Today, we're delighted to announce that Adam Gale, former Editor at Management Today, will be writing a new monthly column for Profile's website.
Starting from November, Adam will write a regular column on management for ambitious businesses titled The Leap.
At Profile, we believe that start-ups and fast-growth businesses are critical to the future of the UK and global economy.
We are also eternal optimists.
We believe that fast-growth businesses have the potential to solve (at least in part) some of the biggest and most difficult challenges facing the world.
Whatever the challenge – from the productivity slowdown to carbon capture – these companies often bring new and unconventional approaches to the table.
Fast-growth businesses have the potential to solve some of the biggest and most difficult challenges facing the world.
But it's not all plain sailing.
In the office, as a team, we often talk about how many of these businesses – that might have, say, 20 to 200 team members – struggle to make the jump from being an SME to a larger, more mature business.
We call this The Leap: the testy transition from 20 team members to 500 people. The gap between being a well-positioned (and, hopefully, well-funded) start-up to a truly successful, robust scale-up.
There are a few companies that have successfully made this leap. Gymshark, THG, and Fever-Tree come to mind from the last few years. But many do not.
There are many reasons that businesses don't succeed in this transition, including very good ones, such as simply being understandably content to stay small.
But many founders, leadership teams, and CEOs do want to make the transition... but don't manage it.
Why? It could be execution. It could be funding. It could be guts. Or, more likely, it could be a combination of all these factors – and many more besides.
As long-standing former Editor at Management Today, Adam Gale has had an enviable ringside seat to the rise (and, indeed, occasional fall) of the largest British and global businesses.
Having spent nearly 7 years at Management Today, he has interviewed many of the world's most pre-eminent business leaders and entrepreneurs, from the CEO of BestBuy to the founder of Octopus Energy.
Adam Gale has had an enviable ringside seat to the rise (and, indeed, occasional fall) of the largest British and global businesses.
In his new column, he will distil the top lessons from more than a decade of getting to know the world's most successful company leaders to answer the question: as a CEO, how do you cross The Leap? What does it take? What do you need to know?
In each column, he will give his take on a different concept – from execution to bias – providing readers with a punchy, practical, yet always entertaining guide to company leaders who are scaling their businesses.
Adam will kick-off with his first column later this month.
