In The Trenches

Identifying the Irrational Beliefs Hindering Your Decision Making

This episode is brought to you by⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Boulay, the industry standard for Quality of Earnings, tax, and audit services, serving search fund entrepreneurs for 20+ years⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ [https://boulaygroup.com/services/search-funds/] * This episode is brought to you by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Oberle Risk Strategies⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠: Insurance Broker and Insurance Due Diligence Provider for Search Funds and Other Small-to-Medium-Sized Businesses⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ [https://oberle-risk.com/in-the-trenches/]     *   ⁠Click Here to Subscribe to the In The Trenches YouTube Channel⁠ [https://www.youtube.com/@InTheTrenchesSMBPodcast] * I make it a habit to read and listen to everything published by entrepreneur and serial acquiror Brad Jacobs. He is the author of two best selling books, and has appeared on several of my own favorite podcasts, including Invest Like The Best hosted by Patrick O'Shaugnessy, and Founders hosted by David Senra. Brad has talked extensively about the personal and commercial importance of entrepreneurs keeping their minds healthy and clear. In his most recent book, he outlined a “toolkit” of sorts that he has leaned on for decades to help him do just this. The 5 tools in his toolkit included meditation, cognitive behavioral therapy, dialectical behavior therapy, positive psychology, and rational emotive behavior therapy ("REBT"). It was this last tool, REBT, that was largely unfamiliar to me, so naturally I bought a few books to learn more about it. Those books introduced me to a structured, highly logical, but ultimately very simple way to identify and challenge the hundreds of irrational beliefs and thoughts that present themselves to each of every day. I found the tool to be so compelling that I went searching for some of the world’s leading REBT experts. That search led me to Dr. Michael Bernard, a leading REBT practitioner, and entrepreneur and CEO himself. In our discussion today, we cover the basics of REBT, how to identify our own irrational beliefs, how to apply the tools of REBT to our daily lives, and the practical impacts of distorted thinking on our decision making at work.

"Great CEOs Are Lazy": Why the Best SMB Leaders Do Less—But Achieve More

This episode is brought to you by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Oberle Risk Strategies⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠: Insurance Broker and Insurance Due Diligence Provider for Search Funds and Other Small-to-Medium-Sized Businesses⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ [https://oberle-risk.com/landing-page/in-the-trenches/] * This episode is brought to you by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠B⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠oulay, the industry standard for Quality of Earnings, tax, and audit services, serving search fund entrepreneurs for 20+ years⁠⁠ [https://boulaygroup.com/services/search-funds/]⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ * You’ve likely heard many times that CEOs should be spending more time working on their business than working in their business. While this idea makes good sense, just how realistic is it for a small business CEO, especially a new one? While we’d otherwise like to be spending our time mostly on strategy, culture, and capital allocation, being sucked into the day-to-day whirlwind feels like an inevitable part of small business leadership – or is it? My guest today, Dr. Jim Schleckser, is the author of a book entitled Great CEOs Are Lazy [https://amzn.to/4cFzN5T], and is also the founder of The CEO Project, where he and his team work with hundreds of CEOs of high growth companies. I think you’ll find that while Jim acknowledges that working in the business is an inevitable and acceptable part of a CEO’s role at times, you’ll also likely notice that Jim focuses a lot on leverage: That is, ways in which CEOs can generate the highest level of output through the fewest inputs, through things like purposeful hiring, delegation, and explicit rules around where to spend their time- and, importantly, where not to.

Are Search Funds Moving Up Market?

This episode is brought to you by⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Boulay, the industry standard for Quality of Earnings, tax, and audit services, serving search fund entrepreneurs for 20+ years⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ [https://boulaygroup.com/services/search-funds/] * This episode is brought to you by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Oberle Risk Strategies⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠: Insurance Broker and Insurance Due Diligence Provider for Search Funds and Other Small-to-Medium-Sized Businesses⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ [https://oberle-risk.com/in-the-trenches/]     *   Click Here to Subscribe to the In The Trenches YouTube Channel [https://www.youtube.com/@InTheTrenchesSMBPodcast] * Over the past few months, I’ve been presented with five separate opportunities that contemplated the acquisition of a company with $7M or more of EBITDA (this compares to the Search Fund average of $2.2M for the 2022-2023 cohort of Searchers). While I acknowledge that five data points don’t constitute a trend, at the very least this has piqued my curiosity. While the Search Fund ecosystem has worried – seemingly for over a decade now – about the possibility of middle-market Private Equity firms moving down market, it’s interesting to ask whether the inverse may now be happening, at least to a certain extent: Are Search Funds moving up market?

