The Real Organization Chart

For business owners, much of the future success they will achieve or the future pain they will feel or the results of the future exit strategy from the company will be predicated by how well they are able to manage the time of all those who work within their organization. Consequently, this graph will be very important to an entrepreneur as their company grows:

Nationwide, B2B CFO^® observes that too many business owners feel they are pulled down into administrative (minding) tasks, which take them away from their finding activities and the ability to grow the company and to stay ahead of the competition.

Our firm helps identify the roles of people within organizations like “Finders, Minders or Grinders”. Our philosophy is documented in The Danger Zone, Lost in the Growth Transition, by Jerry L. Mills, the Founder & CEO of B2B CFO®. The brief excerpts below from the book will help explain some of our consulting philosophy.

  Finders (Business Owners) Live in the Future
“Finders are the leaders of the company. They are not necessarily the people who lead all company employees on a daily basis. Finders demonstrate the type of leadership that ‘pulls’ people into the future – employees, current customers and future customers.”

“A good Finder spends most of his or her time building relationships and ‘pulling’ others into the Finder’s future. The success of any company is due to the relationships that the Finder is able to make with others. Building relationships takes time and is typically the best time the Finder can spend in helping a company succeed. Show me a Finder who will spend 30 to 40 hours a week in finding activities and I will show you a company that will have significant increases in sales in the future. Conversely, show me a Finder who stops spending time in finding activities and I will show you a company that is starting the inevitable cycle of getting into financial trouble.”

Minders Live in the Past
“Minders are the key administrative people of the company. A Minder may be the company’s controller, bookkeeper, finance manager, CFO, IT Director, IT Manager, etc.”
“Finders typically do not have the accounting, IT or other background to work extensively in minding activities. By nature, Finders detest this work. They resent the fact that they have to spend their time in countless meetings, working on cash flow, hiring and firing people, meeting with accountants, attorneys, bankers, etc.”

Grinders – Today is all that Matters
“Grinders are people who do the physical work of the company. In a manufacturing company, the Grinder is the person who makes the widgets. The people making the phone calls are the Grinders in a telemarketing company. The Grinders put the cars together in an automobile manufacturing plant.

One of our goals is to help Finders escape the minding trap. We delight in helping Finders discover an extra 15 or 20 hours a week of finding time. There are a lot of minding titles that explain what B2B CFO^® does, such as CFO, Chief Financial Officer, part-time CFO, virtual CFO, temporary CFO, interim CFO, Controller, etc. Regardless of what you call us, we are here to help owners of emerging and mid-market companies gain financial and goal clarity which leads to an increase in profits, cash and company value.