DIVE BLOG

Insights from the world of private equity, strategic consulting, and business intelligence.

How Pandemic-Era Managers Can Level Up By Using Collaboration Tools

  Effective managers are capable of articulating their company’s values and a clear set of concrete goals, while also maintaining a commitment to diversity and open communication. These principles will help companies move from a rigidly hierarchical dynamic in which workers feel disconnected from their jobs to one in which they feel like stakeholders and partners […]

Private and Public Companies

REDIRECTED Part Two: How To Avoid Hiring the Wrong Person When You are Growing Fast

Last week, I wrote about the fact that when you’re poised for growth and moving fast, putting the right people in place is just as important as developing a business strategy. However, you’d be surprised how many leaders underestimate the importance of finding the right fit. In addition the first common mistake I see— treating talent acquisition as tactical […]

Private and Public Companies
Human Capital
Value Creation

REDIRECTED Part One: How To Avoid Hiring the Wrong Person When You are Growing Fast

When you’re poised for growth and moving fast, putting the right people in place is just as important as developing a business strategy. But hiring the wrong person or third-party resource can be more detrimental than leaving the seat open. HR agencies estimate the cost of a bad hire can range from 40% of salary for entry level […]

Private and Public Companies
Human Capital
Value Creation

How We Did It: Interim CFO Case Study

Leveraging our founder’s 20 years in private equity, we have extensive frameworks for assessing PE-grade interim CFOs. So, when a private equity firm purchased multiple I.T. managed services provider companies with the intention of integrating them into one streamlined platform, they turned to us for their immediate need: finding the perfect fit, interim CFO. Crucially, the […]

Private and Public Companies
Human Capital
Value Creation

BluWave Insights: How the Agile Workforce is Impacting the Economy

Many hiring managers report that they face a talent shortage, which is why the agile workforce – independent professionals hired on a project-by-project basis – is only going to become more critical in the coming years. In my first article for Toolbox HR, a new platform for executives to learn about everything from cybersecurity trends to […]

Private and Public Companies
Human Capital

How We Did It: Executive Search Case Study

Finding specialized executive search firms is an area PE funds often seek our assistance, because instead of spending countless hours trying to find the right fit we can quickly match the funds with a series of vetted candidates. So, when our PE fund client acquired a founder-owned business that provides services to the niche power […]

Private and Public Companies
Human Capital
Value Creation

How to find and leverage expertise

The COVID-19 pandemic won’t last forever, and companies need to be thinking about how to best position themselves to not only maintain their operations, but also seize upon opportunities and prepare for an uncertain future. This means they’ll have to be agile, getting the right people with the right skills at the right time.   Our […]

Private and Public Companies

OODA Loop Offers a Solid Framework for Agile, Fast-Moving Companies

When I left my partner position at a PE fund to start BluWave, I sought an operating framework to help us build the company in an agile and customer-centric way. I embraced a model conceived by Air Force Colonel John Boyd called the OODA Loop (Observe, Orient, Decide, Act). This framework has been extremely helpful as we’ve grown to serving more than 350 PE funds in a short period […]

Private and Public Companies

Research Finds PE-backed Companies More Resilient Than Others During Economic Contractions

Although states and businesses are beginning to reopen amid progress in the fight against COVID-19, the economic fallout has been devastating. Over the past nine weeks, almost 40 million Americans have filed for unemployment while the unemployment rate reached almost 15 percent in April – a number that has steadily increased since then. The private […]

Private and Public Companies

How Companies Can Leverage Interim Leadership for a World in Flux

A rapid transformation of the global workforce has been taking place, fueled by digital transformation, specialization, and an increasingly on-demand labor pool. This transformation will only accelerate in light of the Coronavirus pandemic. Your company can’t afford to be paralyzed. In fact, when the world starts rotating again, now more than ever you and global […]

Private and Public Companies
Human Capital
Value Creation

How the alternative workforce fits into the future

A few weeks ago, before the world seemingly imploded with the Nashville tornado and news that the coronavirus was on the move and spreading fast, BluWave was tapped for an Inc. Magazine article about how the “alternative workforce” fits into the future of work.

In retrospect, and without knowing it at the time, the insights we gave couldn’t be more true—particularly now that millions of companies have been upended and will rely on fast-moving, highly-skilled experts to help them rebuild and steer their ships in the right direction.

Private and Public Companies

8 Tips for Weathering the Storm

This has to be the strangest St. Patrick’s Day on record.  To me, the business world feels a lot like the fog during the few weeks after 9/11 and when the bank meltdowns reached a fever pitch in 2008.  Just like then, I’m quite sure that calm will prevail and that “this too shall pass.” 

We’ve been getting all sorts of calls the last two weeks from fellow PE fund and portco clients to help understand how they can best get ahead during uncertain times.  If nothing else, it feels good having contingency plans in process versus waiting to see what fate has in store. 

Private and Public Companies

MORE RESOURCES

Podcasts
Newsroom
Case Studies
Events

READY TO START A PROJECT? TELL US MORE