If there is a Quarterback on the Team, Who is the Captain of the Defense?!? How Business Owners need to ‘draft’ the right players to run both sides of the ball for them
If you follow this blog of mine here or on LI, you know that I am obsessed with helping business owners grasp ahold of and then execute upon the concept that you don’t always get to pick your exit.
Bluntly, you can’t guarantee that you will be alive tomorrow and neither can I.
If your choice is to do something with that, you will enjoy today’s blog. If the choice is to do nothing…you still might get some value anyways.
One of the things that is talked about quite a bit in the professional world of exit planning is that there is a ‘quarterback’ for the consulting/advisory team. That includes all the types of consultants that assist in the multi-year and often multi-million dollar process of growing enterprise value while simultaneously increasing the business operations so that we get better options and more $$ at the point you sell.
I have come to a viewpoint that this concept is incomplete and actually unhelpful in some cases.
Quarterbacks only play on one side of the ball: Offense.
There is another group called…you guessed it…Defense.
You could try and call them both quarterbacks but the analogy starts to fail. I am going with who are the captains on each side. Here is how I visualize them currently (work in progress):
Offense: The captain (often called the quarterback) is usually what we would call a value or growth advisor. A consultant that is an expert at driving business value and profitability right now and into the future.
Defense: The captain here is usually (survey results are in) the financial advisor. While they certainly are all about growth…they are almost always focused as well on lowering risk and protecting what is already there.
You, the business owner, need two primary captains that understand how to play on their side of the ball, AND, how to make sure they don’t sabotage the other.
Btw, you also need a bunch of other talented ‘athletes’ as well, the CPA, attorney, M&A expert, etc. These gifted professionals work through and with the captains to make sure you, the owner, don’t get overwhelmed and distracted by all the nuances and complexities of growing your business. Instead, coordinating with each side of the ball, they free you up to do what is most important: lead.
Who is on your team? Chances are you got one of the captains on your team already and maybe you have both.
How are they ‘playing’ with each other?
Are you seeing their efforts synergizing in growth for you, the client?
Those are just a few of the questions that are worth examining in your monthly ‘on the business’ time that you schedule for at least a ½ day each month. You do that I hope.
You can outsource to experts, but you can’t avoid the responsibility of leading you, your team, vendors and clients into the future…until after you sell.
What is your exit date and how are you going to do it?
If you aren’t sure and would like me to introduce you to some of the best professionals in the world for you to interview and get help from…just comment below or send me a message. I spend a lot of time vetting professionals on both side of the ball and am always glad to help a fellow business owner out.
All the best and tight lines,
Mike
