The Danger of Profitability: It Masks Deeper Problems

From the outside, Cogent Entertainment Marketing looked like a success. On the inside, major leadership problems were wreaking havoc on the company.

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By Jason Feifer

Cogent

Introducing our new podcast, Problem Solvers with Jason Feifer, which features business owners and CEOs who went through a crippling business problem and came out the other side happy, wealthy, and growing. Feifer, Entrepreneur's editor in chief, spotlights these stories so other business can avoid the same hardships. Listen below or click here to read more shownotes.

From the outside, Cogent Entertainment Marketing looked like a success: It got early into the influencer marketing game, quickly signing big clients and making good money. And because profits were high, founder Mark Zablow was afraid to make any changes -- even as major leadership problems in his company began wreaking havoc.

In this episode of Problem Solvers, we explore how Zablow inally fixed his culture (while still making a profit).

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Want to hear more great stories from entrepreneurs, founders, and creative thinkers? Check out the Proposify Biz Chat, hosted by Kyle Racki, co-founder and CEO of Proposify, the business proposal software platform that helps you close more deals, faster. Each week on the Proposify Biz Chat, Kyle interviews other business adventurers about how they're switching things up, figuring things out, and making their businesses grow. You'll learn about sales, marketing, growth, operations, entrepreneurship, innovation, and technology and you'll get to know the people making things happen.

Jason Feifer

Entrepreneur Staff

Editor in Chief

Jason Feifer is the editor in chief of Entrepreneur magazine and host of the podcast Problem Solvers. Outside of Entrepreneur, he is the author of the book Build For Tomorrow, which helps readers find new opportunities in times of change, as the host of the podcast Help Wanted, where he and cohost Nicole Lapin solve listeners' work problems. He also writes a newsletter called One Thing Better, which each week gives you one better way to build a career or company you love.

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