The Comparative States of States
April 27, 2025A Little 3:00 A.M. Analysis Project Somewhere along the way in a flurry of graduate school work years ago, before earning an MBA, I received an MPA in Public Administration from The University of Rhode Island and while I do remember some of my professors in particular – Tim Hennessey, Fran Leazes, Victor Profughi – […]
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Climate and Risk
April 26, 2025What Businesses Can Learn from Storms Recently, several states were hammered by Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton. Weather changes quickly – and the overall climate of a business can be equally fickle. Like people and places, businesses are also exposed to threats that come from storms and inclement weather – but they are also threatened […]
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Why Dunning-Kruger Effect Causes CEO Failure
April 25, 2025If you need a king or a queen, don’t hire a pawn. The Dunning-Kruger effect is a cognitive bias where individuals with low ability or knowledge in a particular area overestimate their competence. Conversely, those with higher competence may underestimate their skills. This effect is named after social psychologists David Dunning and Justin Kruger, who first […]
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Listen To Your Heart
April 24, 2025Sometimes you wonder if this fight is worthwhile The precious moments are all lost in the tide, yeah They’re swept away, and nothing is what is seems The feeling of belonging to your dreams –“Listen To Your Heart” – Roxette, 1988 Let’s face it, running a business is hard. Especially your own. We’ve counseled […]
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Managing Business Insurance and Risk
April 24, 2025When purchasing a comprehensive commercial insurance program, businesses often make several common mistakes and encounter pitfalls related to various types of coverage, such as general liability, auto, excess liability, property, directors and officers liability, employment practices liability, and environmental protection. Here are some things to keep in mind: Common Mistakes Inadequate Coverage Assessment: Failing to […]
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“I was made for lovin’ you, baby, you were made for lovin’ me…” – the Managerial Archetypes of the Four Faces of KISS
April 23, 2025What kind of leader are you? What kind of leader do you report to? Are you feeling the love? Is the “finance bro” in the Patagonia vest actually a Demon? The Band Profile – More Than Fifty Years Strong KISS, formed in 1973 in New York City, is one of the most iconic rock bands […]
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ISO – What You Need To Know.
April 22, 2025The history of ISO certification traces back to the mid-20th century, as the need for standardized processes and quality assurance grew alongside industrialization and global trade. Here’s a brief overview of its evolution: Early Development Post-World War II: After WWII, many countries recognized the importance of standardization in promoting trade and ensuring quality. The need […]
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Business is Better With More Bushido, Less “Bullshido”
April 21, 2025Core Values Drive Results 核となる価値観が結果を生み出す I highly recommend the 2003 movie, The Last Samurai, featuring Tom Cruise and Ken Watanabe, as well as a beautiful soundtrack by movie music legend Hans Zimmer. It’s a film that’s aged well, and it has as many lessons about business, and life, as it does about Samurai and martial arts. If […]
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Manufacturing Challenges that Put the Brakes on Profits
April 20, 2025At QORVAL, we have done deep turnaround and restructuring work in hundreds of situations and much of our work has been in manufacturing businesses across dozens of industries, ranging from aerospace to med tech, from consumer products to pharmaceuticals to firearms and defense and beyond. One industry we have extensive experience in, is automotive. Manufacturing […]
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Understanding Some Business Lending Basics
April 19, 2025Frequently, businesses need capital – in the form of cash liquidity – to operate, grow, and to make capital investments to further fuel growth. Businesses seeking to borrow money have access to various types of lending, each with different terms, conditions, and security requirements. Here’s an overview of common lending options, how these liabilities are […]
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Angel Funds: The Devil’s In The Details
April 18, 2025Looking for investment from an angel fund for your early stage company or billion dollar idea? Knowing the game can give you the best chances of a heavenly experience and avoiding purgatory, or, worse, hell. Genesis: The Beginning of Angel Funds The concept of angel investing has roots that trace back centuries, but it became […]
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Throwing Resources At The Problem
April 17, 2025We’ve been in hundreds of situations and companies, across dozens of industries. Small companies, to middle market, to large publicly held companies. Dealing with founders, growers, movers, shakers and breakers. Yes, the ones who think they are a hammer and that every problem is a nail. Two typical, yet very polarized responses to companies’ financial, […]
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LEAN/5S/6Sigma Transformational Journey Impacts
April 16, 2025Converting a manufacturing organization to embrace LEAN, 5S, and continuous improvement methodologies can lead to numerous positive impacts. Here are some specific examples of how these critical culture changes, rooted in improving quality and production efficiency, can transform operations: Increased Efficiency: Lean practices eliminate waste and streamline processes, leading to improved operational efficiency and reduced […]
