Six months to build a business that could run without him.
Alex Mosnier built Floating Solutions, a specialist maritime engineering firm in Perth, from scratch in 2017. By year five he had done many things right: ISO 9001 certification two years in, a formal strategic plan, and a genuinely strong culture. He also knew the business was structurally dependent on him. People still came to him for the key decisions.
Then he and his wife made a call most owners would defer for years. They would load up a caravan and take the family around Australia, leaving in June 2023. The departure date turned an abstract aspiration into a hard six-month deadline to build a leadership team that could run the business without its founder at the helm.
Ever since I started the company, I'd always wanted to build something that could run without me. But there's a big gap between where I wanted to get to and how the hell do we even do it.
Alex Mosnier, Founder, Floating Solutions
Working closely with his Adapt Coach, Alex focused on two things. First, the cadence and structure of a functioning leadership team: regular meetings, clear agendas, defined accountability, none of which had been formalised before. Second, learning to operate as a director rather than an operator. The Lumia platform gave the whole effort a home, with the organisation's structure, teams, and key roles mapped out where everyone could see them.
In June 2023 the family drove out of Perth and travelled 28,000 kilometres over seven months. Back home, Floating Solutions kept running on its own momentum. One management meeting a month, a handful of phone calls, and the business did more than survive. The dependency that had run through every decision was gone, and Alex came home to a stronger business.
I had a management meeting once a month. And other than that, not much. A couple of phone calls. That was it.
Alex Mosnier, Founder, Floating Solutions