In the world of publicly-held entities, good governance is often discussed as a balancing of issues, an avoidance of conflicts, and as giving credence to the interests of the providers of capital as well as to notions of “corporate citizenship.”
Great. But largely irrelevant to your situation.
Instead, try answering these four questions:
- Do you have a structure that creates and fosters a single unified business?
- Do you have a structure that, while giving shareholders or partners the right to vote (but not unanimity!) on “supreme” issues such as sale of the group, otherwise leaves decisions to a leader or to a small board?
- Do you have the ability to quickly get rid of disruptive members?
- Do you allow the group’s leaders to actually lead?
If the answer to any of those is “no,” then you’re aiding the competition.
It’s like you’re working for Coke but wearing Pepsi T-shirts to work.
Stop it. Start governing yourself, not destroying your ability to compete, your ability to succeed.
