Know Thyself

You’re probably reading this blog because you are ambitious for growth and are seriously considering acquisition as a way to reach your goals. External growth is exciting and it’s easy to rush into action without an adequate review of where you are coming from. This would be a mistake. Before you grow your company, you need to develop the best possible understanding of it. By “best,” I mean the most accurate, the most dimensional, and the most practical. This is obvious if you think about it. The outcome of your growth program may be a marriage of some kind, and you will be scrutinizing many potential partners. But how do you judge if the match is good without understanding yourself as well as you do the acquisition target?

You may feel you know everything about your company that can be known, especially if you are the owner. In reality, my consulting experience tells me otherwise. Over time, you get consumed in the effort to hold things together and your original vision gets obscured. Take my advice and invest in self-exploration. Not only will this provide a rational foundation for making growth decisions, but it will also give you practice in the kind of analysis you will apply to potential acquisitions.

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