The CEO's Auditor

To you, the CEO: 

Ø      Ever wish you could clone yourself?

Ø      Ever discover a whole lot of hidden issues when you've had to step into a direct report's role?  Issues that you tackled?

Ø      Frustrated by inefficiencies and issues in the operations, but lack the time or flexibility to dive in at the tactical level?

Ø      Concerned that if you bring in a specialized consultant, they'll find problems only in their area of expertise to bill you for, and only see the part of the problem they can solve (which still leaves the other part of the problem)? 

From my 22 years and running as a CEO of a mid size company, I understand.  I'm starting to wonder whether the entrepreneurial CEO's I know don't have a genetic passion for business.  They can walk into a situation, dig in, and start to see all kinds of opportunities, waste, and ways to add value.  As a member of the Alliance of Chief Executives since 1996, I've seen this over and over again. 

I can help.  I often act as the CEO's Auditor.  You, as the CEO, hire me as your personal auditor to dig down deep into the operations of your business and identify problems and opportunities.   

Here is how I work:

1. An initial meeting with you and jointly we decide where the audit should focus.  We sign a confidentiality agreement and an agreement for my services.  I give you a request for documents (bus plan, etc), and a questionnaire for you and each person I will be talking to.
2. You send me the documents along with the filled out questionnaires.
3. I read and digest all that you sent.
4. I spend a full day at your facilities, meeting individually or in small groups with all the executives and managers involved, diving into business processes.  My focus is not strategy (hard to know enough in a day), but the execution of and internal perception of strategy, tactics, and regular operations.  My goal by the end of the day is to have asked lots of questions, heard lots of opinions on where the issues lie, and to have developed my own ideas. 
5. In the following week, I write up the audit in two versions.  A version you can hand out to the participants in the audit, and a version with commentary only for your eyes.  Both versions will have specific action steps and recommendations:  I'll tell you what I'd do next if I were CEO.

While most of what I do focuses on processes in the operation, as an entrepreneurial CEO, I'm always looking for EVERY opportunity to find value and answers - and I'll share them all with you.  You get a fresh perspective from a seasoned, hands-on CEO.  My fee is $5,000, and covers the pre-visit review, the full day in your facility, plus the recommendation reports.

Back