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The Cost of Insecure Leadership
April 15, 2025An insecure CEO can negatively impact a company in various ways. Insecure individuals can end up in CEO roles for various reasons, and their tenure can lead to detrimental outcomes for a company. Here’s an exploration of why this happens and guidance on how quickly action should be taken to address the issue. Why Insecure […]
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Fundless Sponsor Model Overview
April 14, 2025Fundless Sponsor Model The fundless sponsor model is a strategy in private equity where individuals or small groups of investors seek to acquire companies without having a pre-raised fund or pool of capital. Instead, they pursue external financing sources on a deal-by-deal basis. This model allows them to be more agile and flexible in identifying and negotiating […]
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Minding Your Business P’s and Q’s
April 13, 2025Origin of “Mind Your P’s and Q’s” Did a grandparent or a parent ever tell you to “mind your P’s and Q’s?” What the heck does that even mean? The exact origin of the phrase “mind your P’s and Q’s” is uncertain, but there are several theories about its beginnings: Printing Industry: One popular theory […]
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Bankruptcy vs. Turnaround
April 12, 2025Under the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, businesses have several options when facing financial distress. Each type of bankruptcy serves different needs and circumstances. Keep in mind when looking at complexity and cost, it’s nearly impossible to apply a “one size fits all” approach and estimate of cost. There are many options, but here’s a general overview: […]
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When The Smartest Guys In The Room, Aren’t
April 11, 2025When Operating Partners Fail To Operate Frequently, private equity (PE) operating partners play a critical role in driving value creation within portfolio companies, but their success is not always ensured nor guaranteed. There are several common pitfalls they must avoid in order to ensure the business thrives under their guidance. As the saying goes, “the […]
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Situational Awareness: Great Executives Have Their Heads On Swivels
April 10, 2025An owl’s ability to rotate its head nearly 270 degrees helps it maintain situational awareness, ensuring that nothing in its environment goes unnoticed. In business, situational awareness is about understanding not just the internal state of the company but also the broader external environment in which the business operates. Who? Owls, that’s who. Who in […]
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What Maslow’s Needs Means For POMC (planning, organizing, motivating and controlling)
April 9, 2025Maslow. You probably remember Maslow from your “psych” class you took in high school or college. Abraham Maslow (1908–1970) was an American psychologist best known for developing the Hierarchy of Needs, a theory of human motivation that has had a profound influence on psychology, education, business, and personal development. His work is often associated with the humanistic […]
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Another Set of Eyes Can Let You See Business Clearly
April 8, 2025Hire Experience Hiring an interim CEO can bring numerous advantages to a business, especially during periods of transition, crisis, or growth. Bringing in “another set of eyes”—a highly experienced executive who is often impartial and objective—can help a company gain fresh perspectives, improve its operations, and drive growth. Below are ten reasons why businesses benefit from hiring an interim […]
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Jumping Ship: People Quit Their Bosses, Not Their Jobs Or Their Company
April 7, 2025At Qorval for years we’ve said, “great people don’t quit their jobs, nor do they quit their companies; great people quit bad bosses.” Today the Wall Street Journal published an article entitled “Job Satisfaction Low, Gallup Data Shows, as Worker Detachment Grows.” Here’s the link to the article: https://www.wsj.com/lifestyle/careers/job-satisfaction-low-gallup-data-detachment-17bc183c It discusses trends in employee engagement, job […]
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“Big Hat, No Cattle.” Don’t Hire Inexperience; Avoid The F.O.B.
April 6, 2025Avoid Problems By Hiring Experienced Leaders The expression “big hat, no cattle” is a colloquial phrase that originates from the American West, where it was used to describe someone who might look important or seem to have authority (i.e., wearing a big hat), but doesn’t actually have the substance or capability to back it up (i.e., cattle). […]
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Get on The Bus: Jim Collins’ “Good to Great” is Still Great Reading For Employees
April 5, 2025Jim Collins’ Good to Great provides transformative insights on how organizations can achieve long-term success by focusing on building a culture of discipline, finding the right leaders, and aligning their workforce with the organization’s mission. Applying the lessons from the book not only benefits employees but also fosters a company-wide culture of excellence. Following is an overview […]
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A Chief Restructuring Officer (CRO) Can Preserve, and, Create, Value
April 4, 2025Role of a Chief Restructuring Officer (CRO) A Chief Restructuring Officer (CRO) is a senior executive brought into a company during times of financial distress, often when the company is facing bankruptcy, insolvency, or a severe operational crisis. The CRO’s role is to lead the company’s turnaround efforts, focusing on stabilizing the organization, restructuring its operations, managing its debt, and ultimately […]
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Why, Why, Why, Why, Why. NOT.
