Bill Flynn Interview — Fem Founder™
By: Kristin Marquet
Tags: Leadership, Entrepreneurship, Entrepreneur, Founder Stories, Founders

Bill Flynn has more than thirty years of experience working for and advising hundreds of companies, including startups, where he has a long track record of success. He’s had five successful outcomes, two IPOs, and seven acquisitions, including a turnaround during the 2008 financial crisis. Bill is also a multi-certified growth coach, has a Certificate with Distinction — Foundations of NeuroLeadership, is a Certified Predictive Index Partner and international speaker. Bill has also authored a best-selling book — Further, Faster — The Vital Few Steps that Take the Guesswork out of Growth garnering a 5-Star rating. Away from work, he is an avid reader and athlete, enjoys volunteering locally, and when he is not off cheering on his collegiate-champion daughter, Bill lives in Sudbury, Massachusetts, with his wife, dog, cat, and four chickens.

Can you tell our readers about your background?

Through the years of many startup management positions, mostly in sales and marketing, my coaching style developed. I love to learn and share my knowledge with others. I strive for continual improvements through small steps — kaizen.

With this philosophy, my performance and that of my teams increased significantly over time. I learned to provide direction versus instruction to develop highly productive and independent teams. I evolved to do a lot less telling and a lot more asking and trusting. After my tenth startup, I decided to look for a way to apply those skills where the idea to become a coach fell into my lap.

More on that below.

What inspired you to start your business?

After many successful and failed startups, and in the past few years working and speaking with hundreds of CEOs and companies around the world, I have found the following, for the most part:

· We do meetings wrong

· We do strategy wrong

· We do hiring wrong

· We do decision making wrong

· We do change wrong

· We do feedback wrong

· We do vision wrong

· We do teams wrong

· We do innovation wrong

· We do people wrong

Here is why I think this happens too often:

1. There is a meaningful gap between what science knows and business does.

2. Few things truly matter, but those that do matter tremendously. Leaders do not spend enough time here.

3. Leaders rely too much on effort, luck, timing, and force of will to achieve “success”.

4. We don’t deduce before we produce. Spend more time upfront to save time overall.

I started Catalyst Growth Advisors to help leaders take the guesswork out of growth by getting them to fire themselves from the day to day to focus more time on predicting the future. My purpose is to spend each working moment helping to advance the human condition through having enlightened leaders focus on the few things that truly matter to their customers and teams.

Where is your business based?

Just outside if Boston, MA.

How did you start your business? What were the first steps you took?

After my tenth startup, I was looking to try something new. I probably should have made this decision after startup number six but I am a little slow. It takes me about an hour and a half to watch 60 Minutes.

I initially signed up for a newsletter from Verne Harnish, Founder of ScalingUp, EO, and YPO among other things. He wrote to me directly. After a few email exchanges, I was signed up to take an initial certification training class a month later. I was on my way.

Origin story

“Make me look as big as you can.” started it all. In 2007, I had my first experience of being a coach when I was brought in as a consultant to help a founder sell his business. Within 10 months, we were bought by a $100M+ organization as their online IT services arm; primarily outsourced email hosting.

On my first official day as GM, due to a catastrophic system failure, we, in effect, did not deliver email to anyone. It was not until two days later that we cobbled together a short term fix.

We had lost about 1000 customers in that first week and the rest were very unhappy with us. I, and the four other leaders, put together a plan based on my direction to sure up the key parts of our business. Three of which I had no prior experience. It worked beautifully. We doubled this business in about two years, did not lose one team member, and eventually had some of the highest customer satisfaction scores in the industry.

On my final day, two of the senior managers let me know that what I led them through was really hard. They hated it (their words). But, they were so glad they did it. I wanted more of that. I wanted to impact others in a significant and meaningful way.

I certainly did not come up with the idea of business coaching but it’s an excellent fit for my knowledge, skills, and abilities. This one key experience I had over a decade prior was the catalyst.

What has been the most effective way of raising awareness for your business?

I deliver insightful content to the right audience as often as possible. I do workshops and podcasts, speak to leaders (one to one and one to many), write a blog post twice a month and have just published a book, Further, Faster, that can be downloaded for free from my site but is also available on Amazon, iTunes, and Audible. I also work with and am constantly expanding my centers of influence relationships.

How do you stay focused?

I have figured out the few things that truly matter to grow my business and I ruthlessly spend my time on these things. I also set 3-year, one year, and quarterly goals. Here is how that looks.

