How Warm Is Your Pitch Anyway?

You don’t have to be a great singer like Ella Fitzgerald in order to relate to her iconic lyrics of “Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered”. Occasionally, though - we all may find ourselves equally dumbfounded to see how much such words still apply to a twisted reality.

How else can you explain the arrogance of not seeing even a simple THANK YOU note from a CEO of a struggling enterprise - right after you approached him/her via an email or a phone call - and proposed a viable solution to get them out of their predicament?

A similar situation exists in a world of VC/CVC and Private Equity funds. Most of the Partners and Managing Directors (MDs) won't return your call, or an email - and will not look at your pitch without a warm introduction from a ... “mutual acquaintance”.

For years their presumption was that if the entrepreneurs aren’t clever enough to figure out how to be introduced to the fund via a third party, then surely, they don't have what it takes to be successful in the “real world”. 

Well, perhaps it was all true 20 years ago - especially, with respect to a cold call. But let’s remember: when a warm call is nowadays made, it usually follows prolonged research on CEO’s challenges. It proactively identifies the pain points and explains a good fit.

Based on such caller’s knowledge and experience, and the AI tools utilized in such research - the CEO often strongly fits the profile of a successful customer. Does it matter? Not really. Chances are that your call will be completely ignored and that all the effort that went into your research will be utterly disregarded with a single press on the DELETE button ...

I wrote about such disturbing issues in my previous post: The Wisdom Of Intelligent Advice – And How To Turn Gatekeepers Into CEO’s Greatest Asset

In it, I emphasized that with the advent of Artificial Intelligence (AI), convolutional neural networks can be easily built for fast processing of emails and voicemail messages. AI can significantly enhance the lives of both: CEO’s Executive Assistant (EA) and their Strategic Adviser.

With Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Keyword Spotting – neural nets can quickly extract the relevant information and guide the individual in charge, toward the relevant spot for a final review.

But here is the rub: a good CEO or MD should never be overwhelmed. Such leaders must have learned years ago how to delegate. So, instead of IGNORING good advice or a good pitch - the progressive CEO could rely on a competent staff member and a rudimentary AI technology - to separate a cold call from the warm one ...

However, hiding behind the dismissive policy of “non-referrals” brings up a much bigger problem. Perhaps some of the "Einsteins" occupying the MD chairs do not realize that the pitches lending on their desks are coming from a much smaller gene pool. How much smaller? I will let the visual below drive such a point ... 

So, don’t be surprised that we’re also witnessing how the average tenures of S&P CEOs, Private Equity CEOs and any other types of CEOs - are getting shorter all the time. After all, if such candidates are being selected from a talent-pool lacking diversity and inclusion for women, black workers and other minorities - the results are quite ... PREDICTABLE. As Arianne Cohen recently wrote in Fast Company's article:

·      “Gender parity continues to be a joke in corporate leadership: The number of female CEOs of S&P 500 companies declined to 22 last year”

·      “This finding is even more troublesome when read in conjunction with the recent academic research indicating that activist investors are more likely to target female CEOs because of the gender stereotypes that still influence investment managers”

·      “The driving problem is that boards are not hiring women leaders of any age. The last banner year for women CEO hires was 2011, when 10 female CEOs were hired. How many S&P 500 female CEOs were hired last year? One. Just one, out of 59 new CEO hires”

The result? Your warm pitches, the lack of gender equality and diversity, and the shrinking pool of competent CEOs - all point to the same headwinds: a severe shortage of C-level competencies is the biggest barrier to the revival of corporate excellence!

On such note, I would like to tell you a true story that happened to me exactly one year ago. After publishing my post: Is Jeff Bezos Darth Vader of Retail Industry? I was contacted by one of the largest techno-gear retailers and asked about joining their Board of Directors.

As it happened, the above retailer operates as a co-op and one must become a member in order to shop there. Luckily, I was a member and could submit my candidacy - or so I thought ...

The next question surprised me a bit as I was asked if I made a purchase at the co-op in the last 2 years. Since I actually like the store - putting the checkmark beside such a question was not much of a stretch, either.

But wait, this wasn’t the end of it. I was also informed that every BOD candidacy must be supported by the recommendations from ... at least two additional co-op members.

So, this is where I lost it and told the interviewer EXACTLY what I thought about their myopic recruitment strategy. And since I didn’t want to sound crass, I chose to pronounce the world’s famous “WTF” acronym ... in German.

Now, time will tell how much this company is shooting itself in the foot. But twisting itself into a pretzel in order not to DIVERSIFY its BOD? And all this pre-meditated effort and energy spent on deflating the candidacy balloon? Please ...

Frankly, I don’t really care how much some CEOs would embrace the Machiavellian gospel. All I did was to block the co-op’s phone number in order not to hear from them ever again.

Next time, if you don’t hear back - assume the following: you’re either dealing with an incompetent narcissist, or with the mediocre organizational structure. And I’m not even sure which one is worst. My advice: move on ...

After all, there is no excuse for ignoring a warm call or an email. CEOs and/or MDs that are still doing so, are negatively impacting their company’s brand and the ability to succeed.

So, to all such self-absorbed CEOs in distress that are still waiting for Godot - I would like to offer simple advice: an excellent pitch may still reach you via a referral, but its gene pool is not too impressive. Learn how to use AI to separate the wheat from the chaff, instead - and the world is your oyster!

And I often remind negligent CEOs a great JFK’s quote: “Success has many fathers; failure is an orphan”. Granted, being an orphan is tough enough. But when such a synonym applies to a CEO under shareholders’ pressure - it often gets plain ugly. Especially, when a going gets tough and the neglect of fiduciary duty is claimed. In most cases, it happens when a solid recommendation was made but not acted upon. Congratulations! You just offered to your detractors a legal tool they’ve been waiting for ... 

Oleg Feldgajer is President & CEO of Canada Green ESCO Inc. Oleg is positioning the company to become a leader in financing AI-enhanced green energy projects and ventures. CGE’s mission is to guide DISRUPTIVE businesses in ENERGY & TRANSPORTATION toward profitable business models. Oleg is passionate about such a mission and firmly believes that without AI-based innovation, we will all prematurely choke on polluted air and dirty water. CGE delivers 100% financing (levered and unlevered) to its clients - and utilizes large equity pools, and non-recourse debt. Oleg offers creative, fresh ideas to open-minded businesses - that embrace both: logic AND opportunistic intuition. CGE stands against mediocrity & its modus operandi is quite simple: If CGE is not invited to join your BOD or Advisory Board – we failed!