Robert Sher is founding principal of CEO to CEO, a consulting firm of former chief executives that accelerates the performance of midsized companies by improving their leadership infrastructure. Based in San Ramon, Calif., CEO to CEO has worked with the executive teams at more than 80 companies across the U.S., including skincare products seller Rodan + Fields, mobile phone accessories retailer Cellairis, law firm Hanson Bridgett, and cloud services provider GoGrid.
A frequent speaker on the successful leadership traits and skills of CEOs of midsized companies, Robert has been published in the Harvard Business Review, Forbes, CFO, and other leading publications. He is a regular columnist on Forbes.com and CFO.com, and published a multipart series on HBR.org. He published his first book in 2007, The Feel of the Deal: How I Built a Company through Acquisitions (1toPonder). MIGHTY MIDSIZED COMPANIES: How Leaders Overcome 7 Silent Growth Killers is his second book.
Prior to launching CEO to CEO in 2007, Robert was chief executive and co-founder of Bentley Publishing Group from 1984 to 2006. He steered the firm to become a leading player in its industry (decorative art publishing). Early in the business, he and his partners identified a gap in the fast-growing market for framed artwork: high-quality yet affordable prints perfect for the decorative market. Sher and his partners bootstrapped the business, but key successes breathed new life and cash flow into the business. He led the acquisitions of four competitors between 1999 and 2004 and left Bentley two years later. The firm merged with Global Arts in 2011 to form Bentley Global Art Group. Robert is involved in two Northern California associations for midsized businesses. He has been a director of the Alliance of Chief Executives since 2007 and president and board member of the Association for Corporate Growth San Francisco.
About MIGHTY MIDSIZED COMPANIES: How Leaders Overcome 7 Silent Growth Killers
Midsized companies are often overlooked by Wall Street and mainstream media outlets, though they are an integral part of national economics. Thus it’s important for national economic success to have a thriving midsized company sector. But that is not easy to do, largely because the factors that throttle growth of midsized companies can be quite different than those of their smaller and larger business brethren. Some of these factors are well known, but others can creep up on management teams and go almost unnoticed until it’s too late.
Drawing upon his own experience and interviews with more than 99 companies, author Robert Sher runs through seven “silent growth killers” that plague midsized companies which, if not addressed, eventually cripple growth. Mighty Midsized Companies offers clear, tangible, actionable advice about dealing with these killers and growing despite them.
