The Center of Gravity in Value Creation: Where Real Change Actually Begins

1. Everyone Has a Theory of Value Creation—But Few Know Where It Starts

In private equity, value creation gets a lot of airtime.
Frameworks. Operating playbooks. PMO checklists. Scorecards.

But most of these efforts fail—not because they’re flawed, but because they start in the wrong place.

The real question isn’t what the value levers are.

It’s where the transformation actually begins.
What’s the center of gravity inside your OpCo?

And more importantly—do you even know?

2. The Mistake Everyone Makes

Ask board members where transformation starts:
They’ll say “with direction.”

Ask the PE deal team:
They’ll say “with the investment thesis.”

Ask the CEO:
They’ll say “with execution.”

Ask the front-line managers:
They’ll say “with resources.”

All of them are partially right.
None of them are the center.

Because in most PE-backed environments, the center of gravity—the true driver of momentum or stall—is somewhere in the middle.

It’s not a person.
It’s not a deck.
It’s not a tool.

It’s a convergence point of trust, clarity, energy, and permission.

3. What Is the Center of Gravity?

Think of the Center of Gravity (CoG) as the tipping point where strategic intent translates—or fails to translate—into sustained action.

If your CoG is:

• Too high (boardroom only): you get vision without traction.

• Too low (frontline-only): you get activity without direction.

• Too fragmented: you get reporting without results.

The ideal CoG is:

• Grounded in the business model

• Supported by leadership alignment

• Close enough to see friction, but far enough to influence systems

• Capable of translating pressure into progress

4. A Real-World Story: Schlumberger’s Engineers

Years ago, I worked at Schlumberger. Unofficially, we used to say:
“The engineer is king.”

That wasn't just pride—it was reality.

Engineers weren’t just executing the work—they controlled the flow of value:

• They tested the beta tools

• They signed off on field tickets

• They negotiated delays

• They understood what was breaking before finance did

No budget, boardroom, or dashboard could move forward without their buy-in.
They were the center of gravity.

And if leadership ignored that truth?
Initiatives died before launch.

5. What Happens When You Misread the Center

If you build your value creation plan around the wrong CoG, you’ll see:

• Great ideas that go nowhere

• CEO frustration from slow rollouts

• Middle manager resistance masked as confusion

• Teams quietly disengaging despite visible OKRs

• Boardroom pressure escalating without movement on the ground

You’ll think the problem is execution.

But it’s not.

It’s mislocation.

6. How to Find Your Center of Gravity

Here are four questions every PE Operating Partner and CEO should ask:

1. Who do people wait for before taking action?
This isn’t about job title—it’s about permission and confidence.

2. Where does cross-functional communication break down most?
That’s usually where energy is leaking—and where the CoG is missing.

3. What department or layer can kill an initiative just by ignoring it?
That’s not resistance. That’s unrecognized authority.

4. Who has context across strategy, operations, and people—and actually uses it?
That’s your best candidate for CoG influence.

7. Final Thought: Want Real Change? Shift the Center—Don’t Just Add Weight

Adding more dashboards, more reports, more check-ins won’t fix a broken system.
You need to identify—and often relocate—the center of gravity in the business.

Because that’s where change really begins.

At VCII, we train Operating Partners, board members, and PE-backed leaders to map their organizations by gravitational pull, not just hierarchy.

The best PE firms don’t just lead from the top.
They lead from the center.

#PrivateEquity #ValueCreation #OperatingPartner #OrganizationalAlignment #ExecutionLeadership #PEPlaybooks #Transformation #VCIInstitute #MohamadChahine