Surly C-Suite, CxO's

[Nice Guy Eddie 13512]

1 hour ago, luke duke said:

If you want your kid to know who you are, go with Option A. B & C = pissed off wife and a kid you barely know. Her 2nd husband will really appreciate the child support payments.

 

It sometimes depends on who you are. I've known people that take an easier job within their company or an easier job with a new company. The idea is to relax more, work fewer hours, etc. Within a year, they're back into working hard again. Some people don't want to settle in with an easy job.  They enjoy the stressful work and like to build an improved product/process/mgmt team/etc.

I can appreciate a job where you leave it at 5 and you don't have to give it another thought until 8 the next morning. But that sounds boring as hell. To me. Others may love that and good for them.

[Rougarou 594]

2 hours ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

 

I can appreciate a job where you leave it at 5 and you don't have to give it another thought until 8 the next morning. But that sounds boring as hell. To me. Others may love that and good for them.

Also, I just don't see where/how the big bucks are made doing that. I feel like times have changed and it's impossible to not answer emails in the evening or work a bit on the weekends if you want to not just meet minimum goals but excel.

Regardless, besides not being qualified or ever being qualified, I wouldn't be able to be a CEO due to the sheer amount of travel it takes. Especially international travel, it seems. That's a lot of time away from the family.

[ChiTownDoc 21154]

On 8/12/2019 at 1:20 PM, Rougarou said:

Also, I just don't see where/how the big bucks are made doing that. I feel like times have changed and it's impossible to not answer emails in the evening or work a bit on the weekends if you want to not just meet minimum goals but excel.

Regardless, besides not being qualified or ever being qualified, I wouldn't be able to be a CEO due to the sheer amount of travel it takes. Especially international travel, it seems. That's a lot of time away from the family.

The travel depends a lot on what you’re CEO of.  I travel a couple times a month. 

I don’t know any C level exec in our field who shuts down at 5 and starts back up at 8.  Things slow on weekends but other than that, emails and texts to 10pm are the norm.  

[J.R. Juniors Junior Jr. 1084]

In my alone time, I like to consider myself a Chief Erotica Officer.

[T’Boo Ted Marshall 2732]

I’m actually stepping down from COO.
Having hardcore sales guys that have lived with no formal process for years has been a tough sell. My CEO is one of those and hasn’t been supportive of the processes necessary to streamline that process.
Frustrating to say the least.

[ChiTownDoc 21154]

13 minutes ago, T’Boo Ted Marshall said:

I’m actually stepping down from COO.
Having hardcore sales guys that have lived with no formal process for years has been a tough sell. My CEO is one of those and hasn’t been supportive of the processes necessary to streamline that process.
Frustrating to say the least.

Has he done any of that type of work?  I hate show pony CEO’s.  Lead by example or your team will never get behind you.  That holds true 90% of the time unless you’re at a Fortune 500 type place where there’s already a huge disconnect between the C suite and almost everyone else.  

Edited August 14, 2019 by ChiTownDoc
And sorry to hear that it came to that for you.

[T’Boo Ted Marshall 2732]

The frustrating piece is that I know the deal makers well. I touch base with them almost daily and they are clamoring for a more structured process to lessen our cycle time.

[ChiTownDoc 21154]

22 minutes ago, T’Boo Ted Marshall said:

The frustrating piece is that I know the deal makers well. I touch base with them almost daily and they are clamoring for a more structured process to lessen our cycle time.

What’s your noncompete like?  Time to make em pay.  

[T’Boo Ted Marshall 2732]

I’m exploring options but not for a lateral move. I really do love the DM role within a PE or family office. I can hunt and network.

I don’t have a non compete.

[Rougarou 594]

11 hours ago, ChiTownDoc said:

Has he done any of that type of work?  I hate show pony CEO’s.  Lead by example or your team will never get behind you.  That holds true 90% of the time unless you’re at a Fortune 500 type place where there’s already a huge disconnect between the C suite and almost everyone else.  

