Management

What to consider when resigning from the CEO position?

Time to quit

 

In my last blog, “Abdicate from the CEO Position,” I discussed the importance of preparing for the replacement of the CEO in an owner-led business. If you are the principal owner and CEO, you need to understand deeply why a replacement is beneficial for the company and be clear about what you expect from the new CEO.

However, for you, the most important question to answer is, how the change will affect you – personally and professionally. What should you do after you, as the principal owner (perhaps also the founder of the company) resign from the CEO role? What do yo love to do? Playing golf full-time is usually not challenging enough for an entrepreneur. In order to give you sufficient time to prepare for your resignation, you need to determine when the replacement should take place. A decision to resign has to mature, and that takes time.

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Replace the CEO of an owner-led Company

Family business

I have, as a venture capitalist and adviser, worked with a large number of privately-owned companies. A typical task for a venture capital investor in an entrepreneurial, owner-led company is to drive the professional and personal development of key people and, in parallel, carry through needed replacements of top tier managers. I will in this blog post share my experiences of the replacement of the CEO in owner-led companies.

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NPS – some reflections

NPS Loudspeaker

In my previous blog post “Recommend to a friend”, I brought up the background to the measurement of customer loyalty with the Net Promoter Score, NPS [2]. The method is easy to use and popular among commercial companies as well as in the public sector. But, all methods based on a relatively simple model has its weaknesses. In this post, I am sharing reflections and some criticism of the NPS approach.

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Recommend to a friend?

NPS crowdHow likely is it that you will recommend a company to a friend or a colleague? That is the question we are asked more and more often after a finished purchase or being in contact with the customer support at a company where we are a customer. But why is this question asked?

Well, the question is at the core of the measurement of customer loyalty using the Net Promoter Score (NPS) [4]. In this blog post I will present the background to the measurement of customer loyalty using the NPS. But all methods based on relatively simple models have obvious weaknesses. In the next post “NPS – some reflections” I will share my reflections and criticism about the NPS method.

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Coaching – what, when, how?

Coaching

Our society, businesses, and professional life are changing rapidly. These are changes mostly driven by new technology (e.g. Internet), changed attitudes, and patterns of life. It leads not only to a host of new opportunities but also to increased demands for personal and professional development.

Traditional boundaries between work and leisure are dissolved. We must find and decide the work-life balance – which we are not trained for. We are used to eight-hour workdays and where our salary is paid based on hours worked. However, more and more management and highly skilled jobs are unregulated regarding working hours, and your salary is based on what you achieved and not on hours worked.

The role of the leader is no longer about telling what others should do. Instead, you must create a guiding and creative environment that enables your employees to exploit the full potential.

In times of rapid change and increasing demands, it may be difficult to prioritize, understand the consequences, make decisions, and set realistic action plans. It is in these circumstances when personal coaching may come in as a tool for personal and professional development.

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Inspiring Webb Days

 Webbdagarna in Stockholm

Webb Days Logo

I visited Stockholm’s Webbdagarna (Webb-days) from the 22nd to 23rd March. It is Sweden’s leading event and meeting place for anyone working with digital media and digital channels. The conference is organized by Internetworld and gathers some 1600 participants. A major part of the sessions were in English. If you are living in the Nordics and want to follow the digital development and discover new business opportunities, I can recommend a visit to the event. The next conference is held in Malmö on the 17th to 18th May and followed by Gothenburg on the 21st to 22nd September. The next Stockholm event will be held March 21st to 22nd, 2017.

It was overall very professionally organized with many great and inspirational speakers. There are, of course, a lot of topics and information covered during the two days. I can, in this blog, just share a few hopefully inspiring takeaways.

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The best CEO in the world 2015

Graf_CSR_1500x1000_mh

Harvard Business Review (HBR) compiles each year a list of what it finds to be the 100 best-performing CEOs. The 2015 survey included 907 CEOs from 896 companies and represented 46 nationalities in 30 countries. The selection of companies was based on S&P Global 1200. This index includes companies that account for 70% of the world’s stock markets capitalisation.

The results of the 2015 survey were exciting and inspiring when a somewhat unexpected CEO took first place.

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New role in 2016?

2016

Image: Adobe stock.

Happy New Year!

We live in a time of rapid change. The main driving forces are globalisation, digitalisation, increased demands on all businesses to become sustainable and, last but not least, a healthy balance between work and private life. More and more jobs are “certified” to include complex tasks and problem-solving with no given work instructions or obvious solution. Abstraction ability and capacity to collect and analyse a variety of different types of material, facts and impressions are becoming increasingly important.

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Best wished for Christmas and a relaxing holiday

To own a company, operate on a Board of Directors or have a senior position in a business is a complex and exciting task. To… Read More »Best wished for Christmas and a relaxing holiday