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October 2024 Newsletter

FEATURED ARTICLE

Five Scariest Moments for a CEO

by Tim Fulton

Halloween has always been one of my favorite times of the year. I can remember as a kid dressing up and trying my hardest to scare people as we walked our neighborhood gathering treats. It was fun to frighten others and also to feel frightened myself from time to time.

As a small business owner, I’ve had more than my share of scary moments. The first day in business was always a frightening 24 hours. Facing Hurricane Andrew was as scary an experience as I can ever remember. Closing a business sale was always nerve-wracking.

What about you? Are you ever scared as CEO of your business? Here are five of the scariest moments for a small business owner that I can think of, along with one strategy to address each one and ease the fear.

Fear #1. Losing a key employee.

The labor market is as tight today as ever in modern history. The national economy is at full employment, and small businesses find it increasingly difficult to find and retain top talent. The fear of losing a star employee keeps many small business CEOs up at night. As a result, many companies are employing various strategies to retain key talent, including financial incentives, enhanced employee benefits, and opportunities for professional development.

FEATURED PODCAST

In this episode, Tim and Taylor welcome Atlanta attorney turned entrepreneur, Alina Lee to the podcast. Alina discusses her journey from golf prodigy to attorney to business owner. Realizing unprecedented growth, Alina shares her surprise by the early success of her new law firm, the benefits of providing true work-life balance, and helping small businesses protect their intellectual property.

About Our Guest

In 2021, Alina Lee founded Your Ad Attorney, LLC which serves as outside general counsel to companies in the marketing, tech, retail, utilities, and consulting spaces. Before becoming an entrepreneur, Alina was Senior Corporate Counsel for several corporations including Mailchimp and Southern Company Gas, worked as a corporate transactional attorney at Morris, Manning & Martin (MMM) in Atlanta, and practiced corporate transactional law for almost two years at Rogers & Hardin.

LISTEN TO PODCAST >

BOOK OF THE MONTH

Each of my Vistage Advancing Leader groups is currently reading Good to Great by best-selling author Jim Collins. I have also gone back and re-read the book, and it is a classic. See below for my review of the book in March 2002.

Ever wonder how good companies transition into great companies? Jim Collins, author of the best-selling book Built To Last, was struck by this question and initiated an enormous research project to find out the answer. His results are documented in his latest book, Good to Great.

First, Collins set the criteria for a Great company. Only eleven global companies met the criteria. These companies not only had to achieve incredible financial results but also had to maintain those results for at least fifteen years. The resulting companies will surprise (shock) you. They include Walgreens, Gillette, and Fannie Mae.