Designed to Scale CEO Coaching ProgramLex Sisney2024-03-21T04:19:53-07:00

Designed to Scale CEO Coaching Program: Accelerating Leadership and Business Growth

Being the CEO of fast growing company can be exhilarating one week and frustrating the next. I know because I’ve been there. That’s why I created the Designed to Scale Coaching Program, a proven method for building and managing high-growth companies that delivers breakthrough results.

Our clients are expansion-stage businesses (typically $30M+ in annual sales with a leadership team of 7+) that have an opportunity to grow significantly. Our guarantee is that when you deploy this program, your organization will not only scale — it will also have improved coordination, execution speed, and a more aligned culture. What’s more, you’ll experience greater time freedom, clarity, and confidence in your role as CEO.

If you’re thinking about how to take your organization to the next level and wondering if our approach is right for you, start with this 5-minute video or read on to learn more below. When ready, you can apply schedule a consultation.

The Quickest Way to Scale Your Business

In a picture, this coaching program guides you, step by step, to play to your strengths and passions while simultaneously leading your company from the mid to late Nail It stage of business development into the early to full Scale It stage of business development, as shown in the picture below.

The Designed to Scale Coaching Program guides you, step by step, to play to your strengths and passions while simultaneously leading your company from the Nail It stage of business development to the Scale It stage of business development and beyond.

Here’s another picture and an alternative way to look at it. Our job is to help you to drive your business up the lifecycle stages into a zone of growing revenues and profits (the dotted oval below). Then, from this position of strength, structure and prioritize the launch and development of new business units that will in turn go through their own lifecycle stages for sustained, profitable performance over time, like this:

How to create sustained profitable performance.

Is the Designed to Scale Coaching Program Right for You?

You’re an ideal client for this coaching program if you’re the CEO of an expansion-stage company that already has established product-market fit on your core product. It is also common that you are experiencing friction with A) launching and growing a new product or business line; B) expanding into new geographies or managing those regional sites more effectively; or C) integrating acquisitions into your organization.

You also have some battle scars. You already realize that things are very different at scale and you’re headed into uncharted territory again. At the same time, you still have the desire and the grit to execute on your vision and build a values-driven culture. You just need the right support and insights.

Here’s an example. Below is a simple picture that contrasts how we’re conditioned to think about success versus what the journey of success is really like:

If you’re wound so tight in the right arrow that you don’t have any extra capacity to think, learn, plan, and grow, then this program is not a fit for you at this time. If you’re operating smoothly with no apparent problems, as in the left arrow, it’s not a fit for you either because you just won’t be open to change (no offense; it’s just human nature).

In order for there to be a good match, you need to have some pain or friction in the business, the stakes need to be high, and you must have the capacity and the commitment to invest in yourself and the business to make a transformative shift.

We Get What You’re Going Through

Although we haven’t met, if you’re an expansion-stage CEO, then we probably know what you’re going through.

Even though every situation is unique, some broad brush strokes are: You know the company needs to evolve how it operates but you don’t want to lose its entrepreneurial DNA or core values. It’s likely that some critical area isn’t functioning as well as it should to scale. There’s a sense that the company has outgrown its current structure and operating model, but it’s not perfectly clear yet how to solve this. You likely have some strong vertical functions and leaders but weak cross-coordination. It’s also likely that you have some low-value, energy-sucking activities that you must personally manage and you can’t wait to escape from. Or if not, you’re battle-tested and wise enough to know that you want to avoid these pitfalls in advance.

Why do we know this? Because we’ve been there too. Earlier in my career, I was the co-founder and CEO of the world’s largest affiliate marketing company. And I’ve spent the past decade coaching like-minded CEOs of expansion-stage companies to scale their own companies. There’s nothing more exhilarating than leading a fast-growing company. There’s also nothing more frustrating than dealing with a business that has friction gumming up the wheels when the pressure to move fast is really on.

If you’re like us, then what you want above all else is certainty about what steps to take, in what sequence, and why. You seek a proven, systematic approach to organizational development that simultaneously lowers any sources of internal friction. And you desire to get back into your strengths and passions because you intuitively recognize that if you’re not at your best, then the business isn’t going to reach its potential.

Typical Results

After more than a decade of in-the-trenches coaching, we have designed a complete coaching program that does just that. Here are some typical results.

