Characteristics
AGI’s objective is to partner with accomplished senior managers with the entrepreneurial drive and skills to acquire and build leading companies in the lower middle market universe. We have found that the most effective C-Suite Partners will have 15+ years of senior management experience, including P&L responsibility for a minimum of $25 million of revenue and a combination of the following characteristics:
- A reputation as a leader in their chosen field
- An accomplished track record of achieving outstanding operating and financial results
- Strong leadership and experience in integrating acquisitions thoroughly
- A deep understanding of a particular industry
- The ability to evaluate relevant and actionable targets
- An aptitude for identifying untapped, value-creation opportunities
- A demonstrated history of high professional and ethical standards
The skill, specialization, experience and functional expertise required to drive maximum value can vary widely depending on each unique situation; however, we have found that in every situation the most effective C-Suite Partners must also possess the followinggeneral attributes:
- Ingenuity and resourcefulness – efficiently accomplishing goals, adding resources or applying creative solutions as necessary
- Accountability – taking responsibility for problems and their solutions
- Ability to prioritize – knowing what to ignore and what matters, tackling the most important, high impact items first
AGI’s C-Suite Partners must engage with both the investment professionals at AGI as well as the management team members at our portfolio companies. The soft skills – a C-Suite Partner’s ability to lead organizational change and influence – are equally important, if not more important, than the hard skills. Without the ability to elicit support from others – specifically engaging the emotions and logic of others to communicate a persuasive vision and connect individuals to their organizations and to their leader – even the most perfectly matched hard skills for any given situation may be reduced to being completely ineffective.The best C-Suite Partners use their empathy to effectively navigate and synthesize the concerns of the firm and the portfolio company management team: they know when to act and equally important – when to listen.
