There is so much written about marketing, sales, cash flow, culture and finance. However, a few work experiences over the past few years have shown me that even if you get everything else right, you will fail (Or not reach your potential) if you do not understand the tempo your business requires in order for it to excel in the industry you are in.

Allow me to explain by using two recent client case studies…

For the past 18 months, I have been turning around a real estate development and construction company. Its culture was about moving super fast in an attempt to model itself after high-growth tech startups. Hyperfast decisions and pushing for everything to go move faster and faster.

This is a business that is all about buying property at the lowest price to maximize long-term financial returns. Each project goes through an arduous approval process with the city government. After approvals, tedious deal documents with investors have to get done. Finally, it takes 18 months or more to build and fill the properties with happy tenants. From start to finish, it could take 4 years to move from finding a project to it coming to fruition.

Negotiations to secure the lowest purchase price reward patience. Dealing with any government entity requires superhuman levels of patience. The complexities of construction will test the most patient among us.

In short, this industry punishes speed… with a vengeance.

While I made many strategic and operational changes in the company, the biggest change I have instilled is simply patience. Creating an environment and expense structure that allowed the business to play the long game. Slowly, it is paying off. New deals where we held the line on price are slowly coming back to us. Having a cost structure that afforded the time to work with government bureaucracy has been a game-changer.

(It is important to note that patience does not come easily for me. I spent the first half of my career in a business where hours mattered. I am also a New Yorker, so it is hard for me to even have patience when I am waiting for a red light to change to green. But my internal clock will not change the tempo a business demands. More on this in a bit).

A few years ago, I was working with a completely different type of business. Here, the founders were some of the most patient and deliberate people I have ever met. New initiatives would marinate for months and years. Critical decisions took months to make. The problem was that this industry rewarded speed.

Their competitors were moving at ten times their pace and were beating them to deals, launching new products and gaining market share while my client was still contemplating the pros and cons of every single decision.

So, my mantra for this business, the exact opposite of real estate, was simply: “Pick up the pace.”

Decisions had to be made during meetings or by the end of that day. New initiatives had to be launched in weeks and months.

There is a big wrinkle that explains why the tempo of a business does not match its industry. The business owner or CEO has their own innate tempo. When that internal pace does not match the tempo the business needs, the disconnect shows up in the bottom line.

Figuring out how to move fast when slow is more comfortable, and vice versa, is not easy. But awareness around the tempo that your business must have helps to shine a light on the personal and leadership work to be done.

Every industry has a different pace and tempo. You need to make sure you not only understand what it is but also find ways to make it the culture of your company. Even if it does not match your internal metronome.

Over the years, so many of my client’s businesses are a reflection of their personalities instead of what would best serve their business and the growth they are looking for.

For my impatient clients, making their business a patient one can be a very difficult change. But the evidence of their lack of patience leaves a history of losses, missed deals and opportunities that can be measured in the cash account. The same is true for the patient entrepreneur in an industry that punishes patience.

Which type of business do you have? One that rewards patience or one that punishes it?

Pause and give some thought to the tempo your business had when it won the most. Were you the fastest or the most patient?

Is your personality trait (or even the pressure you feel to grow the business faster) working against the tempo that will allow your business to actually grow?

Is your extreme patience allowing your competitors to move faster and win more while you are taking your sweet time?

Often, just the awareness of the disconnect between the pace that makes you most comfortable and the one your business needs is enough to push you to move a bit faster or to slow you down a bit more. Changing your pace takes time but I assure you that the transformation of the business is worth the work.

What is the ideal tempo for your business? Patience or speed? Pick one and make it your mantra, culture, and the word you spread across your organization.

The choice will provide a blueprint of how your business needs to be structured to go faster than the competition or how it needs to be organized to take its sweet time.

So….

Extra credit:

Once you figure out your core tempo, go a little deeper and see if some aspects of your business require patience while others require speed. Your sales process may be very long and reward patience, but delivering your product or service to existing clients may reward speed and responsiveness.