By Chris Shipman, Catalyst InvestorsChris Shipman is a Co-Founder and Partner of New York City-based growth private equity firm Catalyst Investors.
“Don't call me that word. I don't like things that elevate me above the other people. I'm just like you. Oh sure, I come in later in the day, I get paid a lot more, and I take longer vacations, but I don't like the word ‘boss.’” - Hank Scorpio, Globex Corporation CEO, The Simpsons
As an investor, I have been involved in more than 60 investments in private companies over the past 15 years ranging from very early stage start-ups, to growth capital, to large buy-outs. Like most late-stage venture or growth capital investors, we review 250 to 300-plus deals a year, take meetings with a quarter to a third of these, get to the term sheet stage on 10 and make two or three investments per year. Building a company from an “idea” to a “concept” to “revenue” to “cash flow” is incredibly hard. It’s all the more awe-inspiring when I consider the many accomplished, talented, hard working and downright smart people I meet in this job who do not ultimately succeed. Picking the right teams is one of the things that keep investors up at night.A private equity investor’s job basically consists of two things: 1) identifying companies and sectors with great growth prospects and 2) finding exceptional CEOs with good teams to form or run companies. The first part, while not “easy”, is quantifiable and is a function of research, experience, deal flow, networking, technological expertise, and the like. The second part, the people part, is in many ways harder to quantify. Of course, experience, track record, intellect, references, likeability, vision, etc. are all important – necessary but not sufficient. It’s something else that separates the good from the truly great. Thousands of books have been written on “management” and yet there isn’t a one size fits all answer as to what skills a manager needs to be successful – because, as for many things, it depends. At a minimum, the good CEO should have the following characteristics.1. Honest and Opportunistic. Honesty, openness, clarity of vision and the ability to communicate are all traits the successful CEO needs to build a team of loyal and dedicated workers. Everyone on the same page. Everyone’s job clearly defined. At the same time, the successful leader isn’t afraid to change course – with people or with products. This is tough. Replacing your CFO or CTO, who was there from the beginning, worked long hours, and is a personal friend is something that many CEOs are reluctant to do – even when there is clear evidence that the person is no longer right for the job and the company’s future success depends on someone with a different skillset.2. Visionary and Reactionary. Today’s visionary is tomorrow’s goat, and the time between the two is increasingly short. Kodak had a great 100-year run, IBM 50 years, Palm five years and MySpace two. The successful CEO isn’t just thinking about today, they’re thinking about next year and what the world will look like in 10 years. Vision is important, but just as important is the ability to react to the changing world and build a company culture that rewards and encourages innovation and change. Everything should be questioned every day, and doing things “because that’s how we’ve always done them” isn’t acceptable.3. Demanding and Flexible. Good CEOs are tough. They’re demanding. They set goals and expect their employees to meet them. At the same time, they’re flexible. And they’re smart enough to judge their people not only by their results, but also by the realities of the marketplace. A missed revenue goal might be due to the economy, issues within the industry, product development delays, problems with sales or marketing training – a myriad of issues. A good CEO understands this and holds people accountable while accounting for the reality of the challenges the team is facing.4. Talented and Lucky. Yes, talent is key. But most of the companies that we look at have CEOs and leadership teams with impressive track records of success. Luck plays a bigger role than most people care to admit. A great CEO in the wrong place at the wrong time is unlikely to find great success. Even more common is the mediocre or even bad CEO who can do quite well by virtue of being in the right place at the right time (think about the early cable television, wireless, or dotcom days) and gets credited with being a great CEO.5. Confident and Humble. CEOs almost by definition need confidence. But not arrogance. An ability to admit mistakes, accept criticism, and understand that someone, somewhere is always smarter than you is a key attribute. A successful CEO isn’t ever afraid to hire the best person, and in fact on several occasions I have seen leaders make a hire that everyone in the room thought (although maybe didn’t say at the time) would likely be the CEO’s replacement at some point in the future.There is no “perfect” manager and there are no traits or personality types that work in all situations. History is written by the victors; in other words, much of the current consensus about what makes a “good” or “authentic” leader is anecdotal and backward-looking based on leaders who have had success.