April 3, 2025The “Five Whys” methodology, popularized by Taiichi Ohno in the context of Lean Manufacturing, is a problem-solving technique that involves asking “Why?” repeatedly (typically five times) to get to the root cause of an issue. While it has been successful in certain contexts, particularly in manufacturing environments where problems are often mechanical or procedural, it […]
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LEAN Methodologies in Field Services vs. Manufacturing: Commonalities and Differences
April 2, 2025LEAN methodologies can be applied across a wide swath of industries and verticals, but in two main sectors where time and efficiency translate into improving typically thin margins – field services (such as construction) and manufacturing, application of LEAN can drive stellar results. Let’s take a peek at how LEAN methodologies compare in Field Services […]
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Moral Hazard in Corporate Governance
April 1, 2025What is Moral Hazard? Moral hazard refers to a situation in which one party is able to take risks because they don’t bear the full consequences of those risks. This typically arises when individuals or organizations are insulated from the negative outcomes of their decisions, often because they have external protections (such as insurance or guarantees) […]
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Applying Goleman’s EI to Get EQ: How Understanding Emotional Intelligence Can Drive Culture and Build Leaders
March 31, 2025Daniel Goleman’s On Emotional Intelligence is a foundational book that explores how understanding and managing emotions can lead to greater success, both personally and professionally. The principles of emotional intelligence (EQ) can profoundly impact individual employees, organizational culture, and leadership effectiveness. Here’s a breakdown of how employees and the culture of an organization can benefit from reading and […]
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SEARS: What Happened?
March 30, 2025Sears, Roebuck and Company, once the largest retailer in the U.S. and an iconic American brand, underwent a dramatic and tragic decline over several decades, culminating in bankruptcy and the sale of its key brands. The involvement of Eddie Lampert, a hedge fund manager, played a crucial role in the company’s downfall, and the fate […]
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What is Critical Thinking and How Does it Apply in Restructuring and Turnaround?
March 29, 2025Critical thinking is the process of actively and skillfully analyzing, evaluating, and synthesizing information to form a well-reasoned judgment. It involves questioning assumptions, recognizing biases, and considering multiple perspectives to arrive at conclusions that are logical, evidence-based, and free from errors in reasoning. Critical thinking is not about being critical for the sake of it but […]
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Throwing the Board Overboard
March 28, 2025Sometimes the board has to go in order for the company to move forward and flourish. There are several notable examples of companies where the board of directors was at the core of the problem, and once the board members were changed or replaced, the companies were able to turn around and thrive. Here are […]
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Fire, Ready, Aim: Why Managerial Maturity Matters
March 27, 2025The Perils of “Fire, Ready, Aim” in Company Growth, Scaling, and Turnaround: The Importance of Managerial Training and Maturity When companies are in the midst of growth, scaling, or undergoing a turnaround and restructuring, leadership decisions are more crucial than ever. However, in many cases, especially when managers are newly promoted, there is a tendency […]
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The Two A’s
January 16, 2025The Two A’s: Autonomy and Authority – Key Drivers of a Winning Culture In today’s rapidly evolving business environment, organizations are constantly searching for ways to foster a culture that breeds innovation, accountability, and high performance. One of the most effective ways to create this kind of culture is by empowering employees with what I […]
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The Song Remains the Same
January 14, 2025I was recently listening to music and naturally, the ubiquitous standard “Stairway To Heaven” by Led Zeppelin popped in on the playlist. My mind wandered and I contemplated how, in politics, politicians are usually not motivated by providing responsible governance, but father, by feathering their own nests. I watched countless news clips about the California fires and […]
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Opening Doors For Success – What Matters When Hiring Salespeople?
