With growth, market pressures increase, and strategic decisions come with higher stakes. When a company’s revenues reach $10 million and above, a CEO often feels his attention is being pulled inside the company just when he most needs to be focusing on what’s happening in the market. “You have to understand where you are in your industry and know you have everything handled before you step up to the next level,” McKinney says.

For architect Steve Smith of the Lawrence Group in St. Louis, that point came about six years into his practice. Specializing in designing and building radio stations, Smith knew he needed to respond to the consolidation of the radio industry he was witnessing. Yet he wanted to think in a different way from the vast majority of his competitors, who viewed architecture as a profession, not a business. “Most architects think about designing a building,” he says. “We decided that we’re about designing an architectural business, and then finding people who design the buildings–which, in our case, are mostly radio station buildings.” This change of mindset, combined with the rise of the Internet, enabled Smith to create a business model that includes a centrally managed (and thus more efficient) network of architectural practices across the country. So far the Lawrence Group has expanded to five cities, increasing from 20 people to 125 and from $1.5 million to $16 million in revenues since 1996. Smith firmly believes that as many as 30 locations are possible.

To achieve their ambitious goals, the wisest CEOs habitually re-examine their businesses. “I don’t have to manage the numbers anymore because I have a structure doing that for me,” says Bolanos. “The potential now seems endless. The key strategic question now when I think about how to grow the company is, Who do I need to be, and what do I have to do to get there?”

Alan Rudy of Express-Med also backed away from the day-to-day, giving many of his oversight functions to a newly hired president. Thanks to the management structures he has put in place, along with the measurements and meetings that keep it all humming, he’s free to work on new projects and acquisitions. In just the last year, Express-Med has made ten acquisitions, launched new partnerships, and begun the process of raising capital. Now the company is back on the 50%-plus annual growth path. And Rudy is creating the kind of gazelle that is generating all types of dividends for him, including fun.

“When I am stuck focusing solely inside the company, I cannot move it ahead,” says Rudy, voicing the struggle of many gazelle builders. “I am much more the CEO than before.”

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