Asked for the updated monthly three weeks ago. "Circling back." Asked about the covenant headroom. "Let me circle back." The man circles like a vulture that forgot what it was hunting. Meanwhile the board deck is due and I am the one explaining the variance I do not have.
"Circle back" is portfolio-company for "I haven't done it and I'm hoping you forget." Put a date on every ask in writing. Vultures hate calendars.
As the operator on the other side of this once: half the time the number genuinely isn't ready and "circling back" is less scary than the truth.
Buyouts, portfolios, and the LBO model that refuses to balance. Promote dreams and carry mythology welcome.
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