3–5 Differentiating actions — Three-year initiatives

Expertise at 3HAG delivery (especially the latter stages) and supporting validation options

Expertise in Neuroscience (as it relates to leading teams, growth, and feedback)

Excellent teacher (Apply latest evidence-based teaching methods)

Known for: Taking the guesswork out of growth. Best money and time spent. Annual Goals (2020) 1. At least $200K revenue — between 3 and 4 clients 2. Add 1–2 new Centers of Influence partners (e.g., IBs, Lawyers, Partial CFO, Accountants, Banks, Small Giants, AIM) 3. Have 2–3 coaching prospects in 50%+ queue at anytime 4. Continued learning — 24 business books (min), HBR articles, etc. — (See “Books Read in 2019” note) 5. Add one new revenue stream in 2020 to coaching, affiliate program and speaking 1. ******Add one C-Suite Master Class — 2020 ****** — MAIN FOCUS 2. Speaking — ~5% 3. Book Sales — 2020–200 paid 6. Improve coaching approach

o Learn how to be a great teacher

o Growth learning (be comprehensive and well-prepared) — Ongoing (at least 2 of below)

§ Go to Leanstack coach’s seminar/workshop — Ash Maurya — 202X

§ The Growth Faculty seminar (Jim Collins) — 2020

§ Reimagining the Future Virtual Summit — 2020

§ Small Giants — 2021

§ ZingTrain — 202X

§ GGOB — 202X

Quarterly Goals 1. Provide 2+ workshops 2. Do 2–4 podcasts to promote the book 3. Send out copy of book to all contributors and influencers

· Provide 3+ updates to client list

I also exercise, meditate, and get 7–9 hours of sleep each day.

How do you differentiate your business from the competition?

I am a contrarian, an etiologist, and an essentialist.

Being a contrarian immediately differentiates me. Since most businesses fail in a short amount of time (60–80% < 10 years) and those that do not often struggle to stay relevant and alive, teaching what most others teach makes no sense to me. There are some exceptional examples of businesses that thrive over long periods of time. They do things differently. That is what I teach.

An etiologist is someone who studies cause and effect. Jim Collins is an etiologist as is Simon Sinek and Marcus Buckingham. Each searches for success in different organizations and uncover the commonalities. I curate and share these unique behaviors, methods, and actions on behalf of my customers.

An essentialist is someone who focuses on the few things that truly matter as those things have an outsized effect in business and in life. The Pareto Principle states that 20% of the effort produces 80% of the results. Teams must spend 80% or more of their time on that 20%. I wrote an entire book on this subject.

I continually improve my own knowledge and skills so I can hear things like this more often:

“Bill provides some of the highest ‘value per word’ of any consultant (coach) I’ve ever met.” — Erik Waters, Co-Owner/CFO, Adtech System

“… Having facilitated AIM’s CEO Connection Group for over 5 years, and having had several presenters on Growth and Resiliency, today’s webinar blew them out of the water! … — Beth Yohai, Vice President of Business Development at AIM HR Solutions

What has been your most effective marketing strategy to grow your business?

Marketing, as a word, is a catch-all for many things. Strategy is part of marketing. As is, demand generation and product development among others.

I only have one business strategy. It is summed up in two words — Be Exceptional. As I previously stated, in order to differentiate myself, I am continually learning the most effective techniques, methods, and frameworks that are evidence-based and proven across time and different businesses. I look to continually separate myself from my rivals in these areas.

If you are asking the most effective ways I generate leads for my business, here is what I do. I have figured out who my core customer is and spend as much time speaking to, writing for, and coaching these leaders and their closest partners; often my centers of influence partners as well.

My core customer is a humble leader who is a life-long learner and is eager to challenge the status quo. I have become a Vistage, EO, and YPO speaker. I partner with organizations like Small Giants and MassMEP. I seek out the places where these unique mindsets congregate and work hard to become associated with these groups.

“The secret to success: find out where people are going and get there first.” I market with this quote in mind always. It is attributed to Mark Twain.

What’s your best piece of advice for aspiring and new entrepreneurs?

Deduce before you produce.

Fall in love with the problem and the customer, not the idea. Your original idea is very likely not the one that brings you success.

Mike Tyson said it best — “Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.”

Your customers are going to “punch you in the mouth” when you ask them for money versus when you ask them what they think of your idea. Solve it so well and so deeply that they are compelled to tell others.

To do that, it is important to understand your core customer’s struggles, the progress they are looking to make, how they are trying to solve that today, and where they are succeeding and failing to that end. One must interview them like a journalist instead of a salesperson. Make it about them and not a way to get them to buy your stuff.

Do this at least twenty times and see if you can find a pattern from the information collected. If you cannot, you may have to go back to the drawing board. For what it is worth, I have completed this process seven times. I always found a pattern between twelve and twenty conversations. Not always the one I was hoping for.

