More Than Coaching: How the right advisor can help untangle the human dynamics that derail portco value creation
While executive coaches and advisors often provide counsel to portfolio company management, not all can truly unlock value in the complex world of private equity.
Private equity (PE) firms invest in companies across a multitude of sectors, so the consultants and advisors they engage with must deeply understand a wide range of industries. It also means they must acknowledge the unique contextual realities organizations face when taking on institutional capital - many for the first time.
While executive coaches and advisors often provide counsel to portfolio company (portco) leaders, not all are well-versed in the complex world of private capital. What’s more, few PE firms or portco leaders can, at least initially, differentiate between merely adequate and excellent, strategic, value-creating advice and coaching.
In this paper, we highlight the unique human capital needs and opportunities facing PE investors and their investments. We will focus on how coaching and advising in the private equity context is quite different, largely because of people-related challenges that often go unnoticed or unaddressed – and how the top PE firms identify and leverage outside counsel to accelerate growth and maximize enterprise value across their portfolio.