A $40M biotech start-up was struggling with management execution and coordinating across multiple geographies and product lines. The founder was a thought leader with a research background who definitely understood the technical side of his business. He was also a first-time CEO, however, and he was naturally overwhelmed with internal operational issues at scale, despite having a COO to support him. By better defining the next stage strategy and implementing a new organizational structure and design, this same CEO took the business to more than $100M in sales in under three years, with very lucrative margins. As of this writing, he has received two competing multi-billion ($B) buyout offers.
A $150M publicly traded consumer goods company was attempting to seize a new market opportunity but found itself going up against much larger, well-funded competitors. It had to innovate new product offerings while bringing together a complicated supply chain and distribution model. Of course, it also had to maintain and improve GMP quality standards. Using Organizational Physics, the company redesigned its structure, accelerated its execution speed on the new opportunities, won several best-in-category awards, and grew to become the number 1 or 2 competitor in its categories. The company is now valued at more than $1B and they are expanding into new international markets from a very strong foundation.
A five-year-old venture-backed start-up was growing fast and had reached 300 employees. But as it grew, its internal execution got more complex and things started to bog down. Inside the company, one part of the business was fighting against the other. There was also a lot of conflict between members of the founding team and new senior-level hires brought in to help the company scale. As a result, sales were flattening. By implementing Organizational Physics, this company created a new structure with clarified roles and responsibilities to support the expansion strategy. They also implemented an improved management execution process to bring the structure alive. The results? Internal infighting plummeted, velocity increased, and revenues were up 60% within 9 months.
A $15M a year venture-backed start-up was struggling with focusing its strategy and attracting new senior leadership. Working with the CEO and leadership team, we put in place a quarterly 1-page strategic execution summary that clarified the strategy, accountabilities, 90-day-, 1-year-, and 3-year-priorities, and the core ideology. We also redesigned the organizational structure, put in place a new management process, and helped to recruit and integrate a VP of Sales and a VP of Operations. Three years later, the company more than tripled its revenues and is on track to hit $100M in sales.. At the same time, the company founder and CEO went from spending 10% of his time in his Genius Zone^TM to spending over 80% of his time in that zone.
A 5-year-old company had been losing money since its inception. It had a strong culture but was suffering from customer turnover and too many competing priorities, with no way to manage them effectively. In three months we implemented a new go-to-market strategy, restructured the company for clearer accountability, and streamlined the decision-making and product development processes. The result? The company reached cash flow profitability for the first time and is on track to reach $50M in sales and 30% EBITDA this year.
A 9-year-old venture-backed software-as-a-service (SAAS) firm with $10.5M in sales in 2013 was stalled in its expansion strategy. Sales were growing but not nearly fast enough. After six months of searching, the company was 0 for 3 on making critical key hires including a Director of Engineering, a COO, and a VP of Marketing. The board was getting impatient and making rumblings about replacing the founding team. The founders themselves were feeling ambivalent about the business. In three months, we realigned the founding team and helped them rediscover their original passion. We created a new environment for faster execution and uncovered the real market opportunity. The result? The company found and hired three new A+ executives and its momentum is accelerating. Its forecast is to more than double sales in the coming year.
The regulatory market changed radically on a $35M Inc. 500 Fastest Growing Company^TM. Using the coaching program, we identified and executed on a new pivot strategy. While its two largest competitors went bankrupt, our client had their most successful quarter ever. In addition, the founder freed himself up significantly from his old role of managing daily operations to his new role of creating new marketing campaigns and developing new markets (two things that he loves to do and add the most enterprise value to the business).
A $30M medical device manufacturer engaged Organizational Physics. The company was having a hard time making the leap from a founder-led organization to a well-coordinated execution machine with multiple global offices. One year later, with the founder operating still as CEO but now much more in his Genius Zone and with the a structure and management process to support it, the company doubled in size to $60M. At the same time, it increased its operating profit margin and management capacity. Soon after, it received a $240M+ buyout offer, scoring a very high return for its shareholders.
A 20-year old software company had gone through a very challenging period and sales were flat. Its legacy product quality had suffered as a result. At the same time, the market was changing and it had to innovate to capture a closing market window. We clarified the strategy, put in place a new structure and management process, and built a new product management system. Within nine months, the company had transformed its product quality on its legacy product to meet client expectations. Simultaneously, the company scoped and launched a new innovative product that sets it up for success for the next generation. Revenues were up 18% within 12 months. More importantly, the culture has pride and is excited for the future.

