The Authority Audit
The Authority Audit: where does the board's confidence actually stand?
Seven statements, three minutes, for CEOs of PE-backed businesses. Plus the Portfolio Read for chairs and PE partners. In my experience, a board forms its view over the first few months, then stops moving.
The Authority Audit
Seven statements. Answer them honestly, nobody sees this but you. Takes about three minutes.
How it scores
Rarely, sometimes or consistently. Each statement scores 0, 1 or 2, and your total lands in one of three bands with a short read on what it means.
Who sees your answers
Nobody. The audit runs in your browser. Nothing is sent unless you choose to leave your email for the brief.
For chairs and PE partners
The Portfolio Read: think of one CEO or C-suite leader in your portfolio. Eight statements about what you're seeing.
Why these statements
I use a version of this in the first session of every engagement. The act of completing it honestly is more valuable than most things you will do this week. Be honest. Not aspirationally honest. Actually honest.
The board has seen enough projections to know that complete certainty is almost never real. A CEO whose confidence tracks with reality becomes trusted. A CEO whose confidence is constant becomes doubted.
None of the statements is about the numbers. By the time it reaches the numbers, the pattern is already set. The work is to read the signal early, while it can still be changed. What the signals mean for PE-backed CEOs.
Recognise the pattern? Start with one confidential conversation.
One conversation. No pitch. We establish whether the pattern you are seeing is one I can help you change, and you decide from there.