January 8, 2025It’s absolutely right to focus on the caliber of the salesperson as the most important factor in hiring decisions. When it comes to prospecting, outreach, and closing, it is critical that certain traits —work ethic, intelligence, passion for selling, customer care, and strategic orientation—are far more crucial than industry experience. Let’s dive deeper into why industry experience can often be […]
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Business Development and Sales are Two Different Doors to Open
January 7, 2025There’s a significant difference between the responsibilities of a Director of Business Development and a Salesperson. While both roles aim to drive revenue and foster business growth, they generally focus on different aspects of the sales cycle, strategy, and execution. Let’s break down the key distinctions: Scope and Focus Director of Business Development (BD): Strategic and Long-Term Focus: The Director of BD […]
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Corporate Cadence
January 6, 2025Enhancing Efficiency, Compliance, and Decision-Making In the fast-paced world of business, time is a critical resource. Companies that fail to manage time effectively often find themselves scrambling to meet deadlines, comply with regulatory requirements, and maintain smooth communication within their teams and with external stakeholders. One of the most effective ways to ensure that time […]
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Pilot Error: When The CEO Has No Plan
January 6, 2025A Weak CEO Without a Plan Is Like a Pilot Without Control In the realm of leadership, the role of a CEO can be likened to that of a pilot in command of an aircraft. Just as passengers place their trust in a pilot’s competence, judgment, and focus for the safe operation of the plane, […]
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Lost and Found – Stuff Frequent Travelers Lose
January 5, 2025“I love traveling. I’ve been to almost as many places as my luggage.” =Bob Hope A baggage handler guy once told me that “first class” luggage is more likely to be lost, or to miss connecting flights, because it’s often the first luggage onto the plane – and sometimes that means, well – it is […]
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The Office Politics Vortex
January 5, 2025Companies that struggle are often feeding grounds – actually – playgrounds – for a mix of personalities. At times, it can seem like the resulting drama can run focus and results way off the rails. Unnecessary office gossip and politics can do significant damage to company culture. The culture of a company is largely shaped by the behaviors, attitudes, […]
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When Your Coworkers Want to Snuff Out Your Mojo
January 3, 2025The “threat of excellence” dynamics at work, yeah, it’s a thing. You know it is. You’ve experienced it. We all have. Here’s how it goes. When you work very hard at work, perform well, insist on producing quality work, that you are a threat to the other people you work with – it’s almost like […]
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Keepin’ It Cool Around the Water Cooler
January 2, 2025Impact of Remote Work and Gossip on Workplace Culture: Pre- and Post-COVID The year 2025 will mark more than a half-decade since we all dealt with COVID-19 and its impact on businesses, and there are many lingering workplace changes that affect employees’ lives in different ways. Many organizations, including privately held, publicly held and even […]
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20/20 Vision – Lessons From ’24
December 31, 2024The world of business changed quite a bit in 2024. Here, we take a quick look in the rear view mirror with a recap of the significant developments in business in 2024. 20 Significant Business Developments in 2024 AI-Driven Business Transformation Development: The widespread integration of artificial intelligence (AI) across industries reached new heights in 2024, […]
Read MoreLooking Back, Looking Ahead: Organizational Kintsugi, 2024 vs. 2025
December 31, 2024As 2024 nears to a close, and 2025 is about to commence, we, as business leaders, should look back on our experiences in the last year. We should look at what was broken, what failed, what thrived, what worked, what succeeded. We should contemplate what, and whom, as leaders, we fixed and restored. We should […]
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10 SUCCESS FACTORS vs. 10 FAILURE FACTORS
February 14, 2024We learned many things from our founder, Jim Malone, who turned around six Fortune 100/500 companies, and was an advisor to two US presidents. With the exception of grossly overstaffed organizations, it is a rookie mistake to think you can shrink to growth. The companies that lead their categories and are standout brands: invest in […]
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Diver Down…Right Now.
February 14, 2024At Qorval Partners, we’ve been involved in hundreds of engagements in dozens of industries. Our name comes from “core values” and our business is helping other businesses with the “its”- grow it, fix it, fund it, find it, exit. Our founder, Jim Malone – a CEO who ran six Fortune 100/500 companies – said many […]
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Looking Back, Looking Ahead: Organizational Kintsugi
February 14, 2024As 2023 nears to a close, and 2024 is about to commence, we, as business leaders, should look back on our experiences in the last year. We should look at what was broken, what failed, what thrived, what worked, what succeeded. We should contemplate what, and whom, as leaders, we fixed and restored. We should […]
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Be Super.
February 14, 2024That’s Jim Malone standing in front of a painting of Superman. It was a great piece of art that hung in our various Qorval offices over the years, and it hung finally in Jim’s home office, where he spent his last days. Last days, welcoming family, friends, colleagues, taking visitors, meetings, calls. Jim passed on […]
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To Everything, Turn, Turn, Turn, There Is A Season
February 14, 2024Turn, Turn Turn. Businesses have cycles, and seasons. Turning a business around isn’t for the birds. Or, even, the Byrds, who sang about change and transformation. Business, like life, is constant change, and there are forces at work we can’t control and don’t always see, but we should always do our best, for us, our […]
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Serving Up Super Execution
February 14, 2024That’s Jim Malone, the founding partner of our firm, standing in front of a painting of Superman. Jim did many superpowered things in his life that remain unrivaled, and one was serving as CEO of six Fortune 500 companies in six industries. A pioneer in business transformation, turnaround, and renewal. Culture Jim said of culture, […]
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Negotiating The Turn
February 14, 2024Knowing What’s Up Around The Bend Remember playing with slot cars? It didn’t take you long to figure out that the secret of racing was slow and careful into the turn, and lightning fast out of the turn. If you came in too hot to the turn, whoosh, your AFX, Tyco or Carrera slot car tumbled […]
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Seeing The Red Flag.
