The day I sent twenty-five people home
Regaining CEO Freedom
Live webinar
June 30, 2:30pm CET
Register for the June 30 webinar
I want to tell you about one of the hardest days of my career, because it taught me what a real company is.
In 2016, our investors withdrew financing they had agreed to provide. The company was suddenly facing a serious cash crisis. After a few intense days of planning, we made the decision we had been dreading. On a single day, around twenty-five people were let go.
The team that remained did something I will never forget. They agreed to delay part of their own salaries to help the business survive. We managed every euro of cash with extreme discipline. And slowly, the situation healed.
Many of the people who left came back within weeks and months.
Here is why I am telling you this. A company that can stand on its own is not built in comfortable times. It is built through hard, honest decisions, and through a team you have led well enough that they stand with you when it matters.
That is the real, unglamorous price of freedom. And from everything I have lived, I can tell you it is worth paying.
On June 30 I run the second Regaining CEO Freedom webinar. It is about building exactly that kind of company, whether you ever sell it or not.