Читать книгу Growing Pains - Flamholtz Eric G. - Страница 17

This chapter has examined the issues of success and failure typically facing organizations and their leaders after promising entrepreneurial starts. We have identified the need for continued success, and described the personal and organizational transitions to promote that continued success. We have identified and discussed the changes that the CEO needs to make as his or her organization grows, and we have examined the alternatives available to CEOs who face such transitions.

The chapter presents a comprehensive case example of the transitions required by Medco, which faced classic growing pains and developed strategies for addressing them. The steps that Medco took to identify its challenges and work to address them illustrate how an organization can build the infrastructure needed to promote sustainably successful growth. The personal challenges faced by Bob Mason, Medco's CEO, and how he addressed them provide a good example of how to make the personal transitions required to support an organization's continued successful development.

There is no one way to make a successful transition from an early-stage entrepreneurship to a future stage of growth. However, the key to making this change is for the entrepreneur to recognize that the company's former mode of operation will no longer be effective.

All change is accompanied by risk, and many of us feel uncomfortable during the process of change. Unfortunately, the need for organizational transitions and their accompanying personal changes is inevitable. Those who do not believe this are likely to increase the risk that their organizations will experience significant difficulties. However, if knowledge is truly power, then entrepreneurs and others who understand the need for the kind of transitions described in this book will be set up for the possibility of continuing success.

The remainder of this book deals with how to make these required personal and organizational transitions – beginning with the next chapter, which presents a framework (based upon research and experience) that identifies the key factors that must be focused upon in building a sustainably successful organization.