February 14, 2024Bias for Action. Bullish. Fundamentals. Bullish. Sales. Bullish. Controls. Bullish. Great People. Bullish. Gross Margin. Bullish. Net Income. Bullish. Product Development. Bullish. Passion. Bullish. Right Culture. Bullish. Empowering Governance. Bullish. Work Ethic. Bullish. Truth. Bullish. Relationships. Bullish. Strategy and Execution. Bullish. Candor. Bullish. Doing. Bullish. Transformation. Bullish. Change. Bullish. Happy Trade. Bullish. Delighted Customers. Bullish. […]
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The Interim CEO’s Ladder of Inference
February 14, 2024Traveling is a catalyst that forces the recognition of symbols and patterns, just as it mixes metaphors in the mind. I find myself savoring the rather retro experience of walking across the runway, which feels firm underfoot, and my eyes dance from the conveyors moving luggage to the shiny painted lines that guide the pilots […]
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5G Talent Talk with Carrie Charles
March 18, 2022After nearly a decade, 5G is finally becoming a reality. 5G networks will create a smarter, more connected world and will change our lives forever. These rapid advances in artificial intelligence, automation, internet of things and other emerging technologies are creating demand for new jobs and the skills gap continues to widen. All industries […]
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The Twelve Days of Business
December 23, 2021This time of the year, holiday season, means we are once more reacquainted with the “Twelve Days of Christmas,” and the overplayed but still funny “Twelve Pains of Christmas” parody song. In everything from literature to coaching, we as a society get fixated on quantified and numbered. I wonder if business owners, business managers, executives, […]
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One.
December 4, 2021QORVAL MAXIM: Sometimes the best “One” isn’t in the organization yet. Sometimes the best person for your role isn’t you. My partner and mentor Jim Malone and I had a conversation one time about the impact that transient managers have on an organization, and how those experiences for the interim manager, interim CEO, transformational leader, […]
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Cycles
November 29, 2021I recently heard the song “Cycles” by Francis Albert Sinatra. It’s a song I hadn’t heard in a long time, and frankly, had forgotten about. It started me thinking about the cyclical nature of things. Frank Sinatra famously recorded his “Cycles” album on his Reprise label in a Los Angeles studio in three hours, during which 25 […]
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Castles In The Cloud: Defending Bulwarks, Crenellations and Moats
November 11, 2021How do you guard and defend a castle you can’t see from threats you can’t see? You’re gonna need some help to man the bulwarks, defend the moats, raise the drawbridge. More than ever, companies, and, family offices, need to protect themselves from an ever- increasing mix of threats resulting from: Weak or poorly managed […]
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QORVAL PARTNERS, LLC NAMES FOUR SENIOR MANAGING DIRECTORS/SUBJECT MATTER EXPERTS
October 7, 2021(Naples, FL, October 6, 2021) Paul Fioravanti, MBA, MPA, CTP, and CEO & Managing Partner of Qorval Partners, LLC, a 25-year old Southeast based advisory, management consulting, turnaround and restructuring and financial and operational improvement firm, announced today that Lane Morlock, Lissa Weissman and Karl D. Reed have joined the firm as Senior Managing Directors […]
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Better To Need An Early Parachute Than A Late Fire Hose
October 1, 2021Chris Stapleton’s “Parachute” is like an anthem for turnaround and transformation professionals. Street lights along the highway Throwing shadows in the dark And the memories keep on turning To the rhythm of a broken heart You only need a roof when it’s raining You only need a fire when it’s cold You only need a […]
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Be Super.
