Doug and Polly White are management consultants who guide small and mid-size businesses through profitable growth. Combined, the Whites have more than 50 years of experience enabling companies to achieve their goals. Throughout their careers they have always been intrigued by why some companies attain great success while others continually struggle and cannot take their business to the next level.
In order to find out what separated these two groups, the Whites analyzed over 100 businesses to understand the challenges they’ve faced – how some overcame every hurdle and what stumped others. In their just-released book, let go to GROW, the Whites share what they discovered – something that other authors haven’t addressed.
Among the topics that the Whites share in let go to GROW that will help principals navigate the inevitable pot-holes in the road to success:
- Why growth requires letting go
- A new way to classify businesses – micro, small and mid-size
- Micro-business: making tactical decisions & developing a strategy
- Getting the right workers in the right jobs
- Managing workers
- Delegating authority & holding people accountable
- Establishing systems & documenting processes
- Developing robust metrics
let go to GROW by Doug & Polly White
NEW BOOK REVEALS WHY SOME BUSINESSES THRIVE & OTHERS FAIL TO REACH THEIR POTENTIAL
Small Businesses:
- Represent 99.7% of all employers
- Create 75% of net new jobs
- Employ about 50% of all private sector workers
- Number 22.9 million
The U.S. economy is sluggish at best. If it’s to turn around, the above statistics show that small businesses will have to lead the way. But, too often, small business owners unwittingly stall the growth of their own companies. Authors and business partners, Doug and Polly White, have written a new book, let go to GROW, just in time to help small business owners understand how to avoid the pitfalls they will inevitably encounter as their companies grow. It shows these leaders how to direct their enterprises on a path of continued growth while sidestepping the traps that ensnare so many.
By reading let go to GROW, small business owners will discover that in order to take their business to the next level, they will have to relinquish certain tasks and their skill set will have to morph to keep pace with the changing demands of a growing business. After analyzing more than 100 businesses, the Whites learned that principals must let go to GROW. This insight can revolutionize a small business and change lives along the way.
let go to GROW examines the challenges principals face as their businesses grow from micro to small and from small to midsize. The Whites define businesses in an innovative way – not in terms of revenue or number of employees, but rather in terms of management structure. Accordingly, they define a micro business as one in which the principal is doing the primary work of the enterprise. In a small business, the principal is managing those who do the primary work and when a company reaches midsize, the principal is managing managers. These may sound like subtle changes, but they define the points where the principal’s role must change or growth will stall. Their work uncovered new insights that have not been discussed in the business world… until now.
Through the authors’ extensive research as well as 50 plus combined years of business experience, let go to GROW explores topics including:
- When in the life cycle of a business the role of the principal needs to change
- The one thing that most often stalls the growth of small businesses
- Key things a prospective entrepreneur should know before he/she starts or buys a business
- How to make good tactical decisions, develop an effective strategy, develop an effective market segmentation and effectively set goals
- Why the core of any successful business is hiring the right people and how to do it
- The inevitable challenges that a company will encounter it transitions from micro to small to midsize
- How to effectively document processes and develop a robust set of metrics and why it is critically important to do so
- The value of quality improvement and cycle time reduction
let go to GROW chronicles the predictable challenges principals face and how to successfully overcome them. Unlike many business books, it addresses not only what needs to be done, but also explains how to do it.
“During the course of our consulting work,” says Doug, “we discovered a number of businesses that had stalled because the owner did not delegate. The principal was out of capacity, typically working 80-hours or more a week. Their personal life was gone. Their businesses had stopped growing and profitability was a thing of the past. We saw other businesses that were in serious trouble because the principal had delegated prematurely.”
“We wrote our book,” adds Polly, “to help businesses that reach the junctures where the principal must let go to GROW, and all growing businesses will.”
Doug and Polly White are partners at Whitestone Partners, Inc., a management consulting firm guiding small and midsize businesses through profitable growth. Combined, they have more than 50 years of experience enabling companies to achieve their goals.
Polly served as the head of HR at several midsize companies. Her expertise is in people management and human systems. Polly received her BA in Business from Averett University and her MA in Adult Education and Human Development from The George Washington University.
Doug began his career with McKinsey & Company. He then worked as the CEO or COO for a number of small and midsize businesses. His areas of focus are strategy, operations and finance. Doug received a BS in Physics from Randolph-Macon College. He earned a BS and an MS in Mechanical Engineering at Georgia Tech and received an MBA with distinction from Harvard Business School.
Doug and Polly reside near Richmond, VA and are avid collectors of wine and art. Happily married as well as successful business partners, Doug and Polly also enjoy cooking, entertaining and traveling together.
Website: www.WhitestonePartnersInc.com
let go to GROW is available for purchase at www.WhitestonePartnersInc.com and amazon.com
