I feel that I am indebted to the founder of B2B CFO, Jerry Mills, for a number of reasons.  One is the clarity with which he described the roles that people fulfill in business as found in his book, The Danger Zone, Lost in the Growth Transition.  Borrowing from the concept that Jerry developed, I want to address the implications for business owners that are in my circle of influence and for my fellow business advisors.  Since not all readers are likely to be familiar with the roles Jerry has identified - Finder, Grinder and Minder - I will briefly describe them and then discuss the implications on businesses.  This discussion is of particular application to privately held as opposed to publicly held companies. 

Business Roles:  

Finder:  Finders are the visionary for the business.  Usually this is the founder of the business but could be the lead officer in the company - President, CEO.  Finders are the  ones charting the course for the business, determining the products or services, and building the relationships with customers.  Finders look to the future and encourage their employees to think of what could be.

Grinder:  Grinders are focused on the present.  They would ask the question, “what do I need to do to make some money to pay my rent and buy groceries?”  They are the ones who perform the day to day activities that keeps the business functioning.

Minder:  The record keepers of the business are the Minders.  They would ask “what were the revenues last month?”  “What expenses were incurred?”  “What capital investments were made during the accounting period?"  Minders attention is on the past.

Implications:  

The business can operate very effectively as employees function within the roles for which they were hired.  As a general rule, employees don’t change roles.   However, there is one instance in which roles are switched which can have adverse implications for the business.  That is when the Finder feels it is necessary for him or her to perform minding or grinding duties.  

As businesses grow, they pass through several stages and add infrastructure (capital equipment and employees) which places increased demand for cash.  If the growth and consequent demand for cash exceed the availability of cash, the ability of the business to continue as an ongoing concern is at risk.  Often, the reaction of the business leader is to cut expenses by performing roles other than the Finder role in an effort to control or eliminate those things creating the demand for cash.  For instance, the Finder might begin to get more involved the the financial aspect of the company, believing it necessary for the company to survive.  However this distracts the leader from that of the visionary whose attention is focused on the future to that of a minder whose attention is focused on the past.  In addition, Finders are not gifted in the areas of the Minder, nor do they generally like them.  Consequently they procrastinate on performing the duties of the Minder and when they get around to finally doing them, they don’t do them very well.   For instance, Finders rarely like the tedious work of recording accounting transactions and crunching the numbers to analyze performance.  This is analogous to steering a car by looking into the rearview mirror or steering a ship by its wake.  Rather then resolving the problem, this actually makes the problem worse with owners committing an ever increasing amount of time performing tasks they don't like and are not good at. In a sense, the are Trapped Minding The Store.  

One of our objectives at B2B CFO is the help the Finder keep his or her focus on the future, where their strength, interest and passion lie.  B2B CFO partners are not only skilled Minders but are skilled at projecting historical data into the future, thereby assisting the Finder in navigating the uncharted business and economic waters.   Contact you local B2B CFO Partner to obtain more information on the roles of business.