Isn't that what a Chief of Staff is for? I have a good friend I went to business school with who is the CoS for a CEO at a F500 and at first pass if you didn't know any better you'd think it was like an executive admin position but it's really more than that. Seems like they are there to help bridge the disconnect you mention between the office and everyone else, (though in reality it seems like they just pull data and build slides for investor/board meetings?)

 

11 hours ago, T’Boo Ted Marshall said:

I’m actually stepping down from COO.
Having hardcore sales guys that have lived with no formal process for years has been a tough sell. My CEO is one of those and hasn’t been supportive of the processes necessary to streamline that process.
Frustrating to say the least.

That's interesting. Do you mind talking at a high level a scrubbed version of your journey to COO? How did you ascend to that position? Was it propelled by a singular event? a series of wins and political capital over decades? etc. Sounds like you are in the BFSI space as well which probably lends itself to more institutionalized vertical knowledge? 

Edited August 14, 2019 by Rougarou

[TwiceHorn 31471]

On 8/7/2019 at 2:54 PM, ChiTownDoc said:

Grew a specialty group to 140 docs in 24/25 states over 9 years.  Exited in Jan.  Owned 100% to that point. Own 30% now.  They kept me on as CEO but reserved right to make change.  I’ll stay on at least next 24 months after this set of meetings.  On track for 250M exit in 3 years.  They’ve approved a roll up of smaller groups - with debt so I won’t get diluted.  Took good number of chips off table so if shit hits the fan I’ve got no worries.

 

Had already spun off nurse practitioner company prior to this deal. That’s the big one.  Own 30% of that as well.  Met Optum and may have large deal set with them but only to staff NP’s for them.  Don’t want to exit for few years.  I don’t operate that company.  Just chair the board.  

 

CEO is much more about putting pieces together and being somebody others follow vs pedigree, school, or grades.  Although all those things certainly help.  

Somewhat OT, but I really had you pegged for being in the device/equipment business, rather than service providers.

I'd like to hear more of your thoughts on physician pay with the coming healthcare solution.  Because physician pay in the UK is grim, but the education is less of a commitment.  Less so in Canada, but pales to the US from what I can tell.

[ChiTownDoc 21154]

3 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

Somewhat OT, but I really had you pegged for being in the device/equipment business, rather than service providers.

I'd like to hear more of your thoughts on physician pay with the coming healthcare solution.  Because physician pay in the UK is grim, but the education is less of a commitment.  Less so in Canada, but pales to the US from what I can tell.

We actually run value based care for large systems so all this has been a big boost for our group.  Our physicians avg over 300k with 40 hr weeks and no call or weekends.  The key is we are driving value in 2 main ways - watching length of stays in various settings and reducing return to hospital rates.  If you do these things, you’ll do well.  The old way of billing your ass off on a few patients with fancy procedures is not gonna fly.  

[ShaggyBevo RIP 3868]

12 minutes ago, ChiTownDoc said:

We actually run value based care for large systems so all this has been a big boost for our group.  Our physicians avg over 300k with 40 hr weeks and no call or weekends.  The key is we are driving value in 2 main ways - watching length of stays in various settings and reducing return to hospital rates.  If you do these things, you’ll do well.  The old way of billing your ass off on a few patients with fancy procedures is not gonna fly.  

Aren't those two the top two rating areas to the new care 'value' based reimbursement metrics?

Edited August 14, 2019 by ShaggyBevo RIP

[TwiceHorn 31471]

I kind of meant for ChiTownDoc to weigh in more on the various health care threads.

But I think whatever the "solution" ends up being, there will be serious downward pressure on physician salaries, even though they are a relatively small portion of healthcare expenditure.

Funny thing, if you look around, it appears that UK pays substantially lower for most professionals (engineers, lawyers, doctors) than the US.

Edited August 14, 2019 by TwiceHorn

[Rougarou 594]

45 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

I kind of meant for ChiTownDoc to weigh in more on the various health care threads.

But I think whatever the "solution" ends up being, there will be serious downward pressure on physician salaries, even though they are a relatively small portion of healthcare expenditure.

Funny thing, if you look around, it appears that UK pays substantially lower for most professionals (engineers, lawyers, doctors) than the US.

