Home
- Welcome!
  We're here for only one reason: to help you Build Your Business.
  
  Long ago, I chose the theme of the Exkalibur legend because I think pulling the sword from the stone is a perfect metaphor for what we're trying to do to help you … celebrating the King Arthur legend that allowed him to pull the sword from the stone through understanding rather than strength.
  
  In short, I believe that superior performance occurs at the intersection of Leadership, Strategy & Finance. While no subject is truly irrelevant to a business leader, these are critical to building a successful business.
  
  You'll find that most of our 500+ articles and upcoming videos and podcasts will be published on Sword Tips, our blog dedicated to all things related to Building Your Business.
  
  So, look around, explore our site and feel free to reach out to me directly, either here or on our expanded Facebook page Building a Business, where we’re responding to messages and posting every day.
  
  Thanks for stopping by. If we aren’t already, I hope we have a chance to get acquainted somewhere down the road.
Leadership
- Executive Coaching
  More than ever, I'm focusing my energies on Executive Coaching and working with business owners and senior executives to help them improve their performance and productivity.
  
  Learn why some of the greatest performers have a coach and why it's helped them accelerate their success.
  
  I will be glad to sit down with you – anytime – to listen to what's on your mind. We'll think about it together and to see if we can find some solutions.
- Leadership
  Thanks for checking out our Leadership section. We've pulled together a variety of Leadership articles to get you started, but feel free to poke around at your leisure.
  
  You might consider, for example, my new E-book, The Cornerstones of L.E.A.D.E.R.S.H.I.P., which discusses the ten foundation stones of effective leadership.
  
  Another E-book, R.E.S.P.E.C.T. - How to Get It by Earning It describes 7 remarkably easy ways to help you build a culture of respect in your organization.
  
  I have done a lot of public speaking about leadership. You might want to consider the 7 Key Leadership Indicators presentation, which is a brief summary of the most important characteristics of successful businesses I've uncovered during my 35+ year career. Practical Strategies for Turbulent Times, also offers 5 essential tips for managing resources during a struggling economy. When you visit the Strategy section, you'll also find a follow up presentation to help you prepare an Action Plan.
  
  There's also a national webinar, Are the Right Things Getting Done: Promoting Accountability in the Workplace, complete with a podcast and slides that may be helpful.
- Exkalibur Leadership Forum
  If you're interested in working closely with a group of proven business leaders in the SF North Bay, you can learn more about the Exkalibur Leadership Forum here, including a short video in which some of the members describe their experiences.
  
  You will also find several summaries to help you understand some of the topics we discuss at our regular meetings, including best practices, strategy and what makes a company great, or communication and financial literacy, as well as incentive plans and building leadership teams.
Strategy
- Action Planning Introduction – Podcasts
  To help you get started, we've also prepared a brief introductory series of 5 Action Planning Podcasts to help you understand the important cornerstones of an Action Planning process. It's just the beginning of our plans to build a substantial Learning Library of valuable written material as well as videos and podcasts.
- Ownership Transition Planning
  Discussions related to business succession also frequently arise in our coaching sessions. We also work with a best-of-breed arsenal of deeply experienced specialists in the many disciplines that must be integrated in these conversations.
  
  I've also spoken extensively to a wide variety of groups and organizations on Exit Strategies and topics ranging from ownership transition plans for a family business to more straightforward exit strategies for other private companies.
- Action Planning
  While we continue to conduct strategic planning workshops, we also share our deep experience with strategy formulation and implementation during our coaching sessions with senior executives.
  
  I like to use the term “Strategery” (thanks, SNL) to poke a little fun at the stodgy term Strategic Planning. The term itself sounds like it requires either an Ivy League education or a GE auditorium to make it work. We want to make it more accessible because, at it’s heart, it’s really very simple. You can learn more about some of my speaking experiences along with references to relevant articles.
  
  Following our presentation, Practical Strategies for Turbulent Times, you will also find our follow up presentation, Planning for Success in Turbulent Times, which is focused on helping companies organize an Action Plan to take charge of the things they can control and not be distracted by the vagaries of the national economy.
  
  We've also worked with entire leadership teams to educate them about the power, and challenges, of a rigorous planning process.
Finance
- Financial Advisory Services
  You might also consider whether we can help you understand some of the concepts underlying Business Finance as your develop your capital strategy to fund your growth.
- Business Finance blog
  You don't have to be a finance professional to help you learn enough about Business Finance to communicate effectively with your staff, accountants and bankers.
  
  You might start by looking at the Special Section, Business Finance for Middle Market Companies, which we've set up to aggregate all of our articles, videos, podcasts and other materials related only to Business Finance. Don't worry about the definition of "middle market" because this material applies to everyone.
  
  You'll also find a complimentary E-book, Vanquish the Four Horsemen and Save Your Business, which describes the 4 critical moments when cash flow can bring a business to its knees.
  
  I have spoken extensively on various subjects related to Business Finance. We also created a half-day Cash Flow Workshop,It's Almost Midnight. Do You Know Where Your Cash Is?, to help non-finance executives understand and significantly improve the cash flow in their businesses. This workshop has been delivered to the general public as well as to the clients and prospects of several banks.
Speaking
- Action Planning – DEMYSTIFIED!
- Leadership Lessons
  I have done a lot of Public Speaking over the last 30 years on a wide variety of topics that will help you Build Your Business. Follow the link to learn more about my presentation style and the types of audiences I address.
  
