Hayes, whose father was a turnaroun

Hayes, whose father was a turnaround CEO, tells me that his team came to this stark conclusion in 2009. “It wasn’t that hard to see. Our clients were telling us we’d be out of business in 18 months if we didn’t add more value”. Hayes took the initiative and began to dramatically re-shape the company. The team realized that in order to add value, they needed a different staff profile and mix. They moved from 2:1 engineering to sales ratio to a 5:1 ratio today.


Driving change of this magnitude across an organization that is already successful is not easy. The imperative for change is not yet clear. As Hayes says, “My job as a CEO is to drive change three years ahead of when it’s obvious—because then it’s too late”.