By Brian Mitchell, Managing Partner & CEO My eldest daughter, Maddie, came home from college this week. She’s a junior at the University of Alabama….ROLL TIDE! She recently switched her major from doubling in elementary education and special education to social work. She’s recently been articulating her realization of simply not wanting to be a Read More

By Brian Mitchell, Managing Partner & CEO Why is it oftentimes, in both personal and professional scenarios, many people won’t just say “no” when they don’t agree, can’t comply, don’t have time, or are simply no longer interested?  Which is more rude – swiftly being clear on a decision that you disagree and/or won’t do Read More

By Brian Mitchell, Managing Partner & CEO I work with a lot of investors seeking CEO/GM operators to lead their portfolio companies as well as those CEOs seeking key executives to take on critical leadership functions on the senior management team. The CEO for a startup is much different than the CEO of a 200M Read More

CEO succession is paramount to the long-term success of any company that intends to exist beyond a single generation. Additionally, a CEO of a startup is often not the best CEO at 100M or to lead an IPO and public entity. But transitioning from one leader to another is one of the most challenging tasks Read More

By Brian Mitchell, CEO & Managing Partner I had a former boss who used to say, “Persuasion is getting other people to do what you want them to do because they want to do it.” Persuasion is part of salesmanship but the concept always struck me as manipulative, self-serving, and generally a one-sided transactional thought Read More

By Brian Mitchell, Managing Partner & CEO.  I recently received feedback from a client CEO on a candidate I had presented for a high-profile C-suite role in his company. This is a proven senior executive and former CEO herself currently leading a significant function at another company within the industry. After the first interview, my Read More

By Brian Mitchell, CEO & Managing Partner. I speak with dozens of senior executives every week and I really enjoy the strategic dialog shared. Accomplished CXO’s sometimes unconsciously begin to describe a “career inflection point” they find themselves in: frustrated with some aspect of their current company, seeking a more entrepreneurial venture, want a bigger Read More

By Brian Mitchell, Managing Partner & CEO I work with a lot of entrepreneurial founders and growth operators, some of whom are brilliant in their lane and all of whom are passionate about their goals. Whether the goals are for making the world a better place through their product/solution/service or building a company that employs Read More

By Brian Mitchell, Managing Partner & CEO In March 2020, the world stopped in many respects including hiring. In the second quarter, companies laid off significant numbers of staff from junior team members to C-level executives and froze hiring in many departments no matter how great the need. In times of uncertainty, cash is king Read More

By Brian Mitchell, Managing Partner & CEO. Founders are not always great managers and are often not great evaluators of talent. Sorry, but it’s true. They may be brilliant at product, finance, operations, commercialization, or technology, but that doesn’t always equate to attracting, onboarding, and retaining outstanding talent. And no matter how unique your product/tech/solution Read More