Breakout Briefs
and Breakdowns 

When someone says "that's playing Moneyball," they usually mean a situation where data is used differently to reveal a unique strategy which drives better results, often at a reduced cost. In the film Moneyball, the 2002 Oakland Athletics used a different statistical approach to construct a roster of lesser-known players. Their strategy flew in the face of other teams driving success through expensive free agent superstars. The A's approach to winning was built on the underly

In many lower to middle market businesses, marketing doesn't receive the expertise and resources it deserves. It's easy for leadership to think (maybe even say), "It's not that hard. We're all consumers. We see hundreds of ads a day. We know what to do to grab attention and sell." But there's a hidden trap in that thinking. When Marketing Feels Like Guesswork When familiarity is mistaken for expertise, even the best intentions of a small business marketing strategy become exp

What a QofE won’t tell you about growth: the sales, brand, leadership, and alignment signals that indicate whether growth is durable after a deal closes.

Enterprise value reflects what a buyer pays for a business. Learn why durable growth capabilities matter just as much in underwriting the next chapter.

Fifty years ago, Fleetwood Mac was recording what would become one of the top ten best-selling albums of all time. But behind the music, the band was unraveling. Mick Fleetwood's wife had left him for his best friend. John and Christine McVie had divorced after eight years of marriage. Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham were in the middle of a painful breakup. Several songs on the album were literally written about their drama. They were wounds set to melody. Fleetwood Mac 1

Route 66 is a lesson in company growth that shows how a growth driver can become a growth constraint. I have driven Route 66 (Interstate 44) countless times. This year, that renowned 2,400-mile highway from Los Angeles to Chicago turned 100 years old. Having grown up in St. Louis, it's a route I've traveled literally my entire life. There are still places where you can see sections of the original road just off the interstate. Every time I do, I'm struck by how primitive that

One hundred years ago, Harry Houdini spent 91 minutes partially submerged in water and sealed inside a coffin. Unlike his many famous feats, this one wasn't about escaping. In August, 1926, Harry Houdini stayed underwater 91 minutes. He was setting the record for surviving on a fixed supply of air in a sealed environment for as long as his body would allow. It was about endurance. To achieve it, he had to listen to his body. By some accounts his body warned him through fatigu

The 2026 Masters performance by Rory McIlroy offers an outstanding business lesson. If you recall, it was an unusual up and down (pardon the pun) tournament for McIlroy. On the upside, he entered Saturday's round with a tournament-record six-shot lead. On the downside, he shot a 73 on Saturday and not only lost the lead, but found himself two shots down after six holes on Sunday. The 2026 Masters is a great business lesson about growth durability. But we know how it ended.

This once dominant beer market leader was built to grow until their decisions destroyed that growth and position. There’s a great little italian restaurant chain in the Phoenix area called Oregano's Pizza Bistro. The food is classic Chicago-style Italian and the décor is fascinating, with old beer ads on the walls and embedded in the tabletops. On a recent visit, I photographed the below Schlitz ad in our tabletop. Advertising from that era is fun to read because the copy, im

Learn how to find hidden growth risks across sales, marketing, brand, culture, and alignment before they affect valuation, scalability, or deal outcomes.

The beginning of the end of the Prohibition Era was April 7, 1933. Beer made its return. It didn't come roaring back. It came back at 3.2%. The alcohol content, that is. After 13 years of prohibition, breweries could finally operate again. Legally. But for most it was too late. In 1913, there were roughly 1,500 breweries in America. Just 20 years later, only about 100 remained. But Prohibition didn't kill demand. And it didn't keep breweries from recognizing the opportunity

I drove past this soybean field and there it was. A single stalk of corn towering over the beans. Almost taunting them while doing its own thing. There were two or three other stalks scattered nearby. But this particular one seemed especially poignant. At a distance, these "volunteer" cornstalks are practically invisible, blending in with the surrounding landscape. But from my up-close vantage point, this one stood out. And not in a good or positive way. More of a "get out o

One of the iconic SNL skits, More Cowbell, aired over 25 years ago. The skit imagines Blue Oyster Cult recording its famous song, Don't Fear The Reaper, which uses a cowbell in the background. In the skit, the producer incessantly interrupts each recording with: "You gotta have more cowbell." It was a great spoof on one of the most famous percussion parts in rock and roll. And it worked because we've all seen cowbell moments in life. Especially in business. Sometimes the e

The 2026 Indianapolis 500 delivered the closest finish in its 110-year history. Felix Rosenqvist didn’t just win the race. He was living the high line, a strategy that helped him beat David Malukas by 0.0233 seconds. For context, the average human blink takes between 150 and 400 milliseconds. The margin of Rosenqvist's victory was 23 milliseconds. Malukas was understandably emotional afterward because, by nearly every visible performance metric, he had the fastest car all r

If you think brand doesn’t impact growth, you probably don't know The Quarrymen. That was the original name of a group of kids from Quarry Bank High School who had a band in the 1950s. They performed local gigs. Just for fun. We can all likely agree, a band name that includes your high school name isn’t exactly cool if you continue playing after graduation, which The Quarrymen did. Perhaps they felt the same way. Regardless, they re-branded in 1960. Several times. Deciding

More than 50 years ago Bobby Fischer defeated Boris Spassky to become the first American to win the World Chess Championship. The match in Reykjavik is now known as the “Match of the Century.” It was bigger than chess in part because it was symbolic of the Cold War. The Soviets had a system that had dominated world chess for decades. In some ways, it was an interesting precursor to Miracle on Ice in 1980. But this wasn't just chess. In fact, the "match" was actually 21 chess

Culture isn’t wallpaper. It’s your company’s operating system. That may sound like an eye-rolling metaphor, but it’s an appropriate one for this discussion. Most leaders talk about and act as if organizational culture is a company decoration. It's treated as an afterthought. Something that makes everyone feel better. Rarely do you hear it positioned as an important driver of growth. This framing is both wrong and costly. The truth is organizational culture is like an o

There are dozens of metrics leaders track. Perhaps you're one of those leaders. Page views, email open rates, social media followers, website traffic, lead volume…just to name a few. But most SMB leaders don't have the time to build, or budget to subscribe to, elaborate dashboards...let alone hire data analysts to interpret them. Here's the good news: You don't need to track everything. You need to track the key business growth metrics which reveal the health of your growth

Most companies enter a new year with ambitious growth goals but a sense of apprehension about whether, or how, they’ll reach them. That apprehension rarely comes from doubts about employee effort. It comes from uncertainty…and guesswork. Where are leadership’s blind spots? Are the key growth drivers (sales, marketing, brand, and culture) actually aligned? How much of the forecast is based on clarity versus guesswork? These questions open the door to friction, misalignment, an

Most business leaders understand the importance of sales and marketing. But fewer understand that strength alone in these areas isn't enough, and there are actually two other areas, brand and culture, critical to growth. Collectively, these four areas are the primary levers to increase business growth. If these areas are strong, but not aligned, a company will struggle to maximize revenue. It's akin to 1+1+1+1 = 3. What is Alignment? Alignment means your sales, marketing, bra