How To Turn Around A Company

In recent posts, we’ve been discussing the troubled company, GKIC (formerly “Glazer-Kennedy Insider’s Circle”).

(Catch up on previous posts by clicking on them in the “Recent Posts” list to the right.)

Dozens of current and former members, strategic partners and employees have commented on my posts with their opinions and observations, and many more have communicated their concerns and complaints to me in private.

But very few have offered suggestions on what GKIC should do to turn itself around.

As Anthony D’Angelo says…

“If you have time to whine and complain about something then you have the time to do something about it.”

Here are a few of those who offered solutions…

Susan Kirkpatrick: “I recommend leadership at GKIC to complete ‘The FIVE Most Important Questions Self-Assessment Tool’ as originally created by the Peter F. Drucker Foundation.”

Rob Anspach: “GKIC lost the trust they had with their members, by bringing in someone who was an outsider. Now, they have some serious problems to face. Restoring that TRUST should be first and foremost a priority. They need to reach out to people… and offer an apology and make things right. They need to humble themselves.”

Jarrod Cash: “I love Dan Kennedy, Bill Glazer, Lee Milteer, but one look at the alphabet soup behind everyone else’s name there is enough to keep me away. CEO, COO CFO….. E-I-E-I-O….. that crap dooms most companies, just as Dan says in his old-school material.”

Phil Brakefield: “The business landscape is littered with the corpses of companies who became convinced their brand (MO, policies) was more important than their customers… The view even from 30,000 feet over the past year or so has looked more like Hiroshima than the GKIC we know and love. Looks to me like the fates have created for GKIC an opportunity to bring into play (on steroids) all the strategies it teaches it members about how to reactivate/re-energize lost followers.”

As the late, great Zig Ziglar taught…

“Statistics suggest that when customers complain, business owners and managers ought to get excited about it. The complaining customer represents a huge opportunity for more business.”

If you have been hearing any of these type of comments from your customers, clients or patients, you may not get excited, but you’ll want to make sure to pay attention so you don’t enter what business expert Jim Collins calls “Stage 3 of Decline: Denial of Risk and Peril.”

I spent some time as a Senior Business Analyst for a consulting firm that specialized in small business turnarounds, and I’ve helped dozens of companies engineer successful turnarounds, so I think I’m somewhat of an expert on this subject.

I’ll point to five sources of help I suggest for companies in Stage 3 of Decline…

1. Of course, there’s Jim Collins’ chart on page 77 of “How The Mighty Fall”, where he contrasts the attitudes and actions of leadership in companies heading in different directions.

Here’s the first item on the list…

On “Teams on the Way Down”:

“People shield those in power from grim facts, fearful of penalty and criticism for shining light on the harsh realities.”

On “Teams on the Way Up”:

“People bring forth unpleasant facts – “Come here, look, man, this is ugly” – to be discussed; leaders never criticize those who bring forth harsh realities.”

This point hits especially close to home for me, because even though it seemed like almost every member was complaining about the dangerous direction GKIC has been headed in over the past year-and-a-half or so, when I repeatedly voiced my opinion to GKIC leadership of troubling developments…

• The CEO basically told me to shut up, because “loose lips sink ships;”
• A GKIC attorney sent me a letter threatening me with legal action if I continued to make “disparaging remarks;”
• Two corporate executives summoned me to a meeting so they could “set the rules of engagement” for me; and
• In one of her last official acts, the former CEO actually threw me out of the last GKIC major event “for being negative”

You are likely to have a similar knee-jerk reaction when you hear customer complaints, but I urge you not to ignore them.

Instead, heed the advice of Hall Of Fame baseball manager Sparky Anderson…

“I understand people who boo us. It’s like going to Broadway show, you pay for your tickets and expect to be entertained. When you’re not, you have a right to complain.”

2. Another great resource for GKIC (and all business owners) is Dan Kennedy’s “No B.S. Trust-Based Marketing.”

3. A search on Amazon.com for “small business turnaround” books shows 103 results.

4. It just so happens that the Turnaround Management Association (www.Turnaround.org), the only international non-profit association dedicated to corporate renewal and turnaround management, has its international headquarters right here in Chicago.

And GKIC has one HUGE and rather obvious advantage that you and I don’t…

5. Dan Kennedy himself, the world’s foremost living small business-building expert, is a part of their team (although many long-time GKIC members and observers say they’ve seen very little evidence of that fact since the new ownership took over).

My #1 piece of advice for GKIC (and your company, if you’re also struggling) is to admit to yourself and everyone else (because they already know it, so it’s counter-productive to ignore or deny it) that there are major problems that call for fundamental changes, and then study and implement as many of Dan Kennedy’s teachings as possible.

When a struggling sports team gets a new owner, general manager or head coach, the new leader comes in and proclaims a dedication to change and rebuilding.

(Imagine how insulting and dangerous it would be for the new leader to ignore all of the warning signs and make no mention to its loyal fans and players that it realizes that fundamental changes need to be made!)

I am convinced that many of us long-time, loyal GKIC members are rooting for the company’s leadership to come to its senses.

• We want its leadership to recognize and admit that the future of the company is in danger.
• We want them to make the right fundamental changes to rebuild the trust of its members and avoid disaster.
• And we want them to do it soon – before it’s too late.

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