Two years ago, I wrote, “How to Design a Solution that your Best Customers Want and Value with One Question”. This prescriptive piece accelerates the process of figuring out how you change the lives of your best customers for the better. It does not replace the interview process but, if you have existing customers, it can move things along more quickly.

What’s your favorite app, blog, and book? Why?

I do not have one favorite of any of these. In my work as a business coach, there are many different opportunities to help others so my “favorites” vary. However, if your readers are interested, I have created a list of all the best resources I use in my work. including books and podcasts that I have compiled over many years. It is broken down by category and highlighted by impact on my thinking. I hope your readers find it useful.

Who is your business role model? Why?

Alan Mulally. Hands down.

I believe that Mulally is the finest CEO we have had in my lifetime, possibly ever, as he helped turn Boeing around in the middle of 9/11-then did the same with Ford during the Great Recession. I am unaware of any business leader (e.g., Jobs, Walton, Kelleher, Gates) who not only survived two existential, economic crises but also whose failing businesses came out of these crises even stronger.

Companies that endure; last decades, generations and centuries typically make a handful of decisions right. Mulally accomplished twice in a nearly identical way the seemingly impossible for two separate industries and cultures. He simplified the business into a few key areas of focus.

For instance, at Ford, in the middle of the worst financial crisis of our lifetime at the time, the turnaround plan focused almost exclusively on the following: (excerpt from American Icon):

1 Aggressively restructure to operate profitably at the current demand and changing model mix. (EXECUTION)

2 Accelerate the development of new products our customers want and value. (STRATEGY)

3 Finance our plan and improve our balance sheet. (CASH)

4 Work together effectively as one team. (PEOPLE)

Just after Mulally left in 2014, Ford surpassed Toyota, re-establishing itself as the leading provider of cars in the world. A position Toyota had held since 2009 and GM for seven decades before that. GM replaced Ford in the 1930s.

What Mulally did is not magic. He learned that relentlessly focusing on a few key things executed nearly flawlessly by a cohesive team is the best way to run any business.

How do you balance work and life?

I believe that there is no such thing. There is the only life of which work is a part. A vital part but a subset of life nevertheless.

One of the benefits of COVID-19 is that we are now more often fitting work into the cracks or life where, before March, we were more often fitting life into the cracks of work.

For the most part, work is about outcomes. There are deadlines and priorities, of course, but I think leaders are learning that sitting in an office, coming in and leaving at a certain hour are artificial and arbitrary beliefs we have adopted from the Industrial Age. They are, more often than not, no longer relevant and are proving to be less productive for many organizations.

I believe, if leaders spent more time thinking and planning outcomes, honing and liberally communicating a clear and vivid vision, and summoning the courage to trust these well-vetted and enthusiastic team members, there will be less need to have constant oversight of the day-to-day operations and the people who carry them out.

Unfortunately, leaders spend 80–90% of their time on running the day to day and 10–20% of their time thinking about the future. That needs to flip. I believe, when this is done, much of this work/life balance nonsense will be relegated to nostalgia.

What’s your favorite way to decompress?

Physical and mental stimulation.

Physical — I play hockey, lift weights, and do cardio to blow off steam and stay healthy.

Mental — I read a lot, play guitar and sing, do crossword puzzles, and get plenty of sleep!

What do you have planned for the next six months?

It is pretty hard to plan that far out right now but here are the key items on my evolving schedule.

July

1. Three podcasts to promote the book

2. A handful of client sessions

3. Small Giants workshop

4. Several Mastermind/Accountability group meetings

5. A prospect calls — please note that I only bring on 1–2 new clients/year

6. Weekly Entrepreneurial coaching — volunteer

August

1. Most of the above — no podcasts or prospect call scheduled

2. Two Vistage sessions — virtual

3. AIM Mutual workshop

September/October

1. Client sessions

2. Weekly Entrepreneurial coaching — volunteer

3. Mastermind/Accountability group meetings

November

1. Client sessions

2. Weekly Entrepreneurial coaching — volunteer

3. Mastermind/Accountability group meetings

4. Attend Neuroleadership Summit (if held)

December

1. Client sessions

2. Weekly Entrepreneurial coaching — volunteer

3. Mastermind/Accountability group meeting

My calendar fills in on a rolling 3–6 week window. Over the next few weeks, August and September will fill in with a few more key things. This is what it looks like as of early July.

How can our readers connect with you?

Bill Flynn — bill@catalystgrowthadvisors.com

https://www.linkedin.com/in/billflynnpublic

https://www.facebook.com/bill.flynn.9022

https://catalystgrowthadvisors.com/ (website)

@whfjr (twitter)

billflynn01776 (Instagram)