Leadership | The Portfolio Partnership

Agenda Setting – An Organizational Tip

by Ian Smith | Jan 5, 2025 | Operational Excellence

Who sets your agenda in the organization? It is a question that uncovers a flaw in most businesses as they scale through the phases of their lifecycle. At first, perhaps with 3 or 4 employees it doesn’t matter too much. You are trying to get stuff done and...

How To Scale 98% of US Companies

by Ian Smith | May 18, 2023 | Scaling

Hard to believe but 98% of US companies employ less than 100 people. Take a look at the table below created from the latest US Census data. The green cells represent the companies employing 99 people or less or 98.1% of US companies, 6 million out of 6.1 million (who...

Are You Fit to be an Acquirer?

by Ian Smith | Apr 13, 2023 | Acquisitions

I was listening to an old Warren Buffet interview about his philosophies on business and specifically acquisitions. He summarized how he decides on acquisitions using four key criteria (size criteria is at least $75m earnings): A business he understands It has an...

Fractional Senior Management – One Solution to Scaling

by Ian Smith | Oct 28, 2019 | Leadership, Management, Scaling, Strategy

Over the last 10 years, I’ve built The Portfolio Partnership (TPP) on the basis of a simple value proposition. The leadership of private companies requires experienced help at an affordable price to fulfill their potential. What they didn’t need was another report...

A Big Company Challenge – Mentoring Divisional General Managers/Managing Directors

by Ian Smith | Dec 30, 2018 | Leadership, Management

If you are a private company owner CEO, you face enormous challenges to scale your business. I don’t mean just grow. I mean scale. Building control, predictability, alignment and safety into your growth. Successful scaling sees market share growth, margins...