A short transcript excerpt from a YouTube Q&A (Cameron Herold) where an audience member asks how a COO can convince founders to evolve their company culturally and in leadership. Herold advises using private conversations with data points, contrasts the rate of external change vs internal change, gives historical examples (Blockbuster, Borders), emphasizes upskilling leaders rather than relying on past experience, and highlights getting the right people in the right seats. The question cites growth from $0 in 2003 to $90M today and a projection to exceed $200M in five years.
Questions this video answers
Company was $0 in revenue in 2003, now $90 million; projected to be over $200 million in five years.
Chapters
My question plays into cultural and leadership evolution. So in 2003, this firm was zero in revenue. Now we're 90 million. Most of that growth coming in the last five years. Many of the key leaders here only have worked here. And so convincing them that we need to evolve because I think in five years we'll be over 200 million in revenue. So what are some strategies to convince founders the need to evolve a company?
I like showing them privately over lunch, a few data points and it's kind of like evolve or die. Or if the rate of change outside your business is greater than the rate of change inside your business, you're out of business. When leaders are saying, I've got 30 years experience, I come back to them and say, no, you have five years experience six times in a row. Because most of them haven't kept growing their skills. They're just doing what they've always done. I spoke with a CEO recently and I said, how do you know how to do one on one coaching meetings? I've been doing them for 10 years. I said, where did you learn them? He said, nowhere, I just started doing them. So I said, you could be doing them completely wrong for 10 years. And he goes, oh shit. I never even thought about it. Right. So the key is to give some skill base so that they know how to do it in a more effective way and then point out some data points. You know, Blockbuster used to be the biggest in the world as well. Where the hell are they now? Right? Barnes and Nobles or Borders don't even really exist now. Um, and you could also take a 30 year old or a 25 year old, call it a 30 year old, who has the technology skills to understand so many different ways to optimize or automate the business. And we could teach them the wisdom of leadership and they'll kick the ass of any 50 year old who's a strong leader, who's been doing it for 30 years. Right. The key is to actually be able to get the right people in the right seats. And that's a tough, a tough one to go after. But that's what I would try to show them is those things.