Can you take this offline with Chitowndoc? Or are we done here on the thread topic and we can give everyone some time back in their day?

[Dbeasy 15051]

This is an interesting thread. I’m up there in age, and believe that I have a pretty objective view of the corporate ladder and careers because I’ve had a combination conventional and unconventional career. I see the world thru both lenses. I’ve been a senior level exec in large companies but also a CEO in small and medium companies. A few things I noticed over the years:

1. Money - you can start making really good money late in your career (42-58) by just slowly working your way up the corporate ladder. The money is enough to fund a very relaxed retirement and later working years. You can make a lot of money.

2. Competence for Senior Corporate Roles - there is not that much of a correlation between level of competence and getting to the senior corporate roles. There are a bunch of very average people in those jobs who don’t really do much to improve their businesses. What they are good at is communicating upward, maintaining positive relationships, and being non-controversial. Think milk duds. Conversely, because of who you are, you may never make it up the ladder. If you can’t, but want a bunch more money, you better figure out a different way.

3. Start Up Senior Execs - In order to make a lot more money than a senior corporate job you have to get involved with a winning startup and it’s a crap shoot. If you can’t figure out on your own which ones are going to be great, find the smartest person you know who understands that area and ask them. Leave corporate for startup if it’s really a winner. Early in my career I couldn’t tell. Now I can.

4. Know Yourself - An old friend of mine is one of the top execs at one of the biggest companies in the world. He’s amazing. I also know that I never could have gone that route because of what fundamentally drove me thru the years. It wasn’t corporate prestige. I had to go find the experiences that I found rewarding. Know what you really like and want.

5. Family - this is huge. Some people are so driven to succeed in business that they completely ignore or mostly ignore family. And they are fine with that. People that are that driven can usually be successful in almost anything. They will make tons of money, but they sacrifice family most of the time. Pro note. These driven people will always talk about the importance of family but they never live up to it.

[CooterBrown 18012]

5. Family - this is huge. Some people are so driven to succeed in business that they completely ignore or mostly ignore family. And they are fine with that. People that are that driven can usually be successful in almost anything. They will make tons of money, but they sacrifice family most of the time. Pro note. These driven people will always talk about the importance of family but they never live up to it.

Had a former CEO tell us a story about how his wife got cancer while he was an up and coming exec at Koch. We all thought we were going to learn some life lesson here but nope. He divorced her because the illness got in the way of his career.

[Nice Guy Eddie 13512]

9 hours ago, CooterBrown said:

 

Had a former CEO tell us a story about how his wife got cancer while he was an up and coming exec at Koch. We all thought we were going to learn some life lesson here but nope. He divorced her because the illness got in the way of his career.

 

Ha. I got TPS reports to review, can’t be burdened with helping take the wife to chemo.

[Pescado_Rojo 19416]

"look, you're probably going to die anyway...don't you want me to build a nice life for the kids?"

[T’Boo Ted Marshall 2732]

On 8/14/2019 at 8:24 AM, Rougarou said:

That's interesting. Do you mind talking at a high level a scrubbed version of your journey to COO? How did you ascend to that position? Was it propelled by a singular event? a series of wins and political capital over decades? etc. Sounds like you are in the BFSI space as well which probably lends itself to more institutionalized vertical knowledge? 

Sure.  Don't read too much into my title.  We are a smaller M&A Advisory/Business Brokerage here in Dallas. 10 total employees.  

I grew a company from scratch and sold it and prior to that spent 10+ years in corporate America in Management.  Here, I was promoted from dealmaker to help streamline our process and make other operational efficiencies within the firm.  I was really just the only one that had the knowledge and execution to be able to do so. Sales guys don't want to mess with it but I could handle double duty as a dealmaker and COO.   I'm not some Harvard MBA but I'm a problem solver than works well in various areas of our firm.  

[52-80 19158]

1 hour ago, T’Boo Ted Marshall said:

 I'm not some Harvard MBA but I'm a problem solver than works well in various areas of our firm.  

 

[T’Boo Ted Marshall 2732]

Ha. That’s great!

