CEO of Elevate Diamond Strategy Michelle Diamond leads a “growth strategy and execution advisory and interim executive firm.”
Michelle Diamond has over 25 years of experience in several fields, such as “strategy, general management, marketing, finance, go-to-market, audit, M&A, and operations.”
Before Elevate, Michelle Diamond has worked with over 50 organizations of varying stages. She has worked with startups, early/growth stage, small/middle market to Fortune 50 companies.
Among the large companies Michelle Diamond has worked with are CIGNA, Colgate-Palmolive, Elsevier, MetLife, NRG, Constellation Energy, DEKRA, and Daimler.
Michelle Diamond also worked at the accounting firm Ernst & Young, in the company’s Mergers & Acquisitions and Assurance and Business Advisory Services.
Likewise, Michelle Diamond also served as Manager of Strategy at Accenture. Then she moved to CIGNA, where she created and headed Competitive Intelligence for the company’s “$1B+ Group Insurance Division.”
Additionally, Michelle Diamond served in “financial roles at Colgate-Palmolive and Citibank.” She was also chosen for the Goldman Sachs and Proctor & Gamble camps.
Besides running Elevate, Michelle Diamond also hosts the radio show Accelerating Your Business. She is also the growth expert on other shows Executive Leaders Radio and The Marketing of Business.
Michelle Diamond also wrote the book “How to Grow & Expand Your Business in Times of Feast or Famine.”
Check out more interviews with growth executives here.
I think what makes my company stand out is that the recommendations and roadmaps provided are holistic. Michelle Diamond, Elevate Diamond Strategy
Jerome Knyszewski: What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?
Michelle Diamond: I think what makes my company stand out is that the recommendations and roadmaps provided are holistic.
Regardless of the engagement, I want to ensure that the company has a sound, comprehensive, and implementable growth strategy in place, that its plan is clear, and that all activities and initiatives flow from that strategy and plan.
I also focus on ensuring that a company’s business model is profitable.
Many consultants and advisors only focus on growing the top line, others focus only on process and operations, finance, etc. to increase the bottom line.
I help companies do both, in a way that is tailored to them and gives them the best competitive advantage.
A story I can share was when I worked with a $2M Software Company that was seeking to grow to $100M in five years.
Like many high growth software companies, they had a great product that could serve multiple industry verticals in both B2B and B2C.
They also had a hybrid model where they sold their software on a transaction and subscription basis, depending on the target customer segment.
As part of their expansion strategy, I was brought in primarily to help the Company create their financial plan and a roadmap on how to get them to $100M.
Market research conducted gave the Company a better understanding of the overall market opportunity.
However, I did not focus purely on market opportunity.
I challenged the assumptions on how much share the Company could reasonably capture, especially in the initial years, given their capabilities and what it would take for them to ramp up their organization to properly scale and handle their desired level of business to achieve their revenue goals.
In addition, I ensured that their model and projections accounted for competitive response (especially as they got larger), and provided scenario analyses based on both conservative and upside estimates.
Each scenario was profitable, and enabled the Company to have a solid plan to reach their goals.
The roadmap and plan also gave the Company insight into how to rank and prioritize the order of market entry for their top five industry verticals.
Prioritization was based on profitability, not just market opportunity. This is a pitfall many other companies make when only focused on market opportunity alone.
Jerome Knyszewski: Which tips would you recommend to your colleagues in your industry to help them to thrive and not “burn out”?
Michelle Diamond: To thrive in this industry and not burn out, you must be disciplined. Discipline in the form of focusing on providing great work for your clients, continuously doing business development, keeping up to date with innovations and trends, and ensuring you take time to take care of yourself mentally, physically, spiritually, and emotionally.
However, there is a balance. There were a couple of times over the course of my business when I was “burnt out”.
Both times were after long, intense client engagements that left me exhausted.
After I finished the initial and sometimes follow up engagements, I was asked to continue and do more.
However, I chose both times to say no, and regretted it, because some of those opportunities rather did not come around again or came back several years later.
Timing is especially important in a service- based business.
What I’ve learned is to have a better balance of ‘striking while the iron it hot’ and being creative in how to still take the time I need to take care of myself, instead of saying no to something that was doable.
Jerome Knyszewski: None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story?
