You should spend a lot more time with your business. Invade the factory floor. Adopt some operational responsibility. Do some chores. Participate in corporate events. Interact with shareholders, employees, and customers. Be visible and approachable. This is how the board of Ems-Chemie operates – one of the most successful businesses in Switzerland over the last 50 years.
With the support of businessexcellence.eu, you can understand and emulate its proven operating principles. We support you as you increase your involvement. This enables you to be advisors to management rather than mere supervisors. It increases your knowledge and enables you to discuss business rather than people. It provides the foundation so you can focus on the result, on the essentials, the strengths and the given task. This requires contradiction, confrontation, and lengthy discussions. If such discussions remain fact-based, they often result in unanimous agreement. Journalist Karl Lüönd documented these insights in the book Erfolg als Auftrag.
Every company has shareholders. But not every company has an owner: Someone who has most of their savings invested in the business. Someone who will fail if the company fails. This is important because such a company will be superior to others.
A business owned by its management is more robust. Financially, operationally and in competitive terms. It is forced to be innovative, to adapt to market shifts and thus survive in the long term. An owner-operator will take calculated risks to develop the business. But he will not put its existence at risk. Because that would mean ruin for himself. An owner-operated business does not give too much regard to competitors. Without excessive leverage and risk-taking, it may underperform the competition in the good times. The true strength of an owner-operated business is most visible during a crisis. It is not only likely to survive a crisis but may emerge from it stronger than its competitors. These advantages have been documented by French professor Alain Bloch in his book La stratégie du propriétaire (the strategy of the owner).
But for most companies, the owner-operated structure remains an elusive ideal. Not every chairman or CEO has the financial means or willingness to take a meaningful stake in the business he leads. While this is understandable, it poses a risk: The failure of an ownerless business does not affect board members or management. Whatever happens, they can simply walk away unharmed. More often than not, they run their businesses in an unsustainable and risky manner.
If your business lacks an owner, your expanded involvement is therefore even more crucial. The responsibility to promote good leadership falls on you. You need to compensate for the lack of a controlling business owner. This helps ensure the survival of the business for which you are responsible.