What Other CEOs are Saying

“I am grateful for being introduced to Lex and Organizational Physics. Using Lex’s coaching, we are transforming a super successful FinTech company for a new level of scale that is both scary and audacious. For me and my leadership team, this approach creates a new way to assure role clarity, mutual accountability and organizational momentum. Putting these concepts into practice has yielded positive results from the get-go. Highly recommended for anyone who wants to transform their organization for outsized success.”
– Vijay Sondhi, CEO at Network Merchants (NMI)

“A year on after the Organizational Physics coaching program, we have managed to achieve our ambitious goals and employee engagement within the business is equally high. Between finding the book, connecting with the author and now having a coach engaged on the growth stages of the company, our time with Lex comfortably goes down as the best investment we have made during our transition into scale at Yoco.”
– Katlego Maphai, Co-founder & CEO, Yoco

“In my experience, Lex Sisney is a genius when it comes to organizational structure — how to design a business so it can grow with the right people in the right seats with a structure that “pushes authority down” whenever possible. Our company is in a totally different place than it was before our work with Lex. Our digital products division had a $2 million positive swing in its bottom line in just one year’s time. And our leadership team now consists of an engaged group of 13 people (many of whom were promoted to their new roles during the restructuring process) with a very high level of commitment, clarity, and “shared consciousness.”
– Tami Simon, Founder & CEO, Sounds True

“When we hired Lex, our company was 5 years old with 300 employees. We had never taken a hard look at how our functions were laid out or who was responsible for what. Lex’s framework, Organizational Physics, gave all of us a lens to think about how we could make our structure better support our strategic objectives. During a 2-day offsite, Lex helped the entire team discover what was holding us back and where we really wanted to focus our energy. Finally, he helped us implement a decision-making process that has freed us to make big decisions and move faster. My hope was that he would help us accelerate our velocity and he did exactly that — just nine months later our revenue is up 60%. The kind of work that Lex does is not easy but it is well worth it.”
– Issac Oates, CEO, Justworks

“Lex and Organizational Physics took us from a $150 million dollar start-up to a $1.5B business. Our start-up had grown quickly from just me and my co-founder working in a basement to $150M valuation. But we had grown so fast that we had outgrown our structure, management processes, and lacked a strategy to keep growing. Lex gave us sound principles, led a major company restructuring, changed the way we meet, think, and make decisions, and gave us the tools to become a “Unicorn.” I’d say Lex’s help is invaluable. But in our case it was worth a billion dollars! If you’re dealing with similar complexities in scaling your own business, I highly recommend speaking with him.”
– Adam Miron, Co-founder & Chief Brand Officer, HEXO

“Lex is a trusted and wise counselor who has found a way to apply the laws of thermodynamics to any business or organization. His framework is like an efficient machine code that is useful in any environment. Lex has helped us simplify our organizational structure, dramatically improve intra-company communication, and operate more effectively. Perhaps most importantly, Lex has helped us to find better ways to serve clients. This has contributed to a near doubling of revenue and company size in 12 months.”
– Michael Chambers, CEO, Aldevron

“In my opinion, the effectiveness of a framework is dependent on its ability to endure long after the facilitator is gone. The principles Lex has developed not only endure; they’ve become self-reinforcing. And the tools and mental models that I’ve picked up working with Lex will be permanent fixtures in my toolbox. Form follows function is a “sticky” idea that Lex brings to life like no other. And it helps that he’s a great guy who’s fun to work with!”
– Daniel Needham, President and Chief Investment Officer, Morningstar Investment Management

“The results of collaborating with Organizational Physics have been transformational. We have a much flatter organization with a highly energized management team. We executed “entropy reduction projects” that greatly increased the quality of our products and responsiveness to our customers. We also redefined the markets for our products from a $60M niche market to a $300M+ market with potential for further growth. Lex has a unique blend of experience, critical thinking, tools and boundless energy. If you want to grow your business, energize your people, build a great culture and have fun while doing it, then I highly endorse and recommend Lex Sisney.”
– Bob Reback, CEO, Cimetrix

