„Joerg Schwartze poses the questions behind the question.“ (CEO family holding)
Today I want to share another story from my past. I was headhunted to lead a large business unit for a renowned family-owned business in Germany. In the course of the application process I was given three „case studies“ and was asked to pick one of them and present it to the CEO of the family holding and the business unit management team.
The „case studies“ to me looked suspiciously like ways to generate growth for the business unit. I decided to use the business canvas to check the fit of those growth initiatives with the (assumed) business model of the business unit. They did not.
When asked to present my case study, I drew the business canvas on a flip chart and started asking questions to validate my assumptions of the business model and get additional information. After 15 minutes the HR representative asked me „So, which case study did you pick and when do you start presenting?“. The CEO of the family holding said „Wait, he poses the question behind the question.“
Lucky me, I got the opportunity to ask some more questions and complete the business canvas. Once it was complete I asked one question to the audience: „If this is your business model with its unique strengths and capabilities, how do the three ways to create additional business from the case studies fit?“
„Not at all.“ was the immediate answer from the interim business unit head.
This was a good 30 minutes of support that could have saved the company a lot of efforts and pain.
Interested? – Get in touch with me! From know-how to #growhow
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