HBR should do a case study on LogicSource on how not to start and run a business. Nearly every mistake that could have been made, was:
1. Letting a "sales guy" be the CEO. Isn't that supposed to be rule number 1 in a start up - make sure the CEO is competent. If you don't get that right, its hard to get anything else right. Perhaps the worst manager of people I have come across in my 30 years of professional experience. Divisive, internally competitive, vain, indecisive, insecure, manipulative. Oh, and don't let another "sales guy" be the CFO, especially when that CFO is best buds with the CEO. Has a way of resulting in...
2. Poor money management. Start ups need to be frugal. You know what they don't need - $400,000 office build outs with flat tvs and custom furniture in the C-suites offices.
3. Inability to pivot. This business had such potential but refused to make the right subtle changes in strategy along the way. Instead, they kept beating their heads on the wall until it was too late and the business was bleeding money all over the place.
4. Awful culture. LogicSource has a culture of fear like I have never seen. It starts from the top. The CEO is so manipulative and loves to talk behind others backs all the time. That permeates throughout an organization like cancer. They also ousted key employees with no notice or forethought whatsoever, leaving the business in a really tough place to recover from.
5. Compensation. Or lack thereof, more accurately. The C-suite was convinced that working for a Bain Capital start up trumped actually getting paid fairly. They were wrong. They were also wrong when they decided to give themselves bonuses while the rest of the company languished with nothing.
6. Paranoia. This is a print outsourcing business, as basic as it gets. There are no trade secrets. Yet the CEO was convinced everyone was plotting against him. It resulted in an electronic tracking program that cost the company a ton of money and provided no ROI whatsoever. Why would a company in such financial difficulty spend money to monitor its own employees like the KGB?? Great example - read a couple of the most recent reviews on here. They are so clearly written by a PR firm or by maybe even the CEO himself. Thats the kind of company LogicSource is. They sit around and read reviews on Glassdoor and write counter reviews to try to offset the truth. It's kind of absurd.
7. Silo approach. Departments didn't share information. Ever. Leaders horded information and doled it out when it suited their agendas.
8. Ethics. I saved the most important one for last. I dont think the management cared much about pulling people from good jobs with their promises, only to sour on new employees for petty reasons and discard them like trash. I saw this repeatedly, and I was a victim of the same fate. I was brought in to provide leadership in the sales function but it quickly turned into an internal competition between myself and the CEO. That's a bad way to run a business, and its an even worse way to conduct yourself in life in general. There is a veritable army of people who have been scapegoated by the CEO for the failure of the company. It's difficult to make as many enemies as he has.