“As a leader, is your team organized and aligned to perform optimally for your company? Are your key players in a structure where they can succeed for themselves and for you? Do they want to? Does everyone know the game plan, how they fit into that plan, and how to succeed as an organization? Lex and Organizational Physics will give you a proven framework to optimize your company and ensure that you can execute more seamlessly and powerfully to achieve your goals faster and get results you previously only dreamed of. Don’t take chances. Don’t learn the hard way. You don’t have time. Get the answers that have helped hundreds of leaders worldwide improve the performance and happiness of their organizations from a proven innovator who gets real results with real companies like yours everyday.”
– Justin Bellante, CEO, BioIQ

“Lex offers great strategic guidance and an outside perspective that helped move my organization to the next level. Lex led an executive team offsite for my company and also worked with me in advance to help guide me in refining my vision and goals for the company. During the offsite, the team was given the opportunity to assess our current competitive, operational, innovative and financial situation. It was a safe place for them to voice their opinions and an unusual chance for me to hear candid input. From there, the team worked together, with the help of Lex’s well thought out process, to decide what our priorities would be moving forward. We also created a new structure, metrics, and an improved decision making process. The result was a plan that was clear and the team was committed to making it happen. We did it again a year later to hone our skills and further build our team. The model works! The company has since grown more than 30% and our culture has never been stronger.”
– Jean Thompson, CEO, Seattle Chocolates

“Lex is a wizard at organizational structure and design. Prior to working with Lex, our organizations had inefficient structures that grew more complex with each new hire, yet Lex helped us reorganize our teams around basic, easy-to-grasp principles. Today as we hire, we reference Lex’s “four forces of management” framework to make sure we’re hiring the right people for the right roles. In other words, if you want your organization to run more smoothly, you need a sound structure to build from. You should learn from Lex.”
– Darren Litt, Internet/Mobile Entrepreneur

Lex is a master of organizational design, leadership team dynamics and talent assessment. After reading his books Organizational Physics and How to Think About Hiring, and being impressed with his advanced thinking on organizations, we engaged Lex to help us optimize the organization structure of our growth stage healthcare software company, Kareo. Lex helped us improve our organization structure, align responsibilities and key metrics to the right leaders, and tune up our leadership meetings. Our work with Lex has led to faster and more effective execution with increased role clarity and accountability.
– Dan Rodrigues, Founder & CEO, Kareo.com

“When leading an Inc. 5000 fastest growing company, you know the importance of hiring the right people. The steps Lex describes in How to Think About Hiring, combined with the assessments contained within the PSIU Talent Management Suite, have helped us revolutionize our hiring process. The results, when compared to our earlier methods, are tremendous. We’re clear on the type of person that would be most successful in the new role. We then use the report as a guide for doing a deep dive in our interview process. This is helping us ensure that the people we hire are both successful and happy in their new positions. As far as I’m concerned, it’s a game changer.”
– Jeremy Ames, President, Guidant Financial

“When it comes to organizational structure and design, Lex is both guru and a sherpa! What do I mean? After leading the successful merger of two of the leading companies in our industry, I knew that I needed some help integrating two different companies and cultures into one and to supercharge our overall growth. Lex is a leading thinker on organizational structure and design and helped my entire team to see the need and benefit of changing how we operate in a new reality (the guru). Then he helped us to integrate the new structure, roles, and management processes and make it all work well together (the sherpa). The result is that we now have one integrated company and culture that is executing more quickly on its strategy. We could not have done it nearly as fast or as well without Lex’s guidance.”
Vicki Kroviak, CEO, Monte Nido & Affiliates

I think the ONE essential requirement for an entrepreneur’s success is the capacity for introspection. Coaching with Lex helped me recognize – even after 10 years in my business – that the successful entrepreneur knows his or her own strengths & weaknesses, and builds his role in the business around them. As our business grew, I kept getting pulled into fires that were outside of my “genius zone” and thus took a lot of energy from me. If you have a great team and yet haven’t learned how to get out of the way, they will also experience energy drains and stress, and your business won’t perform to potential. This was my own challenge.

This program helped me create an organizational structure that could best support my strengths and place our team members in roles consistent with their own “genius,” where they could the most successful. Lex also helped us design a leadership team meeting structure that has significantly increased our capacity to make good decisions, implement them quickly, and communicate effectively. In addition, we’ve developed better practices for hiring, with a 19% increase in employee happiness (verified through TinyPulse) year after year. I could not provide a more enthusiastic recommendation of Lex or Organizational Physics.