September 15, 2021That’s Jim Malone standing in front of a painting of Superman. It was a great piece of art that hung in our various Qorval offices over the years, and it hung finally in Jim’s home office, where he spent his last days. Last days, welcoming family, friends, colleagues, taking visitors, meetings, calls. Jim passed on […]
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Car Branding: A Bemused Joyride Into The Human Psyche
September 8, 2021“Theese Is My New Carrrrr” said Mr. Montalban. Amid the cacophony of 1970’s television advertising, there he was in a brown butterfly collar shirt. This was the guy who gave Shatner a run for his money as frenemy Khan on Star Trek. Ricardo was even cooler than the Dos Equis guy (real name: Jonathan Goldsmith), out-Fernandoed […]
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The Real Meaning Of 13 Stars
August 28, 2021We can debate the politics of the situation that is Afghanistan. We can blame administrations. We can blame military leadership. We can finger point between the last administration and the current one. We can assign blame among at least two of the three branches of government. We can certainly wonder whether our executive branch is […]
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Caveat Exitus; Caveat Fiscus: Caveat Venditor
August 18, 2021Thinking about raising capital for your business? Thinking about exiting it? You’ve undoubtedly heard the expression, Caveat Emptor. Buyer Beware. Selling your business? Get a mindset for Caveat Venditor. Seller Beware. Depending on whom you ask, and what you’re trying to accomplish, raising capital and/or partially or entirely exiting your business can be challenging. There are, of course many variables, […]
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A Good, Bad, Ugly Time For Businesses
August 16, 2021The pandemic continues to bring us more “Unknowns” than Sad Hill. What we thought was a waning impact of Coronavirus on businesses and life in general, has itself learned to pivot and morphed into a testament to the nature of anything virulent — adaptive, persistent, petulant. Lots of bad and ugly, not much good. For some […]
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Commoditization Risk
July 28, 2021Rewatch Minions. Yes, trust me on this. Rewatch the Minions movie. I saw it many years ago with my son in a movie theatre, when it first was released. I recently watched it again. Maybe it was coming out of the COVID fog and hangover, but it seemed different to me. I saw different lessons […]
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Churn
July 26, 2021“Happy Day Before Your Birthday” Every year, I get two calls on the day before my birthday. One is from Will, a gentleman I’ve purchased several cars and trucks from. He works for one of the best dealers in the US. I also get a call from another car dealer salesperson, Joe, who works for […]
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Businesses Need To Forecast More Than Cash Flow
July 1, 2021What’s going on in your business? How is your business’ cash flow? Are you making money? Are you burning through cash? Do you have any idea what happens with each quarter? What does the next quarter — yes, 13 weeks, have in store for the business? Cash Flow 101 On the cash flow variable side, […]
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Celebrate Resilience As Well As Independence
July 1, 2021Abraham Lincoln delivered a speech in 1858 on The Declaration of Independence, concerned that most people had never read it, nor, celebrated it for what it said, and accomplished. His speech in Lewiston, Illinois said, “My countrymen, if you have been taught doctrines [that] conflict with the great landmarks of the Declaration of Independence; if […]
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Dematerialization And The Irony Of Applied Technology
June 30, 2021Dematerialization. Wow, what a Scrabble word. What does this word mean? It sounds like some ominous threat to the world as portrayed in a Batman movie. It could be what happens to whatever a new weapon is pointed at in a sci-fi movie. Nope. It’s actually what’s happening to the stuff around us, and dare I say, it’s happening […]
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Think Bridges, Not Towers.
June 27, 2021Get Flat, Not Fat…Organizational Models Need to Be Structurally Sound and Sustainable. A tower has a high center of gravity. It can fall or can be made unstable. A bridge, on the other hand, is low, flat, and can bear weight with the properly designed span; it can support lots of traffic. It’s much easier […]
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Drive Efficiency and Quality Through Methodology
June 27, 2021Your manufacturing, services, or retail operations organization can drive better consistency, quality, profitability, through discipline and proven methods such as LEAN, 5S, Six Sigma and other Operational Excellence approaches. What is Six Sigma and how is it used in manufacturing? As technology and business strategies have evolved over the years, manufacturing processes have developed that […]
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Coming Out Of The Covid Haze
June 27, 2021What should your business focus on, now that Covid is subsiding? Masks. Gloves. Disinfecting sprays. Dodging the virus. Sickness. Tragedy. Loss. You were blessed if you were fortunate to not experience personal loss, or business loss. Businesses were impacted, some destroyed. And for some it was about change. Pivoting. The New Normal. For some it […]
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Your Customers and/or Clients:
