The hidden cost most organization leaders never see.
Private advisory for mature founders to remove invisible overhead embedded in their organization.
Most businesses don’t just serve customers.
They also do psychological work for the people who lead them.
And alongside generating revenue, serving customers, and making payroll.
In founder-led businesses it’s also serving the reputation, social position and identity stability.
The company is doing double duty.
One job for the market.
One job for the leadership.
One of those jobs serves legitimate business functions, but both draw from the same limited resources.
It’s a little like hiking. . .
You’ve got a cool backpack that holds what you need: the snacks and gear are staff, processes, and assets.
All that stuff belongs there. It’s the cost of covering ground.
But looking closer, the hidden pocket has some souvenirs from previous hikes, reminders of past journeys.
You didn’t mean to pack them, but here they are.
In a company, these extra things can play out in a lot of ways. While potentially small on their own, they can compound to distort critical information, over-complicate processes and weigh everyone down.
Over the long haul they compound - and they have a worse effect on a business they they do on a hike.
What I focus on
I focus on a class of cost that are hidden. They’re smuggled inside legitimate line-items without anyone really paying much attention.
When a founder’s identity, need for legitimacy, or self-worth get routed through the business, the ballance sheet carys extra costs.
It usually looks reasonable.
It usually feels necessary.
It compounds anyway.
I call this Identity Cost.
What happens when we fix it?
Companies delete complexity and find simplicity & more resources. Like:
Fewer decisions that require owner sign-off.
Fewer unnecessary meetings.
Less ambiguity of what processes are for and how they help the business.
Fewer roles exist to protect a relationship, history, or a sense of status.
Less time and effort spent on unnecessary reporting.
Spending aligns more with delivering value to a customer.
Advisory
I work with leaders on an ongoing basis to restore more direct processes and free up resources for initiatives and profitability.
How I engage.
Diagnostic
I produce a focused assessment that surfaces where identity costs are accumulating and how they compound in your specific organization.
Speaking
Keynotes and talks for leadership teams, conferences, executive and founder audiences.