– David Nilssen, CEO, Guidant Finanical

Example Case Studies

Below are a handful of informative studies from Organizational Physics coaching clients listed in alphabetical order. Click to read.

Benefits of the Designed to Scale Coaching Program

This is a tailored program that is customized to your individual needs and delivers benefits like:

Working More from Your Genius Zone

Identify your Genius Zone and maximize the time you’re spending in it
Eliminate energy-draining activities and relationships from your life and work
Experience greater success and happiness across the board

Making the Complex Simple

Gain deep insight into the fundamental principles that govern your business, team, strategy, and execution
Create a common lens so that the entire company buys into what needs to happen next
Deploy a proven system to keep everyone on the same page, hold people accountable, and drive better results

Clarifying and Communicating the Right Strategy

Know which strategy to choose and how to avoid critical mistakes
Identify the top strategic imperatives for the business and business units
Structure your business so that it supports the chosen strategy

Aligning the Team

Create a Strategic Execution Summary to share with the entire company
Define the core ideology and make it come alive
Clarify who is accountable for what

Reducing Internal Friction

Sniff out and eliminate energy drains that harm execution
Improve the company’s ability to adapt to changing market conditions
Drive increasing levels of success by systematically reducing friction

Managing Others More Easily

Easily understand the style, strengths, and weaknesses of anyone and know how to influence them better
Align people into the right roles
Know what to expect from an individual or a team even before the work begins

Designing the Organization to Scale

Design the organizational structure and accountabilities to support the strategy
Know the talent gaps and how and when to fix them
Tell who’s in the right role and who’s not

Tracking Monthly and Quarterly Performance

Utilize a monthly dashboard report that shows how the company is performing to plan
Set targets and KPIs that focus organizational attention on the most important things
Track quarterly, annual, and 3-year performance in a structured way

Executing Powerfully

Increase organizational momentum
Implement the right decision-making tools and balance competing demands
Have clear delegation and accountabilities

Increasing Your Confidence and Peace of Mind

Gain mental clarity and peace of mind in all areas of your life
Always know what to do next (and well before everyone else)
Improve your relationships at home and at work

What’s Included

You will receive a complete online tool set, coaching, assessments, organizational design, and expert perspective on scaling your team, business, and products to drive overall success and to create clarity and accountability throughout the team. Think vivid clarity, a proven sequence, and faster execution towards all of your personal and professional goals.

What’s Your Investment

Your investment is time, energy, and money.The money is simple. We price our coaching services based on the value we deliver. After an initial call to determine if there’s a fit between us, and based on your individual situation and needs, we will craft a proposal for this program.

Your investment in time and energy is more significant. During the first six weeks of this program, you should expect to invest 3-4 hours per week. This includes coaching calls, reading, collaborating with your Leadership Team, and completing interactive exercises and assessments. Think of this initial time investment like a big up-front push to get things rolling, after which we ride the wave of that momentum and need to invest less time in the coaching program and more on your business.

What’s Your Risk and ROI

The major risk isn’t really a risk at all but it just seems like it at first: You have to risk being open and reaching out for help. And when you think about it, you’ll realize that the world’s most successful, happy, and productive people get a lot of help. They know what they’re exceptional at and they create support systems around themselves so they can focus on that – and do it really well.

It’s the same thing here. we don’t pretend to know your business better than you do, or to be smarter or more creative. We do, however, have a proven, world-class framework to teach and share – and that’s why we love what we do. Plus, being on the outside of your business gives us perspective to help you gain more clarity. Finally, we treat your information with the strictest confidentiality because without trust, we’d quickly go out of business.

The other risks are money and time. It’s easy to mitigate this risk. Our simple guarantee is this: If you follow this process, complete the exercises, and talk with your coach as scheduled and you’re not completely satisfied with the program after the first 30 days, I’ll refund your investment in full.

Schedule a Consultation

To learn if the Designed to Scale Coaching Program is right for you, schedule an introductory call with Lex. During the call we’ll discuss your needs, answer your questions, and jointly determine if the program is a good fit for you. To schedule your call, complete the form below: