Perspectives
Occasional essays.
Short pieces by the principal on the work of governance, succession, and the discipline of senior advisory. Published when there is something to say, not on a calendar.
- 06
Why presence matters
Every year, capital enters markets it has never truly experienced. The research is detailed, the models convincing, yet the realities that determine success do not appear in a report. Analysis can be bought. Presence has to be earned.
Read the essay - 05
On the second career
The deliberate transition from operator to principal is harder than it looks. The calendar changes, the relationship between word and weight changes, and the role often becomes more demanding, not less.
Read the essay - 04
On declining mandates
The discipline of selectivity: the firm declines more enquiries than it accepts for reasons of standard, geography, calendar, and the occasional case of a client asking for the wrong thing. The decline is the standard.
Read the essay - 03
On succession and silence
In family controlled businesses, succession rarely fails because the strategy was wrong. It fails because the conversation never happened. The role of an outside chair is often to begin it.
Read the essay - 02
The first ninety days
When an outside chairman joins a board, the first ninety days set the tone of everything that follows. Thirty for listening, thirty for questions, thirty for naming. Not a delay, an investment in being right.
Read the essay - 01
On listening, before counsel
A young advisor arrives with frameworks and is expected to add value in the first meeting. The fastest path is also the surest way to recommend the wrong thing. What I learned in those early years was not a framework. It was a discipline.
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