Engaging an interim executive isn’t something new. However, the current business environment makes the prospect more appealing to many business owners.
The disparity between the number of top-level vacancies and highly effective talent to fill them is one motivating factor behind the increased willingness to seek temporary executives. Another is frustration with a sales force that consistently fails to meet performance goals.
NYT best-selling author Barry Conchie of Strengths-Based Leadership. Great Leaders, Teams and Why People Follow says that many interim execs could be fatally flawed in their judgment of the client’s management team. View this webinar to make sure you don’t fall into this trap! Barry is expert at team diagnostics and is sought after by corporate boards around the world.
This webinar features a discussion with Harry Jansen Kraemer, former CEO of Baxter Healthcare and now partner at $18 billion private equity fund Madison Dearborn Partners.
Harry is author of “From Values to Action: The Four Principles of Values-Based Leadership” and is also professor of management at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, teaching on Leadership, Values and Ethics. Don’t miss this opportunity to sharpen you leadership game.
“Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?”
“That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” said the Cat.
“I don’t much care where –” said Alice.
“Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,” said the Cat.
“– so long as I get somewhere,” Alice added as an explanation.
“Oh, you’re sure to do that,” said the Cat, “if you only walk long enough.
(Excerpt from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll)
So many people ask the question that Alice asks: What road should I take? It seems like I hear this question every day. My answer is always the same: Where do you want to go? Granted, this is a tough question. It’s tough because, like Alice, it’s easier to think about survival in one’s current circumstances than it is to think about the ultimate destination.
For some interims the mentality is feast or famine – and that’s not a great position to be in. But it doesn’t have to be that way. In this member-exclusive webinar Robert Jordan, CEO of the Association of Interim Executives, shares five secrets for capturing more opportunities and positioning yourself for more work and less downtime. Learn how to become more powerful right now.
Defense manufacturers that head blindly into uncharted territories are asking for peril.
The nation’s shift to a peace-time economy is forcing many companies into a real battle for increased sales. Their defense conversion efforts may be a matter of new products, new markets, or both.
Some companies are finding new, peaceable applications for their military technology. Others remain committed to their product core. But all defense companies are in search of new markets.
Corporate directors are expected to participate in the strategic planning process. If you are a director of a company seeking to find new markets for defense products, you are not only expected to participate in the planning process; you may be needed to lead it.
View original article in In Business here.
A couple of months ago, I got an email from Benton Harbor, Mich. It reported on the local strife following the appointment of a super-powerful municipal administrator under a new Michigan law.
“Do you do this?” my correspondent asked. “Any comment?”
And I replied that the only person I would trust to comment was someone whom I had admired for many years but had never met.
Turnaround & Workouts magazine named your firm one of the top 12 outstanding turnaround management firms in the country, twice. How did you do that?
This award is usually given to firms based on their growth, we stood out with our case work. We are unique from the standpoint that we are very nimble and flexible and can respond quickly to a company’s needs. We think it’s far more important to build a team within the corporation, therefore build value, because unless we do that, once we leave, so do our resources.
Is that unique?
That is in contrast to the major consulting firms that want to put in 10, 20, or 50 people at their rates into a particular company. What we want to do is use the people that are within the company. We want to bring employees to the next level, hire a full permanent management team, and make sure that plans are in place so that the business can continue when we leave.
Whether you are an investor, serve on a board of directors, own or manage a company, you face business risks. All of the stakeholders accept additional risk when the company is heading for trouble. Balancing these risks can cause a predicament. By recognizing some early warning signs that indicate business trouble on the horizon, you can eliminate, overcome, or, at the very least, side step many of those risks.
Business trouble means different things to each of us at different times. The perception differs depending on the stakeholder, but the fear is always the same — loss of their investment (money, time, energy, good will, reputation). The anticipation of loss is unacceptable. No one likes to lose — anything.
Professionals guiding investors or looking to invest in underperforming companies themselves should be aware of what to look for and how to execute. The key to returns from investing in underperformers is building an enterprise with the sole purpose of selling it at maximum value – to concentrate on exit strategies from the start.
First, seek enterprises at a precipice, not those that have already fallen off the edge. Look for those with critical capital shortages and future potential, but avoid the pitfall of investing in an insolvent company. Acquire companies that can provide quality products at competitive prices but are severely undervalued due to ineffective management and/or lack of market direction and penetration.
Association Membership Application
First-year Change Agent members have access to the Interim Institute’s 4 hour audio program on the Fundamentals of Interim Management, and a one-hour strategy session to help jumpstart their interim career.
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