Tony Caldwell’s blog “Weakness is More Valuable than Strength” rings really true to me. In it, he talks about how learning martial arts enabled him to learn how to turn his weakness into an advantage to stand up to bullies and beat formidable opponents in tournaments.
In business, he applies that knowledge with a twist – surrounding himself with people who have strengths in the areas where he has weaknesses.
Many of the business owners and company presidents I know who have achieved the greatest success have followed a similar rule. Those who are strong in sales or product innovation but weak in finance have hired great financial people to guide them in growing the business.
Unlike many of their competitors, these owners have been able to avoid common pitfalls – profit shortfalls, losing a line of credit, or being unable to sell their businesses at a good valuation.
I have been very pleased to know that my company played a role in helping other owners to hire and retain financial professionals who worked with the owners or presidents to increase profits by 50% to 100%.
In one case, after we placed a new Controller, our client was able to sell his family’s business for 50% more than he had hoped or expected. Later he told me, “I never had any idea what finance could or should do. I knew my previous Controller worked hard, but it turns out he wasn’t very smart.”
Feel free to reach out to me if you want to determine if your finance person is helping you to make up for a weak spot or if that person actually is your weakest link. Then, we can discuss how to remedy the situation.
