In 2016, I went to see the doctor about a headache I could not shake. After a CT scan, I was in the car on my way home when the doctor called and told me to go to the nearest ER. I did, and within two days I was being wheeled into surgery for a two-inch tumor on my brain stem. The subsequent six weeks included an infection and more surgery. The next six months involved rigorous physical therapy three days a week to recover my mobility.
This diagnosis and treatment plan is pretty life-altering for anyone. Getting the diagnosis as the CEO of a small company can mean everyone in your employment not only empathizes with you but wrestles with their own apprehension over their future, too. Having been through it and survived, I have a few thoughts to share about emergency leave planning.
In Case of Emergency Break Glass
I had no contingency plan in place, and there was no time to plan one on a gurney, yet it’s a situation that can happen to any small business owner by virtue of illness or injury.
In my case, my wife Kris and my principal consultant Joey D’Antoni took charge. Kris handled payroll, setting up insurance for a new employee, and all business administration, all while caring for me. Joey handled clients, conferences, and contracts. He took most of my workload and speaking engagements while delegating the rest to consultants on staff. We had multiple obligations to meet.
In the first two months I was gone, Joey’s efforts required flying 30,000 miles. He nevertheless architected a database for a non-profit to communicate with health facilities in 17 African countries, consolidated and migrated 50 TB of data for our company’s oldest client, and trained IT staff at Harvard University.
They were both superheroes, and I need to interrupt my story for a moment to say there are no words for how grateful I am to both of them.
According to Warren Buffet, “Someone’s sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.”
Good plans are everything.
I’m fine now; the tumor thankfully was not cancerous. Had I known what was going to happen, there are several things I would have done differently.
- I would have left a trail of breadcrumbs regarding my consulting, so Joey wasn’t scrambling.
- I would have hired someone to do sales, so our funnel was steady.
- I would have taught my wife how to do payroll.
- Speaking engagements would always have a back-up plan.
If you run a small business and have not established a contingency plan for emergency leave, there is no time like today. Ensure there is documented backup, training, and delegation of immediate needs: bills, payroll, insurance, invoicing, and a record of ongoing projects.
Cash flow is often a major consideration. Make sure someone else in your organization has a relationship with the bank. Make sure they can access a line of credit and know where files, backups, and passwords are kept. Keep a working list of freelancers if you ever need to suddenly fill gaps. Finally, communicating is essential. While I was personally comfortable with transparency, not everyone is. If you are uncertain, hire a PR representative to guide you.
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Denny Cherry is a Gold Platform Microsoft MVP as well as the principal and founder of award-winning Microsoft partner Denny Cherry and Associates Consulting. DCAC assists companies with achieving Azure, SQL, and big data goals while finding ways to save on costs. With clients from Fortune 50 corporations to small business, the commitment to each is the same: to provide a deft, high-speed IT environment.
