covered….  Risks are articulated and strategies in place to manage them… Know the structure that the new entities need to work within… head that direction… make sure that the inventory of service level and retention agreements are adequate and that they are favorable to provide the time and focus to accomplish “newco” requirements…Don’t assume… focus on key risks… identify transitional resources… remember, you don’t always get what you thought you would buy

    Strategy is not just adding and doing new things

    • Strategy is about placing resources and bets to win… it is not about adding efforts and requirements without ensuring that key resources are available…. .it is about making choices… overloading (or under-resourcing) an organization is a sure fire way to help a strategy fail…be thoughtful, realistic and practical about what it will take so succeed

    Strategic, financial and operational information is not like wine or cheese… the situation doesn’t get better with age when you don’t have them readily available

    • Integrated and systemic information is key to success… What insights do you need to run the business…is it readily available… against a context or model that makes sense for the business…Do the timeframes represented make sense…. Is it published in times and ways that can help make a difference… are all of the answers to the repeated or likely questions presented… Can you say immediately….” Now I understand” … Or do you have to do some of your own digging or calculations… Late or incomplete information are bad within themselves, but more importantly point to the existence of other organizational challenges…the organization that invests the effort to do this right will improve performance because of better insights…. And will improve processes and data models that will increase quality of controls… administrative effectiveness… efficiency….

    Marketing is a key turnaround tool and weapon

    • Getting the basics of marketing straight has never been more important…If you don’t understand your markets, your customers, their needs and wants- cold… be assured that someone else is trying to figure it out…and might beat you to the punch… Whether you deploy it physically, digitally or better- both… the basics are key…. No one has the time or the luxury of getting it wrong with customers today… few have extra resources to deploy in a wasteful way… though this waste is rarely evident- it represents a lot of cash and a lot of unmet opportunity…There is someone out there right now trying to know and attract your markets and customers… they just hired “that person” who knows x, y, or z technique cold—and they are deploying it for your customers…now

     

  • Performing and Thriving in disruptive times in Higher Education

    We have had hundreds of conversations with people regarding  the current challenges and future opportunities for Higher Education over the past year or so.  There are certainly more questions than answers and the challenge is unevenly felt by many.  There are a lot of elixirs being bantied about, but I believe that few will replace thinking hard, experiencing broadly and coming to recognize your position- and doing something about it.  That is why I am posting this note.
    This note introduces a MOOC offered by edX and Lead by Otto Scharmer from MIT. I fully understand the irony, but based on my brief experience with his work, and my wife, Marie’s in-depth work and knowledge, I believe it is worth considering personally or for a larger group of colleagues.

    The edX URL is: https://www.edx.org/course/u-lab-transforming-business-society-self-mitx-15-s23x#.VJCmiYrF9T4

    Additional information on the course can be found at this URL: https://www.presencing.com/engage/blog/ulab-announcing-live-sessions-and-global-hubs

    I believe that this material will help to prepare people to better grasp the issues faced by higher education, and “let go” of thinking of the past and be open to emerging- and future possibiities.

    In my work in the strategy arena, I find that organizations have a tough time dealing with creating relevant and valuable strategies in disrupted environments. There is too much inertia and sentiment invested in the status quo and the tendency is to think of doing things to merely try to “keep the slope of the existing line”- and extend it. But, since today is the least competitive day you will ever experience in Higher Education, it is probably worth thinking more and thinking harder about how to succeed and thrive in this environment.

    At its core- strategy is about winning- where you will place your bets to create a better future for your organization- and how you will allocate resources to energize those strategies. The mirror image of that work is to create a common picture of what the future will hold, really understand the resources that will be required to help you be successful in that future and where you will garner the resources to energize it. In most all times, that means “letting go” of the current thinking and approaches to create the space for new possibilities to be realized.

    Given the systemic nature of higher education, it is hard to imagine devising relevant and valuable strategies without solid representation of the knowledge and thoughts of all of the people and elements that exist in its ecosystem- current students, secondary education systems, community colleges, businesses and organizations, adult learners, donors, regulators, alumni, Boards, to identify a few.

    Theory U that underlies the course work in this MOOC provides great insight into the current condition and how to come to grips with emerging futures.

    As we have discussed strategy at our dinner table over the years, one of the recurring but uncomfortable themes is that in many cases the participants are so focused on existing conditions or locked in their own paradigms that they can’t imagine what might be- and can’t let go to allow new thoughts to emerge and develop. I think the U Lab MOOC can help to build participants’ capability and capacity so that they can be valuable and viable contributors in creating strategies and helping institutions run strategically.

    I encourage you to look over this material and consider how you might be able to use it to advance your institution’s place in the world. If you have any questions, I would of course be happy to field them. PMCC Ventures will be arranging a local “Circle of Friends HUB” as noted in the material, and if you want to participate in that, let me know and we will consider your needs as we put it together.

    Take Care and Good luck.

  • US Higher Ed needs to master the learning curve and smartly deal with excess capacity

    It has been an interesting few weeks for Higher Education.  Last week, the Economist published a great article on the need to reform education—the challenges demanding it, and the factors accelerating the ability to transform.

    In the past few weeks, several Pennsylvania liberal arts colleges announced a wide spread coalition to discuss ways of “helping with costs” and creating advantage.

    In mid June, leaders of several Philadelphia Universities met to discuss ways to collaborate to help Philadelphia Universities enhance their abilities to cope with an increasingly competitive environment and substantial cost pressures.

    These are great signs.  The common press is starting to bring the issues both into focus and position them in an appropriately broad context.

    http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21605906-cost-crisis-changing-labour-markets-and-new-technology-will-turn-old-institution-its

    http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/campus_inq/Ten-Pa-liberal-arts-colleges-to-collaborate-on-cost-savings.html#YlsCvbs6ekVxE2XI.9

    Attached is a brief US Higher Education Industry Analysis.  This was used as part of the workshop materials with the Philadelphia University leaders.  We purposefully kept the analysis broad, because we believe that the industry change conversation needs to be broad based and generative.  20140706 US Higher Education Industry Analysis

    US private mainstream higher education institutions will have to do a lot of things quickly and well to get ahead of the daunting competitive wave. The level, intensity and pace of change of course will vary depending upon each university’s perceived competitive position, its capacity to change and its resolve.

     

  • PMCC Ventures Services for Lenders

    PMCC Ventures has deep  and successful experience working with lenders across the lending lifecycle to help organizations create and preserve value.   To learn more about our services and experiences please click here:  20140325 PMCCV Services for Lenders