Are You Dedicated or Committed?
May 3, 2025
One morning last year I was meeting a prospective client for breakfast, and he was very vocal about the challenges he was facing – he was lamenting the struggles with his company, his bank, his employees. competition, supply chain, pricing, freight, people, margin pressure.
On and on.
I asked him to look down at his plate – and to tell me what he was willing to do.
He was puzzled. I explained the differences between being interested, dedicated, and committed to our course of action.
A course of action necessary to restore his company. It would require extreme work.
Candor.
Objectivity.
Accountability.
Giving someone else autonomy and authority.
Making difficult choices.
Listening to my brutal assessment.
Embracing reality. [Jim Malone always told me that “Lots of people want advisors. Seldom do they want the advice.” And “no one wants their own light of failure shining on them.”]
He asked, well what’s the difference?
We had ordered the same special. I asked him to look down at his breakfast. Really look at it. Understand what made it possible. I said the French Toast was “interesting.” Some egg and vanilla and cinnamon/nutmeg on some cooked bread. Real maple syrup. Kinda cool.
The chicken, that laid the eggs – well, that chicken was “dedicated.”
The pig…the grilled ham…well, the pig was “committed.” Are you trying to grow, fix or exit your company without being “all in?”
You want better outcomes but how committed are you to better inputs?
Are you DEDICATED or are you COMMITTED?
Paul Fioravanti, MBA, MPA, CTP, is the CEO & Managing Partner of QORVAL Partners, LLC, a FL-based advisory firm (founded 1996 by Jim Malone, six-time Fortune 100/500 CEO) Qorval is a US-based turnaround, restructuring, business optimization and interim management firm. Fioravanti is a proven turnaround CEO with experience in more than 90 situations in more than 40 industries. He earned his MBA and MPA from the University of Rhode Island and completed advanced post-master’s research in finance and marketing at Bryant University. He is a Certified Turnaround Professional and member of the Turnaround Management Association, the Private Directors Association, Association for Corporate Growth (ACG), Association of Merger & Acquisition Advisors (AM&MA), the American Bankruptcy Institute, and IMCUSA. Copyright 2024, Qorval Partners, LLC and/or Paul Fioravanti, MBA, MPA, CTP.
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