HOW TO STEP DOWN FROM RUNNING YOUR COMPANY’S OPERATIONS WITHOUT GOING MAD

           I am fifty years old. I have dedicated thirty of those years to building a business. My company, PET Technologies, manufactures equipment for production of PET packaging and exports it to some fifty countries worldwide. While work is in full swing at our manufacturing site in Chernihiv, I share my ideas in books, articles, posts, and videos on Facebook and Instagram. Today, I jotted down some notes on the benefits of fasting and on how a businessman or woman can become a truly happy person. This was part of the homework that my 25-year-old social media managers send me every three days. I am happy to comply.

           Ladies and gentlemen, businessmen and businesswomen, you may think that I've gone mad. A year ago, I stepped down from running the operations of my company. The decision was difficult, but a conscious one. Preparation for my exit took three years and cost several million dollars. In order not to undermine the outcome by my intervening in the process, I scaled back not only in a physical sense-I moved to Kyiv-but I also completely immersed myself in a new project, the success of which was not determined by my entrepreneurial track record, years of management experience, or even money.

           I often discuss this topic with my business friends, and they all agree that in Ukraine the business is a beloved and a very expensive toy of the one who owns it. But how do you know when it's time to pass it on to "the next kid" without breaking it?

           There are several distinct “symptoms” that I recommend paying attention to.

           1. Let the Groundhog Day begin! My version of Groundhog Day was a marathon through the “golden triangle" of home-office-restaurant that I own and back home. Not a marathon, of course, but a boring ride in the in the back seat of my Mercedes. It doesn't inspire you, and you evaluate your personal effectiveness at 15-20%. As a result, you become angry, depressed, and burnt out-not from work, but from overthinking and self-examination.

           2. You look for something to do and interfere with your subordinates' work. You often lack the courage to admit that they are doing a better job than you. Here are a couple of examples.

           I love it when my deals close and I am willing to offer discounts to get there. Once I couldn't make it to a meeting with a major client, where I was prepared to offer a 10% discount. My managers successfully sold the equipment with only a 4% discount. If I had been there, the company would have earned 6% less, and that's a significant amount.

           Another example. I was constantly meddling in the production side of the business, insisting that all technical issues go through me. As a result, the resolution of production issues was getting delayed by weeks, as I was not always physically available. Instead of making a decision and moving on, my colleagues were waiting for me, wasting valuable time.

           3. You enjoy a warm bath that your colleagues immerse you in. They surround you with their care and try to shield you from problems. And they won’t even let you drown in that bath because the system won't function without you. Any system strives for stability. You are at the center, like a statue on a pedestal, guaranteeing this much needed stability with your presence alone.

           Having observed these symptoms, what do you do next?

           1. You invite external consultants. You need a fresh, unbiased perspective. The more ruthless, the better. Prepare yourself emotionally for the fact that 70% of your officers will leave the company. It's possible (and most likely) that these will be the people you started with 20 years ago. After a management audit, it will turn out that they are the informal leaders who are slowing down the processes in the company. It's possible that these people are also working against you. This happened to me. The consultants immediately pointed out one of these old-timers and strongly recommended that I fire him. I didn't listen to them and paid the price. I fired him with losses - financial and moral - some years later.

           2. Prepare a new captain to steer the ship and give them time to make their own mistakes. This requires going through several stages that take about a year. At first, things are going well for them. You are still nearby, everything is moving by inertia but he/she is already at the helm and performing well. Then their ego balloons, and a sharp decline that follows sobers them up. If they can rise above it and continue, congratulations - the company has a full-fledged independent CEO. Baptism by fire is mandatory. If there is no external crisis, it would even be good to create an artificial one.

           3. Physically remove yourself to avoid the temptation to interfere in business processes and undermine the authority of the CEO and department heads. I've seen this happen multiple times with other entrepreneurs, and I myself was guilty of it at the beginning. The process is in place, and work is bustling, but then you show up with corrections. Of course, they will listen to you since you are the boss and when the manager comes back and asks, "Why wasn't the task completed?"… they answer: "Well, the boss came and said to do it differently..." I call it "seagull” management: you fly in, squawk, break everything, and fly away, undermining your top-manager in the eyes of subordinates. And we are not even talking about newbies or start-up entrepreneurs, but about mature businessmen. Why do they consciously harm their business with such actions? Because they're afraid of being out of work-waking up in the morning and feeling irrelevant, unimportant, and small. It's a terrible feeling that can drive you crazy. So what's the way out?

           4. Find a new occupation. Travel, fishing, hunting, self-contemplation in the mountains will not work. You could have done all that while still in business. Two weeks at most and then it wears off. A new business? Again, not that interesting. When you're 50, you've come a long way, and starting over holds no interest or desire. This is about manufacturing again, and it doesn't matter of what… cars, bricks, or sausages.

           What you need is a fundamentally new battlefield. I myself have taken up writing books, sharing my ideas on social networks, and speaking publicly. My schedule is again full, but now it is not with business meetings, but with filming, interviews, and writing. The familiar patterns don't work for me here, my management experience is not in demand. I try to look at people from an industrial perspective, but they are different…digital. They live and work by different laws and algorithms. Even money doesn't solve things. I can buy myself millions of followers, but they will be empty... I cannot delegate to the team: "Okay guys, make me interesting!" It doesn't work this way. You have to generate your own ideas, your entourage won't do it for you, your entourage is effectively gone.

           I started my exit from operations in 2016 and finished it in early 2020. The company has been developing independently and very well for a year and a half now. I come every three months for quarterly meetings where we analyze results and adjust the strategy if necessary. I make an appointment with my CEO several days ahead-he has a busy schedule and the principle of "Max, come in!" doesn't work anymore. This guy is now in charge, he's driving my car. And I'm a passenger, but I can wait, I'm not in a hurry.