Most small and midsized businesses (SMB’s) are run by their owners like cash machines, not value-based enterprises. The reason for this is understandable. When most entrepreneurs start their company, their primary emphasis is usually financial survival – using operating cash flows to sustain economic viability. Reinvestments in the business are usually made only after all cash flow obligations are satisfied and desired perks are taken. Often there is little leftover to capitalize value-creating growth.

Baby boomers own 67% of the privately-held businesses in the U.S. Just over 4 million companies, worth an estimated $10 trillion USD in equity. Here’s the thing about Baby Boomers, there are lots and lots of them all around the world. Born between1946 and 1964, the majority are at or nearing retirement age.

People are complicated, right? Hard to understand sometimes… where they’re coming from; why they react the way they do; what they’re trying to achieve.

Herzberg Smith & Co’s experts meet business owners and leading executives every day who are perplexed by the human condition and peoples’ ways. Still, the primary task of these leaders is to get their people to do what the organization needs them to do. They tell us it’s often like herding cats, trying to convince their direct reports to achieve great organizational objectives. It never seems to work nearly as well as the leaders had hoped.

Leadership has been studied in depth by leading thinkers and philosophers for millennia. And by modern sociologists and business schools for well over a century. They’ve studied everything from leadership traits, skills and styles, to situational leadership applications and leadership ethics. And more.

Human beings are an organization’s strongest competitive advantage, and its greatest productivity source. It’s the rare industry where this is the exception. And this is especially true in small and midsize businesses (SMB’s).