Business Synchronization and Profitability with Antoine Gerschel

November 16, 2015

Business Synchronization and Profitability with Antoine Gerschel

Show Summary

Teams of Distincton co-founder Antoine Gerschel joins Mike Michalowicz, Chris Curran and Kristina Bolduc for Episode 54 of the Profit First Podcast! Antoine has some fantastic words of wisdom for moving your business towards distinction (rather than extinction!)

Our Guest

Antoine Gerschel is co-founder of Teams of Distinction, an advisory firm focusing on helping organizations reach SWING: the near perfect synchronization of talented people. Before starting “Teams of Distinction”, Antoine has had multiple corporate and entrepreneurial leadership positions, including being the head of global leadership development at Sanofi-Aventis, and the COO of a learning technology start-up. He has trained and coached teams on five continents and has written 3 best-selling books on conflict, change and communication. He has been featured in Forbes and other leading business publications. Recently he has helped such organizations as the US Trademark and Patent Office, The Department of Health and Mental Hygiene of the City of New York, Bayer, Pfizer, Munich Re, Swiss Re, UBS, Walmart and multiple start-ups. He has also been guest speaker at University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton Business School and at the University of St.Gallen in Switzerland.

Antoine is originally from Zurich (Switzerland), and, with his family, has spent the past 18 years in Princeton, New Jersey.

Show Quotes

You have to be a “bean counter” and know how much you have in your bank at the end of the day.

It’s very easy to run out of cash when you’re successful – you will be more inclined to make investments and payments upfront. It’s easy to spend the money when you have it.

Many businesses are invariably either moving towards distinction or extinction. Get your company moving towards distinction!

Gradually get your business into the swing of things – there are 5 steps to doing so:

1. Mission of critical thinking – What’s the business mission? What’s the team mission? Every team needs one in your company.

2. Be tactical & practical: aspirational ambitions – Is there 1 single thing the whole team can rally behind? A common short term objective for the whole team rather than one person.

3. Internal combustion – make sure every individual is operating at their best – make sure they’re happy with what they do. Communicate with your staff! People will only express their thoughts and concerns if you provide an environment that facilitates conversation.

4. More than the sum of it’s parts – value your time. Create a situation where you and your team function automatically and have a common understanding.

5. A mind of it’s own – trust in your employees to make decisions based on the interest of the company.