Michelle Diamond: Steve Beezer. When I first started out in my career, I was a part of a finance and accounting rotational program at a large company.
I met Steve because he was the executive who oversaw my first department. He was very down to earth and funny, often playing practical jokes on people.
I related to him instantly because I like to laugh and joke a lot as well.
I have a tendency to learn things quickly. I figured out and mastered my role in my department in a few weeks and became bored.
I told him how I felt and after confirming with my supervisor that I was doing an excellent job, he put me on a challenging, special assignment, where I worked with executives on a high visibility project.
After that time, he became my both my mentor and champion.
He knew I always worked best when I was challenged, and rather supported or ensured I received those types of opportunities.
I remember a time when I wasn’t given the opportunity to work in the global/ international division.
I was told there was no opportunity available, but then found out that certain positions were being held for people who came from certain schools.
The undergraduate school I attended was not well known, so I did not qualify. However, Steve ensured I had an opportunity to compete and I ended up getting the role.
That 3+ year rotation in the company’s US and International divisions gave me a solid business foundation that was well beyond my years and put me at a competitive advantage above my peers.
Don Porter. When I was only 26 years old, I got the opportunity to oversee a $20M Business that was housed inside a Business Unit of a large Fortune 100 company.
Don was the Head of the Business Unit. When I first came in, we met briefly and talked about his family and other things.
He then told me that the Business was stagnant and that there were certain members of the Board and C-Suite of the Parent Company that wanted to get rid of it.
He also said the existing management team of the Business had made a recommendation to keep the Business ‘as-is’.
It was rejected, as the Board and C-Suite felt it was biased. On top of that, he told me that same management team would be reporting into me.
I listened and knew I could handle it.
Even though the existing management team were all a lot older, all male, and thought I was there to make them lose their jobs, I saw it as a challenge.
Prior to that, I worked at a consulting firm, and thought getting things done within a company would be a great opportunity, as I had not worked directly for a company for a few years.
However, the interesting thing was that I did not have to go into detail or provide Don with a pitch. I simply said, ok. Then Don, said ok. And that was it.
He believed in me. I was not thrown off by his response because I had worked with and been exposed to many high-level executives in my career.
I understood that most successful ones know how to operate with both intellect and instinct.
He gave me free reign, yet always let me know that if I needed him, he was there.
He showed me how to communicate to a Board in one page or less and pushed me on increasing my executive presence and confidence level.
I ended up streamlining and turning the business around, saving $2.5M in six months and repositioning it for future growth.
Others told me later on, that many people in the Parent organization did not believe that I could successfully handle that role.
That turned out to be my most challenging ‘people’ role to date.
However, I am grateful, because it better prepared me to handle other challenging ‘people’ dynamics going forward.
A “great” company has exponential revenue from diverse revenue streams, is consistently profitable, constantly innovating, is a leader in the marketplace, makes huge gains, and takes risks.
Jerome Knyszewski: Ok thank you for all that. Now let’s shift to the main focus of this interview. The title of this series is “How to take your company from good to great”. Let’s start with defining our terms. How would you define a “good” company, what does that look like? How would you define a “great” company, what does that look like?
Michelle Diamond: A “good” company has increasing top line revenue, is profitable, consistently does well, is relatively predictable, and makes good use of its resources.
A “great” company has exponential revenue from diverse revenue streams, is consistently profitable, constantly innovating, is a leader in the marketplace, makes huge gains, and takes risks.
Jerome Knyszewski: What would you advise to a business leader who initially went through years of successive growth, but has now reached a standstill. From your experience do you have any general advice about how to boost growth and “restart their engines”?
Michelle Diamond: When a company experiences stagnation, to boost and restart growth, a business leader should:
- Take an assessment and pinpoint the exact time or timeframe when the business became stagnant.
Then try to get an understanding of what caused the stagnation. - Check to see if there are opportunities in your target markets that you are not taking advantage of, if your market has changed and you have not, if your existing markets are stagnant or shrinking, or if the competitive landscape changed and your business is no longer competitive.
- Also, check to see if you have the right management team and organizational structure in place to take your business to the next level.
- After doing steps 1–3, determine if you need to shift into new markets, better compete in your existing ones, and/or revamp or refocus your organization to win and boost growth going forward.
