What is an Interim Leader?
After spending years or even generations building a successful family business, some of the toughest conversations circle around succession planning. What happens when an owner steps down from the business? Will it be passed down to family members, and is that individual ready to lead? Will it be prepared for sale, and will an owner get the value they want from an exit? What are the benefits of succession planning and are they worthwhile? How do you write a succession plan? The list of questions can make your head spin.
Family-owned businesses in the US generated 64% of the national GDP and created 78% of new jobs in 2018 while employing more than half the country. Family businesses of all sizes are vital to our economy yet in a 2016 PricewaterhouseCoopers survey, only 23% of family businesses had a full succession plan in place.
Modern-day CEOs are taking on a barrage of new responsibilities in the age of rapid technological advancement and global expansion. Industry disruption seems to be an everyday occurrence and businesses are transforming at the speed of light. These new realities can pile never before seen challenges on a CEO’s plate that already runneth over.
How does a CEO conquer a growing list of to-do’s from establishing a strong organizational culture to developing growth strategies, and managing delicate political and stakeholder relations while forging ahead in this modern era? Opportunities to enter new markets and continuously innovate are top of mind in this day and age where technology has led to more competition and rapid change. The catch-22 is that a CEO is an army of one yet still are, charged with responding with agility and confidence to seize growth opportunities while ensuring organizational stability.
Modern healthcare is as complex as physiology inside our own bodies. The healthcare industry is now waist deep in an era of extreme disruption. The breakneck pace of technological innovation coupled with the increasing aging population and chronic diseases is a recipe for historic changes in healthcare.
In the healthcare ecosystem, some organizations will sink, and some swim as disruption occurs. From hospitals to clinics, to patients to pharmaceutical companies, to insurers to medical technology businesses no entity will be unaffected.
Leaders in healthcare say legacy providers must respond swiftly to the changes. The abrupt exit of critical leadership, gaps in capacity and expertise, or old systems that no longer work can quickly become problems. Because these factors are interwoven, health care organizations can find themselves unraveling if they don’t act fast.
It is likely that every organization will reach a crossroads where they must decide to grow, transform, or stagnate. No business opts to stand idle but by default, many do. In fact, when it comes to achieving sustainable growth, only 20% of organizations find success. How do organizations find themselves in a standstill? Usually, leadership has their hands tied — whether they are at a loss as to which direction the organization should go, are bound by layers of bureaucracy, or do not have the capacity to drive much-needed organizational change.
Native American economic development is critical for tribes seeking to effect a positive long-term impact on their communities. Federal 8(a) programs have been a great resource for Native American owned business, but tribal communities have evolved with an increasing focus on sustainable strategic economic development.
Tribal nations not only focus on the importance of cultural preservation and protected lands, but aspire to overcome big challenges facing their communities. From poverty to limited access to high-quality education, minimal healthcare resources, and inadequate workforce development, tribes work to solve these problems through economic growth. Tribes that thrive economically can better support funding for education, housing, and a multitude of crucial basic services.
Some tribal nations have excelled in the face of these challenges. Tribal economies have had a profound economic impact by growing Native American enterprises, increasing revenue, and acquiring operating companies. Prosperous tribes have also developed strong internal and external business partnerships.
Healthcare spending was projected to increase by 5.4 percent annually from 2017 to 2022 according to the US and Global Health Care Industry Outlook compiled by Deloitte. That’s over $10 trillion by 2022.
The United States continues to outpace other countries on projected spending — both in public and private healthcare — with a grand total of $5.7 trillion projected from 2017 to 2026. Yet with nearly double the spending compared to similar countries, the positive health outcomes are worse in the United States.
Healthcare organizations who want to stay competitive must deliver positive outcomes while running a sustainable, profitable business. Many healthcare providers are now opting to outsource the expertise of interim Chief Financial Officers (CFO) to steer them toward a healthy financial future.