Orlando Bravo

So we talk to management very openly during the process.

Even before we won the deal, even if they're not gonna like us, it's better and we say, hey, can we put together a plan where you can make the right investment decisions, but can you cut 15% of the cost of the company?

At closing, the deal in private equity, talk about the change agent, if you don't do that at closing in private equity, why are you gonna shock the employees afterwards?

Years two, three, four.

The deal, since everybody's thinking there's a new owner that's gonna provide change, gives you the opportunity for immediate change.

Now, as my mentor, Marcel Bernard, used to say, he was the greatest operator I've ever met.

35 years at Motorola, running different divisions.

That was an exceptional school of management.

No matter how profitable you are, you can always cut 10%.

no matter how unprofitable you are, it's difficult to cut more than 20%.

Because you have to change the way people make decisions, the way management interacts, et cetera.

History tells you a lot of that.

So you're trying to identify, not everybody's good at everything.

And it starts with a leader.

If the leader is good, everything is good.

If the leader is not good, nothing is good.

You don't want to work around them to deal with sales and product and stuff because nothing is going on now.

What does a good leader mean, right?

There's so many judgments that come in.

Is the company hitting bookings?