Discussion

By Wayne Lynn on Oct 29, 2024

Gina, very good, well written article. If I might, I'll add something I learned from Joe Davis back in the CGX days. We managed our companies with a nuanced approach based on size (sales volume) of the business. It seemed that when we bought a company, the size almost always dictated the management structure in place. (As became obvious, the management structure dictated the sales level. We knew that but felt that changing the management structure over time would yield sales growth. Otherwise, many of those companies might not have been acquired.) Level One topped out from $5-8 million and the owner did everything. Most of the time, it had reached that level and, as you would expect, stalled out. Level Two ranged up to $12-15 million in sales and often had two to three key people who were responsible for major parts of the business. Sometimes it was sales, sometimes production, once in a while it was finance. Level Two were known to stall out and stop growing too. The reason was failure to recognize that more management needed to be added to support growth. Level Three ranged up to $40+ million in sales and had a layer of middle management and supervisors. There was a distinct C level of management. In the last few years of CGX, Joe made a few large acquisitions. The leadership structure was pretty much the same as the Level three group. The distinguishing factor was that the C-level managers were increasingly talented and competent professionals. The CEO/owners were very competent people.

I think this bit of history and experience supports what you say in the article.

There is one other thing that bears re-examination. CGX were pioneers in leadership development with the famous Associate program. This enabled the company to purposefully develop future Presidents and high-level salespeople. Joe felt that the market for talent was too unreliable to hire the talent needed to continue growing. He came to believe in growing your own talent which is something our audience should consider strongly. Again, well done!

Wayne Lynn

By Gina Danner on Oct 29, 2024

Wayne, you are right now. I picked up the data points years ago and as I've watched all types of businesses evolve, they play out pretty consistently.

I am very aware of the number of businesses that will require leadership transition in the coming decade and it is somewhat concerning for our industry... have we created enough leaders to pick up the mantle of the printing industry?

By Wayne Lynn on Oct 29, 2024

Gina, somewhat tongue in cheek, I have to ask," have we ever created enough leaders before?" On a serious note, this requires a longer-term point of view than I've seen in 40+ years. It also requires hard thinking. This would be a great topic for a couple of seminars/webinars.

Wayne

By Gina Danner on Oct 30, 2024

Wayne... I think the answer to your "tongue in cheek" question is nope.

The printing industry is fascinating. This capital intensive business that produces billions in economic value and employees thousands of people is made up of a multitude of small mom & pop lifestyle companies. Within those companies, leaders tend to be family members, or the longest term employee. We spend very little on training and development. Too often the funds for training are overlooked for the monies needed to take care of equipment or family needs.

And as a society we are lacking in leadership examples. We often see the results of leaders who have fallen from grace, or the poorly trained "managers", but rarely do we celebrate the steady leaders who show up every day and do the real work.

I was raised by a retired Marine Corp Gunnery Sargeant and a surgical scrub nurse. Their examples of leadership played out every day for me in everything they did.

We need to pick this conversation up in the next issue of "Up all Night".

By Wayne Lynn on Oct 30, 2024

Gina, I agree with your last comment. If I can support your efforts in any way I will.

I will give you something to ponder... you don't see the leaders we need because, for the most part, we don't know what we're looking for.

By Mike Philie on Nov 01, 2024

Great article Gina, and you are spot on with the changes necessary as the business grows. When a business starts to struggle to grow, I use the term "it has hit that ceiling of complexity." What I mean by that, is that the way they've managed the business up until now, will no longer be sufficient to help them get to the next level. Sometimes it's a skills issue, sometimes it's complacency. Either way, they have to identify the key areas that need to change so that they can break through to the next level.

Thanks to you and Wayne for the interesting dialog on this topic.