Four fast-growing mid-size company CEOs shared success drivers at the recent Milwaukee Biz-Tech Conference-Expo. With rapid growth rates and distinctive business models, their advice is worth heeding. The panelists Mary Isbister, President of GenMet, a custom metal fabricator Mike Malatesta, founder and president of Advanced Waste Services, Inc. a customized service provider that reduces customers’ risks and waste. Sue Marks, founder and CEO of Pinstripe, Inc. a talent sourcing solution Craig Schiefelbein, president and CEO of PDS. PDS architects, supplies and implements IT solutions for mid-size companies. (See my PDS blog.) Their advice Never waste a downturn. Pinstripe invested in self-service infrastructure during the downturn that will speed throughput of candidates and allow its employees to do more work and higher-level work as the economy recovers. According to Harvard Business Review, market shares shift significantly during a downturn, a lesson Pinstripe capitalized upon….
Leading Business Model Innovation
Craig Schiefelbein, CEO/owner of Wisconsin-headquartered Paragon Development Systems, Inc. (PDS) exemplifies strategic leadership. Is it any wonder then that his Information Technology Solutions (IT) company has grown in twenty-two of the last twenty-four years and strategically partners with healthcare IT departments across the Midwest? Schiefelbein’s strategic leadership rests first and foremost in his willingness to change his company’s business model. “We’ve changed our business model seven times. Every time I’d think we had it all figured out only to discover we’d be out of business if we didn’t change. The challenge is in running the business while also rerouting it, and doing it before the changes become mandatory.” PDS started humbly in 1986 as the computer component wholesaler, Memory and More. Today PDS architects, supplies, implements and manages entire IT hardware infrastructures. Its business model involves aligning PDS’s unique blend of leadership, services,…