June 26, 2021Like you and want to do business with you Are relationship oriented Want you to be responsive, honest, and fair Don’t care how many employees you have or what their titles are Really aren’t interested in how many locations are on your business card Don’t care what kind of car you drive Are looking for […]
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Don’t Let Your Brightest Stars Burn Out
June 26, 2021Your company is a galaxy. In order for a galaxy to shine, it needs plenty of stars. But as a senior manager or business owner you don’t want your stars to burn out and then become meteorites, do you? As a business owner, keeping a reliable staff that you trust is important to the overall […]
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Phixing A Phat Dysphunctional Pharma Contract Manufacturer and Avoiding Phailure
June 26, 2021Phailure. This was a global, private equity-owned CDMO that was failing (Or, if you prefer, phailing) fast. This business was generating more than $350 million in revenue. But, it was generating losses, losses that were mounting. What’s a CDMO? A pharmaceutical contract development and manufacturing organization. And, this particular CDMO was literally a few weeks […]
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The Ladder of Inference And Transforming Organizations
June 26, 2021A TWO-SIDED LADDER When you do turnaround work, interim CEO work, and/or any kind of transformational organizational change, you inevitably find yourself in the midst of a two-sided Ladder of Inference problem. The Ladder of Inference was first put forward by organizational psychologist Chris Argyris and used by Peter Senge in The Fifth Discipline: The […]
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The Different Roles A CEO Needs To Play
June 26, 2021There are many roles a CEO plays. A good CEO isn’t a tyrant, isn’t a know it all, isn’t an egomaniac. A good CEO realizes and values the contributions, skills, and experience in the organization. A good CEO doesn’t need to be an expert musician, but an expert conductor. There are many things a great […]
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Strategy and Execution: Don’t Let “Build It And They Will Come” Make You Shoeless
June 17, 2021I had to double-check my timeline in writing this article, but it turns out that Ray Liotta picked up a baseball bat about a year before he was Henry Hill, to play Shoeless Joe Jackson. In 1989’s Field of Dreams, another Ray, Kevin Costner’s Ray Kinsella character, an Iowa farmer, has a bit of a […]
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The “Evoked Set”
June 10, 2021What Brands Are Top Of Mind With You? Cola Cola’s famously shaped, green glass bottles in a wooden crate, with the timeless slogan, DRINK Coca-Cola. One of my favorite business books is the now old, but always timeless Positioning: The Battle for your Mind, by Al Ries and Jack Trout. The book is a treatise […]
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Carrying A Message To Garcia
June 10, 2021Who Is That One Person In Your Organization Who Can Follow Through? The One Who Can “Carry A Message To Garcia?” In 1899, publisher Elbert Hubbard of The Philistine, a magazine, was engaged in discussion about who the real hero of The Spanish-American War was. Was it Andrew Summers Rowan? Hubbard wrote down his thoughts […]
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Pareto Principle: Does Your Organization Have An 80/20 Situation?
June 9, 2021The namesake founder of the 80/20 analysis, Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto, was enlightened one day, when he was carrying out a study at the end of the 18th century in which he ascertained that 20% of the Italian population owned 80% of the property. However, this 80/20 rule, or Pareto Analysis, in fact, wasn’t refined […]
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Who Does “Number 2” Work For?
June 9, 2021Bifurcation of Teams During Times of Challenge and Change. Navigating the leadership team dynamics and staffing decisions in a company is challenging enough, but it’s magnified in industries with extremely high turnover and migration patterns across companies in that space. It’s like one big game of Whack-A-Mole. People pop up here and there and you never […]
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Quixotic Leadership Lessons
June 9, 2021James G. March, Professor Emeritus of Stanford University, has done some exceptional work tying Cervantes’ masterpiece, Don Quixote, to business leadership. https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/insights/james-march-what-don-quixote-teaches-us-about-leadership Here’s March’s movie on leadership in full: https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=29&v=NYmbiv_cbn8 Quixotic Inspiration Whether you’re on your horse, or dodging windmills, here are some great quotes from Don Quixote that relate to business concepts: Don Quixote Management STARTUPS […]
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The Herder and The Water
June 8, 2021a business parable From some unknown place, overhead, came a feeling that he was being motivated to press on. His name meant resilience. From the time he was a young boy he’d always managed to live up to it. Where he came from, names have meanings. They become destinies and character traits. Almuruna was a […]
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The 3 B’s Of Cash Flow
June 8, 2021Here’s The Buzz On What To Keep In Mind For Your Business’ Quarterly Cash Flow How is your business’ cash flow? Are you making money? Are you burning through cash? Do you have any idea what happens with each quarter? By a quarter I mean 13 weeks, not 25 cents, but if you don’t manage your business […]
