3 Reasons Your Business is in Distress

Eric Kish
Eric Kish
Aug 22, 2017 · 4 min read

I am amazed how boards of directors, when hit with a crisis, look for a fix from a guy who has been in the same industry for the past 15 years. While this might be important for a company on a predictable path of growth in a stable industry (something very rare, if not extinct, these days), it becomes a liability when the industry is disrupted by substitutes or by an industry cycle (see: recent crude oil price crisis).

In my 20 year career as an Interim Executive, I have worked across many industries: electronics, software, oil refining and distribution, food packaging, retail, and most recently, agriculture in the jungles of South East Asia. These industries have been scattered across 12 countries on 3 continents. The problems faced by an interim are always unique, but the basics are always the same. It’s always about (in this order):

  • Cash Can we stop/reverse the bleeding?
  • People Do we have the right people and culture in place to get us back on our feet?
  • Business Model to Market FitIs our business model a fit for the current market?

An Interim assignment can range from 9–12 months. That’s a very short period of time to turn around a company in distress, especially when you are running out of cash while also attempting to make changes to your business model to become relevant again for a recently shifted market.

Because the basic problems are the same, industry-specific experience, for an Interim, does not matter.

The first reason why industry doesn’t matter in the world of an Interim is that companies need to think outside the box. That can be hard if you are stuck within the confines of an industry that already has a “book”. On the other end, if you did not read the book, you don’t know what might not be possible. Picking a corporate executive who was successful working for the competition has little to do with the firefighting that is immediately required in order to save the company and make it able to fight another day.

The second reason why industry shouldn’t be at the top of the list when bringing on an Interim? Mainly, business is about people. I find that strong leadership is the most critical point of a turnaround. Interims can figure out the rest with the help of others, and more often than not from people already in the business. What an Interim Executive provides is the operational expertise and the necessary uncomfortable decision making needed to instill confidence back into an organization. No matter the industry, human nature remains constant.

The third reason industry does not matter is perspective. Oftentimes, problems found in one industry have already been solved in another. The same problems may be referred to in different terms, but the pattern for identifying the problem and finding a solution is the same.

For example: I recently changed industries to head an operation that was in a cash black hole for the last 6 years and accumulating crushing debt. The business environment was fine, but poor execution was condemning the business.

The first action in this battle was to dig out the numbers and understand the extent of the bleeding. Experience and good investigative skills helped me uncover that in about 30 days. The second action was to understand the people and the culture of the company. By day 45, with the help of behavioral and cognitive investigative tools, I was able to map the organization and figure out the mismatch between people, roles and responsibilities. These steps were accomplished despite the fact that very few people in the organization spoke English and I did not speak the local language. By day 60, we had figured out what was wrong in the execution model and had an action plan in place.

The fact that this was a turnaround in a new industry was not a hurdle to helping the company. The knowledge within the organization itself, in addition to expertise from external advisors, was sufficient to build a thorough understanding of the business model, the key drivers of the industry, and what steps were required to execute a turnaround.


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