Are you a “Transaction Catalyst”?
A “catalyst” enables change at a faster rate, without the catalyst being changed by the consequences.
Is completing your goal valued above the potential side effects of success?
(Foreshadowing – remember those last few words; they become important later in the article when we discuss what is happening
in Washington!).
An acquisitions director is challenged to grow the company, and the task of managing the property is left to others. (That relationship
has been analogized to having sex and leaving raising the baby to someone else!)
A business broker helps organize the story and numbers, seeks out potential buyers, and guides the transaction through a rollercoaster of
issues to an ultimate close. The business broker does not run the business.
An investment banker knows financial markets, directs company analysis and packaging of the offering, and manages the equity raise.
The investment banker is not an officer of the company being sold.
A registered representative, of a securities broker dealer, finds a prospect, understands their investment needs, and builds for the client
an appropriate portfolio. They do not pay tuition for the children of their clients.
All serve as a “transaction catalyst” – they analyze the situation, develop and then implement a solution. They leave the operations post
transaction to others.
If you see reflected in yourself some “transaction catalyst” attributes, then you may have a unique understanding of what appears to be
happening in Washington.
Of those voting in 2024, a majority endorsed a mandate to “drain the swamp” and “reduce the size of the federal government” and do so as
quickly as possible.
There was not much discussion of the aftermath!
How do business owners plan when all they read and hear is “change” and what we will have after change is uncertain?
Lean into times when their business / career was experiencing significant change. They may not have known with any certainty where they
would eventually end up, but they had pushed their boat away from the perceived safety of harbor and their journey began.
Remember what got you to the point where you have a boat that floats! Somehow, and some way, you figured out the system and have
something which works, and you are ready to accept the risk required to have it move forward.
You have already faced - and survived - the storm from the 2008 recession and the Covid years. There was no road map for how to get
through either. Yet somehow you pushed through it and came out as a survivor.
4. Recognize that some of the change in Washington is long overdue, even if the pace and scope feel out of control.
5. Our political system is being stretched in ways we have not experienced in our lifetime. There are, though, practical limits on how far
things will go. The voters are incredibly fickle. They collectively expect gain with no pain.
6. The electorate was told that all their collective challenges would be fixed on day one. We are 100+ days into this administration,
and for many, the immediate miracle on reversing inflation and lower prices have not occurred (and won’t, no matter who is our leader).
There is an election in November 2026, and Republican members of the House will be balancing how to get votes versus the goals of
the current administration.
BOTTOM LINE
Lean into what you have learned in your years as a “transaction catalyst”. Remember how you survived a recession and Covid and go
bravely into the unchartered waters of the next 3.5 years.
We will be traveling right along with you and will share insights we gain in the journey.