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Outward Facing Customer Focus: Needs, Wants and Expectations
June 8, 2021“There is nothing more uncommon than common sense.” — Wile E. Coyote (actually it was said by Frank Lloyd Wright) The most successful small and middle market businesses (even large businesses like Apple and ACME) have three very simple commonalities: Unrelenting Focus on the Customer. Those organizations that have matched their precious resources to customer needs ultimately […]
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The M&M’s Of Business
June 7, 2021Remember the old ad slogan about M&M’s? With that delicious hard candy shell, they melt in your mouth but not in your hands? So, are your management initiatives and overall company direction something you put hands (and feet) and resources to, or are they just words? Are you talking the talk or walking the walk […]
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Organizational Rōnin: “Wave” Men and Women
June 7, 2021During the feudal period of Japan, a rōnin was a samurai without a lord or master. Typically the samurai became a ronin due to the death of his master, or the fall from grace of his master. The literal translation of rōnin is “wave man.” The literal translation of ronin is “wave man.” It is an idiomatic expression for […]
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Business Bushido
June 7, 2021Modern Bushido Should Be The Soul Of Business Etiquette. “What is important is to try to develop insights and wisdom rather than mere knowledge, respect someone’s character rather than his learning, and nurture men of character rather than mere talents.” — Nitobe Inazō 新渡戸 稲造 I highly recommend the 2003 movie, The Last Samurai, featuring Tom Cruise […]
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What Boards Need For Effective Governance
June 7, 2021See the photo above? Do you see the problem with it? 16 seats. Even number. Boards should have critical mass and be comprised ideally of an odd number (5,7,9,11, e.g.) so as to facilitate majority voting. But that’s just one thing to keep in mind about boards. I’ve had the good fortune to work with boards, serve […]
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Pulp Diction: Things We Need To Stop Staying So We Can Pivot To A Post-Pandemic New Old Normal
June 6, 2021The New Insanity No amount of sanitizer, masks or PPE can keep the buzzwords, jargon and wackadoodle cliches isolated like a cartoon version of Coronavirus. I’ve noticed some crazy statements that are getting uttered down the virtual hallways of Zoom, Teams and Meet. “Forgive me for being direct and let me pay you the compliment of […]
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Leadership Lessons From The Lemonade Stand
June 5, 2021Does your business stand for profit? What you can learn about business from the kids on the corner hawking lemonade. It’s an 85-degree day, the sun is shining against a bright blue sky, there are no clouds to be found anywhere and the sweet, warm summer breeze gently stirs you as you make your way […]
Read MoreThe Wolf You Feed Determines The Organization’s Culture
June 5, 2021One of the frequently cited business quotes that resonates the most with me, is Peter Drucker’s “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” Perhaps even more vivid is Lou Gerstner’s quote on culture: “Until I came to IBM, I probably would have told you that culture was just one among several important elements in any organization’s makeup and […]
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Sullivan Ballou’s Letter
June 5, 2021“The Sullivan Ballou Letter,” one of the greatest letters in American history, written by Rhode Islander, Major Sullivan Ballou to his wife Sarah. Ballou died a week later, at the First Battle of Bull Run. He was 32. Camp Clark, Washington My Very Dear Sarah: The indications are very strong that we shall move in […]
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Businesses Have Trajectories
June 4, 2021Trajectory is one of my favorite words in the English language. I think of that word when I contemplate whether there a business life cycle anymore. And, what does that cycle look like? The traditional business life cycle once consisted of Introduction, Growth, Maturity, Decline. That timeline, or lifeline, was somewhat elongated, as the pace of change […]
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Brandtastic
June 4, 2021At the beginning of the film Collateral Beauty, advertising executive Howard Inlet of the Yardsham Inlet Agency, (masterfully played by Will Smith) astutely tells his employees in a celebratory gathering, “We’re here to connect. Love, time, death. Now these three things connect every single human being on earth. We long for love, we wish we had more time, […]
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One Secret To Business Mojo Is In Your Cup of Joe
June 3, 2021Ok, so if you’re reading this, maybe you’re “WFH” — working from home, and staring into your latest cup of coffee. Java. Joe. Cafe with one F, Caffe with two F’s. Colombian coffee. Arabica. Robusta. Cuban Coffee (the best!). Autocrat. Starbucks. Keurig. Dunkin. And try game changers like SuperCoffee and Cometeer! How about old trusty staples like the […]
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Startups: Watch Out For Icebergs
June 3, 2021In this fresh new decade, startups need solid navigational skills to avoid some of the perils learned in the last decade. They need more sound navigation, solid foundation, and real fundamentals, and less fantasy and BS. I’m anxiously optimistic to see if sanity and fundamentals creep back into business. Every business needing to be turned […]
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