Smart Leaders
Moving fast
How to lead your company through major changes
By Kristy J. O’Hara
Smart Business San Diego | January 2010
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Timothy I. Still, president and CEO, Accumetrics Inc.
When Timothy I. Still joined Accumetrics Inc. as president and CEO, he was in a tough spot, because the founder had been the acting chairman and CEO.
“Whenever you have a situation where the founder is still with the company, it’s a very delicate situation,” he says.
The board had decided to bring in a seasoned executive to build the company, which develops, manufactures and markets tests for the assessment of platelet response to antiplatelet therapies.
Immediately, Still had to establish credibility with the 80 employees, let them know that there was going to be a more accountable culture and then take swift action in changing the company and building his management team.
“Literally, in the first 90 days, there was a significant amount of change,” he says. “That sets the proper tone and proper culture that change is in the air.”
Smart Business spoke with Still about how he effectively led the company through change.
Have a clear vision. First, there needs to be clarity of vision, clarity of where the new CEO wants to take the company.
To have a clear vision and a clear strategy, frankly, it starts with strong leadership. People need to feel convinced that the leaders really know where they want to take the company and know what they want to do. You need to have measurable goals associated with that. You need to have teamwork, and you have to have people buy in and engage them. You have to open things up that if they don’t believe in the vision, to be vocal about it, and that all ties in to having the right culture at the company, one that people feel engaged in and feel heard. It’s clearly something that starts at the top. Even though it’s important to have a strong CEO, all of the functional heads need to be just as strong.
Create a sense of urgency. After you work on forming that vision, what’s equally as important is the sense of urgency and passion to fulfill that.
Make sure that people realize that the market waits for no one. The company needs to operate with a sense of urgency in building a business and really delivering products and solutions to customers. You can’t have a laissez-faire type of attitude. If you don’t take care of the customer, someone else will, so it’s really a sense of urgency as far as building the business and certainly looking at the goals that are out in front of us but not only driving to that goal but possibly through it and really exceeding customer and financial expectations.