The Four Stages of Leadership Maturity: Why the CEO Must Change Before the Company Can

This episode is brought to you by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Oberle Risk Strategies⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠: Insurance Broker and Insurance Due Diligence Provider for Search Funds and Other Small-to-Medium-Sized Businesses⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ [https://oberle-risk.com/landing-page/in-the-trenches/] * This episode is brought to you by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠B⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠oulay, the industry standard for Quality of Earnings, tax, and audit services, serving search fund entrepreneurs for 20+ years⁠ [https://boulaygroup.com/services/search-funds/]⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ * In the acquisition entrepreneurship ecosystem, it’s well understood that the companies that we acquire often undergo change, maturation, and evolution under the watchful eye of the new CEO. What I think we tend to under appreciate, however, is the change, maturation and evolution required of the CEO herself. When I think back to the CEO that I was in year 6 of my own hold period, that person is almost unrecognizable relative to the CEO that I was in my first 6-12 months at the helm… and that evolution wasn’t just specific to commercial considerations, though there were plenty of examples of those. A lot of it concerned the personal, psychological, and emotional realities of being both a leader and an entrepreneur. My guest today, Jennifer Garvey Berger, is the Author of Changing on the Job (among several other books), and has introduced a framework that shows what she thinks are the four rather predictable stages of leadership maturity. In our discussion today, we discuss what those stages are, what fundamentally changes from one stage to the next, why it’s important for a leader to know which of the 4 stages that they’re currently in, how to self-diagnose, where she most commonly sees high-performing executives or new leaders get “stuck”, and whether leadership maturity is simply a function of the passage of time.

“Don’t F*ck It Up": Les Trachtman on Avoiding Post-Close Founder Succession Mistakes

This episode is brought to you by⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Boulay, the industry standard for Quality of Earnings, tax, and audit services, serving search fund entrepreneurs for 20+ years⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ [https://boulaygroup.com/services/search-funds/] * This episode is brought to you by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Oberle Risk Strategies⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠: Insurance Broker and Insurance Due Diligence Provider for Search Funds and Other Small-to-Medium-Sized Businesses⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ [https://oberle-risk.com/in-the-trenches/]     *   When assuming the leadership role of a company that was previously held by its original Founder, new CEOs are often surprised at how difficult it can be to properly manage that relationship. A non-functional relationship between the incoming and outgoing owners can divide the employee base, create confusion about who to approach with problems and opportunities, and can limit critical transfers of knowledge and relationships that incoming CEOs typically require. Incoming owners often themselves in a bit of an awkward position during their first few months on the job: On one hand, they've likely just spent many months slogging through a protracted purchase process with the seller that was likely filled with contentious negotiations and several emotional disagreements. Yet on the other hand, almost immediately upon the closing of that acquisition, new CEOs will likely find themselves meaningfully in need of the help, knowledge and experience that only the person from whom they purchased the business can provide. In other words: Upon closing, what the seller wants from the buyer (mostly transaction proceeds) has already been received. What the buyer wants of the seller (help, knowledge transfer, introductions, and so on), hasn’t even yet begun. To help us better understand how to manage this critical hand off process, I was joined this week by Les Trachtman, Author of “Don't F**k It Up: How Founders and Their Successors Can Avoid the Clichés That Inhibit Growth [https://www.amazon.ca/Dont-Up-Founders-Successors-Clich%C3%A9s/dp/1632991292]”. Les is a seasoned entrepreneur, educator, and author with over four decades of entrepreneurial experience. He is also an adjunct instructor at the Johns Hopkins University Carey Business School, and is a frequent guest lecturer at Harvard Business School, MIT and other academic institutions, where he often talks to students about the unappreciated nuances of Founder succession.