Owner/Leader Change

How I help:

Sometimes I work with the outgoing owner or leader to clarify what they deeply want to preserve—whether that’s culture, mission, legacy, or people—and build structures that protect those priorities moving forward.

But I also work with the incoming owner or leader to guide the conversations that shape a new strategic path. My approach ensures:

• the leader owns the strategy,
• the strategy provides clear and actionable direction,
• the team buys-in to the plan, and
• the strategy becomes embedded in day-to-day operations.

How faith factors in:

In business, as in all of life, anything not done for the Lord and relying upon the Lord is vanity. Working through an ownership or leadership change often includes times of uncertainty and fear and often involves making hard decisions. Look to God for help and assurance, knowing that He is sovereign and what He desires will happen (although we might be tested and sanctified along the way). Here are a few guiding principles:

• Remember, God owns it all, we are just stewards.
• God's greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind,
• The second commandment is like it, to love your neighbor as yourself. Especially as a new leader, your people will be watching to see how your actions and decisions reflect your faith.
• We should always go to Him in prayer, asking for help, wisdom, and grace.
• We must spend time in His Word to know His will, His priorities, and His ways.
• We should proceed with humility and flexibility and patience, working hard but seeking God's glory as He works in His way and in His timing.

My relevant experience:

God has blessed me with many opportunities to work through changes in leadership and ownership. Through these experiences I have learned much about the strategic decisions that can lead to the greatest success. Here are a few highlights from my career:

• In 1995 my co-founders and I sold Digital Frontiers, my first startup, to The Williams Companies, a Fortune 500 company. We continued to operate the business, but with the increased resources of our new owner, and aligning our plans with the new owner's objectives.
• As Vice President and Chief Strategist for TeleChoice (2000 - 2002), we were often asked by venture capitalists to lead strategy labs for their portfolio companies when they would bring in a new CEO. These labs helped bring strategic clarity, but more importantly established the CEO's ownership of the strategy and unified the leadership team around the direction forward.
• During my tenure as a strategy executive at Sprint from 2003 - 2014, the company had five different CEOs. Each new leader rightly reevaluated the company's strategic priorities, established his ownership of the strategy, and rallied leadership, employees, customers, and investors around the new strategy.
• In 2013, Japanese conglomerate SoftBank acquired 78% of Sprint. SoftBank Chairman Masa Son took a very active role in redefining the company's strategic objectives, culture, and strategic priorities, with a particular focus on mergers and acquisitions that previously hadn't been possible for standalone Sprint.
• In 2016, I transitioned from the role of CTO to CEO of Altimeter Software.  Since I had been involved in setting the company's initial strategy, this transition focused primarily on refocusing development and sales resources on the most promising opportunities.
• In 2019, I transitioned from the role of CEO to Strategic Advisor of VisuALS Technology Solutions.  The new CEO was a co-founder of the business, so my role as advisor was to help him maintain the "love our neighbors" mission of the business while working through the daily challenges of operating a business.
• In December 2021 I began working with the Founder and Owner of Hope Builders in his planning to transition ownership of the business.  We focused on preserving the company's Christ-centered culture through the transition. We completed an F-reorganization of the company in August 2024. I continue to coach the company's President as he navigates daily decisions in alignment with the company's culture and strategy. Read the case study.
• I earned the Certified Exit Planning Advisor (CEPA) designation in 2024, recognizing my understanding of the decisions and processes involved in selling a business.