Catching Knives: Leading a Printing Business Through Constant Change

Every week brings a pile of decisions with real money and real consequences to your desk. Do you invest in a new press? Upgrade the space, or bring on that new hire you’ve talked about for months or, add that software that the vendor keeps pitching? All of this sits in the background while you fight to keep the customers you have and win the ones that actually fit your ideal client profile.

So, what really is the job of owners, presidents, and CEOs in the print industry today? Let’s dig deeper:

• Sits in the big chair
• Running the show
• Carrying the weight of the business
• Having to make calls with incomplete information, a ton of consequences and with lot riding on the outcome

Sounds like a great time, right?

Building and holding on to a competitive advantage in today’s printing industry is just like catching knives. The market keeps throwing them, and you decide which ones to grab, which ones to dodge, and how to stay on your feet while you do it all.

But what happens in those days when things are just not working out? Who holds you accountable to stay the course and get the job done, or kick the can down the road and deal with it another day? Whether that’s an issue with a client or staff member, a vendor or a competitor. How do you hold yourself accountable?

There’s no boss or board. No quarterly review from above. You have to check yourself – take that long look into the mirror. You second guess yourself all the time. You spend time looking at the rearview mirror, wondering whether the call you made last quarter was right. And when there’s no one asking the hard questions, it gets easier and easier to take a step backwards. You delay the decisions, keep the under performer, and stay with what’s comfortable.

Working harder, doesn’t fix this. Structure fixes this.

Build the team that you deserve around you – inside and outside your four walls.

Inside: Put people in place who support your goals but are not afraid to challenge you, align with your values, want to win as badly as you do, and will hold each other accountable day in and day out. Because the game never ends.

Outside: Create a board of advisors or join a peer group of leaders who sit in the same seat as you do. People who’ve faced the same knives. People who tell you the truth because they have nothing to sell you and no reason to hold back.

This is part of the work I do every day through the Graphic Arts CEO Forum and The Graphic Communications Leadership Institute, and one on one through The Philie Group. The common thread of it all is the same: CEOs are sharper, steadier, and make better decisions when they’re not making them alone.

The knives keep coming. You don’t have to catch them by yourself.

Mike Philie helps owners and CEOs in the Graphic communications industry validate what’s working, identify what needs to change, and create a practical path forward.

PhilieGroup | mphilie@philiegroup.com | Linkedin

The preceding content was provided by a contributor unaffiliated with Printing Impressions. The views expressed within may not directly reflect the thoughts or opinions of the staff of Printing Impressions. Artificial Intelligence may have been used in part to create or edit this content.