  I have spoken on a wide variety of Leadership topics you will find here, including The Cornerstones of Leadership, Accountability: Are the Right Things Getting Done?, and Action Planning: DEMYSTIFIED.
- Business Finance
  I have also spoken extensively on Business Finance topics you will find here, including a half-day Cash Flow Workshop, It's Almost Midnight: Do you know where your cash is?, a 90 minute presentation at the Wine Industry Financial Symposium entitled, Financial Adrenaline: Practical Strategies to Improve Cash Flow and a variety of other general business conferences.
- Wine Industry
  I have spoken at various Wine Industry events, including the Wine Industry Financial Symposium. You'll find some of the details here.
- Ownership Transition
  Integrating shareholder objectives with business performance is critical to a successful exit strategy. I have discussed this topic with many organizations; you can see some of those examples on our Speaking page related to Ownership Transition page.
Publications
- Newspaper Column
  More than 100 of my 115+ newspaper columns have been published in the San Francisco Bay area NY Times affiliate.
- Sample Newsletters
  - Get More at Bats!
    Here is a simple example of the approach that should be the cornerstone of your sales strategy.
  - How to create a lifelong customer!
    Imagine how easy this would be and how effectively it would create the lifelong relationship we all seek.
  - Personal Productivity Tips
    If you work better with visual aids, you might try Mind Mapping. Here is an example of an Executive Dashboard that you can download to get started.
- E-Books | Building Your Business
  Exkalibur is a active developer of written, visual and spoken materials devoted to Building a Business and the issues that appear at the Intersection of Strategy, Finance and Leadership.
  
  We have published several books in our growing library. Two of them, The Cornerstones of L.E.A.D.E.R.S.H.I.P., and R.E.S.P.E.C.T. - How to Get It by Earning It, offer valuable insights about what it takes to be a great leader and how you can be sure you're on that path.
  
  The book, Vanquish the Four Horsemen and Save Your Business, discusses the four critical moments in the lifestyle of a business when business owners are most likely to face cash flow problems.
  
  Please note that ALL OF OUR PUBLICATIONS are now available on the Kindle from Amazon.
About Us
- Our Building a Business Mission
  Exkalibur was formed years ago to help small and middle market business owners and leaders build more successful businesses. Read more about our Building a Business mission and how we've organized our web site and our resources be the greatest help possible as you build your business.
- Lary R. Kirchenbauer
  You'll have access to more information about me than you probably want, but this is the place to start if you want to know a little about my background.
- Leadership Tips to Build your Business
  If you want to make sure you don't miss any of the tips and techniques to strengthen your business, be sure to sign up for our Sword Tips articles , which includes everything we publish.
- Testimonials
  You will find several testimonials here about our work with family and privately-held middle market businesses. You'll also find many other testimonials on our Facebook Testimonials page that include feedback from many of the workshops and presentations we have made.
- The Legend of Exkalibur
  Visit this page if you’re interested in learning even a little about the Legend of Exkalibur and King Arthur’s ability to pull the sword from the stone.
Contact
- Submitting Documents to Exkalibur
  In addition to contacting us directly or through various social media sources, you can also submit confidential documents to us using our secure portal.
- Social Media Channels
  There are a lot of ways you can reach us and we encourage you to contact us if we can be helpful as you build your business. There is a Contact Form here you can use for specific inquiries.
  
  We are very actively contributing to our Facebook Page, Building a Business. This is where you will find all of the quotes that we're known for, along with a variety of articles from the newsstands and the Internet where we're constantly on the prowl. You can also access the private messaging service there and we'll respond very quickly.
  
  You'll also find us on Twitter, although we are not as active there as we are on Facebook. You can also find me on LinkedIN.
  
  We will be devoting a lot of energy to expanding our Learning Library in the coming months. You'll find our podcasts on iTunes. We'll ultimately support more than one video library, but for now, you can find our business finance channel, Financial Adrenaline, on YouTube.

The Peter Principle … redux

By Lary Kirchenbauer | What do you think?

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Business Week carries a fresh look at The Peter Principle, the seminal work that coined the phrase about people being promoted to their “level of incompetence”.

Still a worthy concept for evaluating talent and making sure that your greatest salesman doesn’t become a big failure as a sales manager.

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Welcome to Exkalibur. I’m Lary Kirchenbauer, President of Exkalibur Advisors, Inc. Please take advantage of our resources to help you build your business ... and let me know what more we can do to serve you.

The Cornerstones of L.E.A.D.E.R.S.H.I.P.

Read my latest column from the NY Times affiliate, the North Bay Business Journal.

Selected Posts

Business Finance: Vol. 3 – The Reinvention of the Financial Statement

Congratulations to Mary’s Pizza Shack

Vol. 75: Don’t gamble with your balance sheet!

Questions you should never stop asking!

“Building a Business”: Vol. 35

The Philadelphia Plan

CEO Round Table – Q309 Update

Looking beneath the headlines … more danger?

Through the CEO’s eyes

Customers paying more slowly than usual? Yup!

Testimonial

Lary has been a tremendous asset to our company. His experience and knowledge provides our young company with the type of financial and business guidance needed to facilitate our continued growth. In addition to Lary's efforts in raising capital for our company, he has assisted Multimedia Live in both extensive business planning, as well as continual ongoing monthly financial and strategy analysis of our business. I have found this to be an invaluable service.

Ken Burke, CEO, Multimedia Live, Inc.

Read all »

The Peter Principle … redux