[ChiTownDoc 21154]

On 8/14/2019 at 8:24 AM, Rougarou said:

Isn't that what a Chief of Staff is for? I have a good friend I went to business school with who is the CoS for a CEO at a F500 and at first pass if you didn't know any better you'd think it was like an executive admin position but it's really more than that. Seems like they are there to help bridge the disconnect you mention between the office and everyone else, (though in reality it seems like they just pull data and build slides for investor/board meetings?)

 

That's interesting. Do you mind talking at a high level a scrubbed version of your journey to COO? How did you ascend to that position? Was it propelled by a singular event? a series of wins and political capital over decades? etc. Sounds like you are in the BFSI space as well which probably lends itself to more institutionalized vertical knowledge? 

We work closely with several billion dollar hospital systems - not a single one has a Chief of Staff.  Maybe it's a thing but I just haven't seen it, even in very large orgs. 

[ChiTownDoc 21154]

4 hours ago, T’Boo Ted Marshall said:

Sure.  Don't read too much into my title.  We are a smaller M&A Advisory/Business Brokerage here in Dallas. 10 total employees.  

I grew a company from scratch and sold it and prior to that spent 10+ years in corporate America in Management.  Here, I was promoted from dealmaker to help streamline our process and make other operational efficiencies within the firm.  I was really just the only one that had the knowledge and execution to be able to do so. Sales guys don't want to mess with it but I could handle double duty as a dealmaker and COO.   I'm not some Harvard MBA but I'm a problem solver than works well in various areas of our firm.  

Never enough problem solvers in any org.  The thing is there's a lot of people that think they solve problems but once you grow it seems there's more problem creators vs solvers.  I'm sure you earned your stripes T'Boo...and you'll be fine whereever you go.  Good on you for saying 'fuck this shit' and leaving - not enough people do. 

[Rougarou 594]

22 hours ago, CooterBrown said:

 

Had a former CEO tell us a story about how his wife got cancer while he was an up and coming exec at Koch. We all thought we were going to learn some life lesson here but nope. He divorced her because the illness got in the way of his career.

 

That's cold blooded.

[T’Boo Ted Marshall 2732]

I appreciate that Doc. I’m still here in the interim.
I’d like to get on with another IB/Advisory firm, family office or PE group.

[ChiTownDoc 21154]

On 8/14/2019 at 2:09 PM, Dbeasy said:

5. Family - this is huge. Some people are so driven to succeed in business that they completely ignore or mostly ignore family. And they are fine with that. People that are that driven can usually be successful in almost anything. They will make tons of money, but they sacrifice family most of the time. Pro note. These driven people will always talk about the importance of family but they never live up to it.

Nailed this one.  Except the talking about how important it is - wife and I made decision not to have kids.  She is from Eastern Europe and travels with her parents/sister several times a year.  I get my guys trips and meet her all around the world.  Work is number one, but it's paid off in many ways.  In cities like Chicago there's a huge social network of people that may or may not have kids, but their lives are their own.  We do a few dinners during the week and luckily several mens' trips a year - even when doing couples dinners, you just don't hear people talk about how important family is.  That sure as hell doesn't mean it's not important - you just don't hear it much.  How I grew up, parents' entire lives revolved around their kids.  But nobody I recalled, that we knew well, truly put work over family, but they lived modest lives.  Not saying one way or the other is better - just more color to an observation you made. 

Today, I could slow down and we have a great team.  When we bootstrapped this motherfucker, being able to work 24/7 year round made a huge difference in many ways.  One, the people who sign up to work with you see that you're willing to do it all and it sets the proper tone.  Again, when you've made it and have a bigger team, those things make a much smaller difference but when trying to go zero to hero, it's a game changer. 

[ChiTownDoc 21154]

On 8/14/2019 at 8:10 PM, CooterBrown said:

 

Had a former CEO tell us a story about how his wife got cancer while he was an up and coming exec at Koch. We all thought we were going to learn some life lesson here but nope. He divorced her because the illness got in the way of his career.

 

I think there was a life lesson there.  Ouch

Edited August 17, 2019 by ChiTownDoc