Jerome Knyszewski: Generating new business, increasing your profits, or at least maintaining your financial stability can be challenging during good times, even more so during turbulent times. Can you share some of the strategies you use to keep forging ahead and not lose growth traction during a difficult economy?
Michelle Diamond: The strategies I recommend using include first doing an assessment to ensure your company is fundamentally sound.
Things that you can get away with not having updated or in place during good times, will not work during turbulent times or a difficult economy.
When was the last time you updated your strategy?
When was the last time you checked in or your customers to find out what they wanted, needed, or whether or not they were satisfied?
Are your costs and processes optimized? Use a difficult economic period to get these areas of your business in order.
Next, look at what markets or industries are thriving during a difficult economy.
For example, dollar stores and low-cost items might be more in demand, whereas higher end retailers may not.
Online may be thriving more than brick and mortar operations, so if you have a weak or nonexistent online presence, now is the time to create one.
There are always opportunities. It is just a matter of keeping your eyes and mind open to both see and capitalize on them.
Jerome Knyszewski: In your experience, which aspect of running a company tends to be most underestimated? Can you explain or give an example?
Michelle Diamond: Maintaining the right balance. Running a company requires a lot of time, motivation, focus, energy, and vision.
Depending on the size, it also requires strong people skills to deal with your Board, management team, and employees, as well as customers, vendors, and other stakeholders.
While it is important to hire well, you also to have to stay on top of what is going on in your company as at the end of the day, as a business leader, you are responsible for what takes place.
Also, ensuring you find time to take care of yourself and have a social life are also equally important to balance your emotional and physical health.
Jerome Knyszewski: Great customer service and great customer experience are essential to build a beloved brand and essential to be successful in general. In your experience what are a few of the most important things a business leader should know in order to create a Wow! Customer Experience?
Michelle Diamond:
- The first thing is to find out what customers want (realized/ unrealized needs). The best way to do that is to ask them!
You would be surprised how many companies simply do not ask their customers what they want or whether or not they are satisfied. - The next thing is to deliver what they want and need and overdeliver when possible.
We all have a wonderful feeling when we know we are taken care of and can get what we want as a customer, without a lot of effort. - The last thing is to surprise them with an experience that they could not have anticipated.
It may be large or small, but it is most important to make them have a great memory or feel valued.
Jerome Knyszewski: What are your thoughts about how a company should be engaged on Social Media? For example, the advisory firm EisnerAmper conducted 6 yearly surveys of United States corporate boards, and directors reported that one of their most pressing concerns was reputational risk as a result of social media. Do you share this concern? We’d love to hear your thoughts about this.
Michelle Diamond: A company should be engaged on Social Media in a way that is consistent with their brand and gets the viewpoints of multiple users (ideally diverse) to gain continual feedback that their engagement is not only appropriate, but not offensive.
Reputational risk online via social media must be managed.
Otherwise, it can be detrimental and costly for an organization from both a PR and financial perspective.
We are the greatest country in the world. We can do better. Michelle Diamond
Jerome Knyszewski: What are the most common mistakes you have seen CEOs & founders make when they start a business? What can be done to avoid those errors?
Michelle Diamond:
- Not having a clear strategy and plan in place
- Not hiring or aligning themselves with the right people
- Trying to do too much themselves
- Not knowing how to handle rapid growth (scaling)
- Not communicating well (Oftentimes CEOs & Founders have a lot of information and great ideas in their heads. It is a shift to focus on now communicating with others).
Jerome Knyszewski: Thank you for all of that. We are nearly done. You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
Michelle Diamond: I would outlaw homelessness.
It is a crime for anyone to be on the street.
If we can figure out where to put refugees and others who enter the country, we should be able to figure this out.
This is not only a moral and ethical Issue, but a sanitary and safety issue as well.
Whether an individual just needs an opportunity to work, has mental issues, substance abuse issues, or other issues, our country and our world is vast and rich enough to handle it.
This is also a business issue as well — Studies have shown that businesses will not have enough workers in the future.
This population is an untapped resource.
Any time we have even one unproductive citizen or individual, businesses lose money in the form of lost employees and customers, and our country as a whole loses out.
We are the greatest country in the world. We can do better.
Jerome Knyszewski: How can our readers further follow you online?
Michelle Diamond: They can go to the Elevate Diamond Strategy website or via LinkedIn.
Jerome Knyszewski: This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for the time you spent with this!
