If your business is a startup seeking venture capital, your prospects are dim. Instead, you should focus on trying to grow the business without VC funding, says Dileep Rao, part of the faculty at Florida International University College of Business and author of Nothing Ventured, Everything Gained. The erroneous perception […]
Author: Jacqueline Sousa
Good Management is a Delicate Balancing Act
To allow failure but disallow incompetence To cherish creativity but shun lack of discipline To value team collaboration but not at the cost of individual accountability To cultivate an environment that is safe but also brutally honest To create non-hierarchical organizations full of strong leaders Inspired by The Hard Truth […]
20 years after leaving the family business, he’s back — and growing the company
For Atlantic Models, business is a family affair. That’s even more true now that the owners’ son has joined the company. The Miami-based maker of model airplanes, and client of Florida SBDC at FIU, is featured on MSNBC’s Your Business: https://www.msnbc.com/your-business/watch/model-airplanes-preparing-your-exit-plan-1384740419969?fbclid=IwAR30ebSQy1vND3BEclXy-UQ_qBXgTfO2A9m3tIhQeuLWLt9n9E5ACKCTekg
Stage 7 – Disequilibrium and chaos: Friend or foe?
Stage 7 (161-500 employees) Ever heard the phrase: “You can capture a wild duck, but you can’t make a tame duck wild?” At this stage of growth, with 161 to 500 employees, there’s a strong tendency for a leader to professionalize the company and inadvertently crush the entrepreneurial spirit that […]
Stage 6 – Longer view focus now critical
Stage 6 Company (96-160 employees) Stage 6, with 96 to 160 employees, requires a longer, more strategic focus for the leader and a laser-like focus on your ability to connect to your employees. You can no longer afford to be all things to all people. Your ability to differentiate yourself […]
Stage 5 – Integration: Planning with purpose is key to success
Stage 5 Company (58-95 employees) Planning is a critical aspect of any business’s success. But planning for planning sake will not a company make. You have to be able to identify the key decisions that must be made — and know when to make them. Think in terms of kicking […]
Stage 4 – Ignite your company’s intelligence by hiring professional managers
Stage 4 Company (35-57 employees) The fourth stage of company growth (35 to 57 staff) is called the Professional Stage. This is the time you need to focus on hiring experienced managers who have been there, done that. Your company has outgrown your ability to keep all those balls in […]
Stage 3 – Communicate, delegate and release: Formula for growth
Stage 3 Company (20-34 employees) Knowing when to delegate responsibility and authority is difficult for the owner of a growing business. The question that looms in your mind is: What if they (employees) mess up? There is a difference between being a control freak and knowing how to delegate with […]
Stage 2 – Follow these rules of the road as you ramp up for growth
Stage 2 Company (11-19 employees) You are stranded on a deserted island and you only have 30 seconds left on your cell phone battery – could your second-in-command back at your office tell you in those 30 seconds how well your company is running? If you had your company focused […]
Stage 1 – Communicate regularly to establish a performance mindset
Stage 1 Company (1-10 employees) Most entrepreneurs who start companies are not looking to be ‘managers’. They are looking to grow an idea, to bring a vision to life, to get a product out into the marketplace. In most cases, they need people, employees, to help them do that. But […]