They Sell Courage. Where Was Theirs?
The biggest names in coaching sell courage to business owners. When governments shut those owners down by order, they went quiet. What that tells you.
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Writing on business, ownership, and the art of enjoying both, from the Initiative's co-founders.
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Closing is the exit you choose by waiting
When an owner has had enough, the only exits open are the ones they prepared. Why tired owners close instead of selling, and how to keep a sale open.
The record costs less than the copy
Six checks to run on any company, in any country, before you buy it, sell to it, or sign with it. The official record is cheap; the copies cost more.
The term you'd never have accepted on day one
Most of the damage in a sale is done late, a clause at a time, by people who just want it finished. Write your walk-away down before fatigue sets in.
Nobody asked for an earn-out. You just offered one.
Silence makes sellers uncomfortable, and they fill it with money. Most negotiating losses are self-inflicted, and the costliest words come from your side.
The bigger offer is often the smaller one
$20 million with $7 million deferred or held back can lose to $18.5 million paid on the day. Take every offer apart before you decide which is bigger.
Worth a dollar to one buyer and three to another
The same business is worth different amounts to different buyers. A valuation report doesn't create competition. Buyers do, so keep more than one in play.
Don't fill the two-second pause
The management presentation is due diligence in real time. Rescue every answer, and you prove to the buyer that the business still runs through you.
They Punished the Question
McKinsey stripped a senior partner of his leadership roles after he asked whether the glass cliff is real. What it got wrong, and what to do when it's you.
Delete the adjectives and see what's left
'"A leading provider of innovative solutions" tells a buyer nothing. Your retention figure tells them plenty. Write your sale document as evidence.'
Nobody pays for upside they have to imagine
Every seller says the business could double. Buyers pay for growth they can believe, so test a small slice of the plan, with its costs, before you sell.
Your growth rate is hiding something
Two businesses grow from $10 million to $12 million. One kept its customers; the other lost $4 million and won $6 million. A buyer pays very differently.
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Capital and Exits
Closing is the exit you choose by waiting
When an owner has had enough, the only exits open are the ones they prepared. Why tired owners close instead of selling, and how to keep a sale open.
The record costs less than the copy
Six checks to run on any company, in any country, before you buy it, sell to it, or sign with it. The official record is cheap; the copies cost more.
The term you'd never have accepted on day one
Most of the damage in a sale is done late, a clause at a time, by people who just want it finished. Write your walk-away down before fatigue sets in.
Hospitality
The Choice
Every venue is running one of two playbooks, and both compound. Neither stands still, which means you are building one or feeding the other, every shift.
That's Just How It Is
The venue still trades, still fills on Friday, and the reviews are not terrible. Normalisation is the stage where decline stops feeling like decline and starts feeling like reality.
When the Room Goes Sideways
The pass is stacking, the floor is guessing, and nobody is running the room. Hospitality crisis is not one catastrophic event, it is a cascade watched live by everyone sitting in it.
Leadership
They Sell Courage. Where Was Theirs?
The biggest names in coaching sell courage to business owners. When governments shut those owners down by order, they went quiet. What that tells you.
The Signal Audit: Five Questions to Ask Before You Put a Leader on Camera
A single clip can undo weeks of good marketing. Five questions to run against leadership content before it goes out, starting with whether the action proves what the words claimed.
Your Signal Is the Message. McDonald's CEO Just Proved It.
It was not the message that failed. It was the signal. The internet did not debate the food, it debated belief.
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