On this week’s Digital and Dirt Podcast, Lamar Advertising CEO Sean Reilly said this:  “A lot of people can handle adversity.  Success sometimes brings people down…Right now we’re at a moment of time when Lamar is really successful.  It’s not going to change my management style…”.

Reilly has a point.  It’s easier to make mistakes when you’ve been successful.  Warren Buffet has folksy way of saying this: “It’s only when the tide goes out you learn who’s been swimming naked.”

Don’t let success bring you down.  Recessions don’t cause financial distress and bankruptcy.  Poor financial decisions in the good times before a recession cause financial distress and bankruptcy.  It’s the overconfidence and over-optimism that cause you to overpay for an acquisition and over-leverage just before a downturn.

Don’t let success bring you down.  You make good money in out of home and think your Midas touch will carry over to real estate development.  Insider can think of several out of home execs who lost their money in real estate during the 2009 recession.

Don’t let success bring you down.  The 2009 recession didn’t cause iHeart’s bankruptcy.  It was $20 billion in debt incurred in connection with the Thomas Lee/Bain buyout in the good times of 2006.

Don’t let success bring you down.  You build two signs at a time and it works so you build four signs at a time and it works so you build 16 signs at a time and then it’s a mess.

Don’t let success bring you down.  Remember that the next time you bid on an acquisition or consider a super aggressive build schedule or a leveraged buyout.

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