Work On the Business, Not In the Business
My friend Steve Kirchoff calls it "the CEO dilemma": leaders of high technology firms feel compelled to spend all of their time working in their business, yet they realize they should spend more time working on their business.
CEOs have a finite amount of time to allocate across multiple activities: overseeing operations, managing costs, marketing, sales, vision, and partnerships. The reality of keeping the business moving forward while maintaining positive cash flow can lead to a 100% focus on operations and cost. Concentrating all the CEO's efforts on those two activities begins to define a comfort zone. Days are consumed adjusting business processes and managing costs.
These activities are clearly necessary. Investors and boards expect more. They want a clear path to a significant increase in shareholder value, and they want to see the CEO doing what it takes to get there.
How the CEO desires to change his/her own behavior typically takes one of two directions, depending on whether revenues are growing or flat. If the company has a proven business model in an expanding market, the CEO wants to focus more effort and attention on marketing and sales to accelerate growth. On the other hand, if revenue is flat, the CEO wants to expand the vision driving the company to break out of the slow growth trap. To succeed, the new vision often requires stronger partnerships with strategic organizations.
20/20 Outlook Grows Value
The 20/20 Outlook process creates a pragmatic framework for managing implementation of the new vision while continuing to keep operations humming and costs down. It was purposely developed to address the dilemmas and challenges faced by CEOs desiring to grow their business and communicate more effectively with investors and board members. Supporting your management team with 20/20 Outlook corporate development expertise enables the CEO to create breakout initiatives that grow the value of the company while continuing to manage daily operations.
Every Business is Unique
Every business is unique and no single strategy works for everyone. The distinctiveness of each company defines a unique set of potential acquirers and a unique list of potential partners and acquisitions.
If you'd like to learn how 20/20 Outlook can help you lead your company to the next level and move closer to an exit, contact us at bob@2020outlook.com.
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