When it comes to the managed IT services market, Continuum CEO Michael George has always looked at the market through a slightly different lens than his contemporaries.
Much of the MSP industry grew up in the SMB sector -- techies with potential business scalability blind spots. In stark contrast, Michael George and his enterprise-class business pedigree arrived at Continuum in 2011 to drive a risky company spin-off and overhaul.
Early in that journey, Continuum's engineers were busy rebuilding the aircraft in mid-flight -- overhauling the company's RMM (remote monitoring and management), NOC (network operations center) and help desk services, which had grown rusty under former ownership.
Fast forward to present day and the results have been startling. Continuum's revenues and headcount have grown roughly 400 percent in six years. I've been on-hand for the journey. But my observations don't fully explain the company's pivots, evolution and growth. For that, you need to climb inside Michael George's head -- or at least listen closely to his keynotes.
Michael's Maxims
For the content below, I'm shifting gears. It comes directly from Michael George. Read each entry, and you begin to more fully understand his management style, motivational techniques and business views.
Now, as promised, here are Michael's Maxims -- 16 key recommendations and business learnings that he described during the Continuum Navigate 2017 conference earlier this week in Las Vegas:
- If anything can go wrong - Fix It! (To hell with Murphy!)
- Relentless persistence most often beats out analysis.
- Multiple projects lead to multiple successes.
- Start at the top - then work your way up.
- Step in and occupy the space you’re looking to move into next.
- When forced to compromise - ask for more.
- If you can’t beat them, join them - then beat them.
- If it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing right now.
- When given a choice – Take Both!
- When in doubt: THINK!
- Patience is a virtue but persistence to the point of success is a blessing.
- The squeaky wheel gets replaced.
- “No” simply means begin again at one level higher.
- Bureaucracy is a challenge to be conquered with a righteous attitude, intolerance for stupidity, and a bulldozer when necessary.
- If you find a door locked, take the hinges off the other side.
- Sometimes going in the “out” door gets you to the front end of the line.
PS: I type fast, but not fast enough to capture all 16 of those points. Thanks to the Continuum team for sending me the complete list of maxims.
