May 20, 2013
Scott Philips

Connections: It’s All About Them

Scott Philips | CEO, CSO, COO, CMO, Turnaround

In this fast-paced culture where dollars often speak the loudest, it can be easy to get lost in the shuffle of jumping on the current of ‘busyness’ and not keeping the focus on the grass roots elements of business: people.

Relationships will always be the fundamental success of any prosperous business, whether small in operation or Fortune 500. If your focus is to keep your eye-on-the-proverbial prize of enhancing and developing relationships, you in turn will benefit your bottom line. So how does one make connections and master maintaining connections? Answer. Share your connections!

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May 19, 2013
Richard Lindenmuth

Weak Links and Problem Directors

Richard Lindenmuth | CEO, COO, CMO, Turnaround

A hint of disapproval wafts across the meeting table as directors watch a colleague shuffle through the board packet for unread financial statements. I took the time to prepare, why didn’t you?

At another table in another boardroom, the air is toxic with a plot to oust the CEO. Should I believe what I’m hearing or your lying eyes?
Certainly, it’s a long way from attending a meeting unprepared to attempting a boardroom coup. Most corporate directors approach
their board responsibilities seriously and with good intentions. And legitimate contingencies can sometimes prevent full engagement.

But directors can and do create problems. Whether through inattention or ill intent, they can detract from board effectiveness and disrupt the balance of interests, ego, and power.

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May 16, 2013
Robert Jordan

Temping at the Highest Levels: Meet the Interim Executive

Robert Jordan | CEO, Association of Interim Executives

Fifteen years ago I ran into a friend at a conference who was about to hand me yet another business card. As I took the new card, I tried to crack a joke, asking him “Can’t you hold down a job?” Then I read:

Philip Monego
Interim CEO
Yahoo

Yes, the card actually read Yahoo and Philip really was the first CEO.

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May 7, 2013

Multichannel Integration: Strategic Questions to Consider

Jeffrey Parnell | CEO, COO, CMO, Turnaround

The internet represents significant operational, marketing, and growth opportunities for retailers, wholesalers, and manufacturers, but the strategic challenge has rapidly evolved from “which channels do we embrace?” to “how do we create channel synergy?”

Operationally, a “multichannel” orientation integrates systems, strategies, and business processes to generate new efficiencies. At Blair Corporation, a publicly traded apparel and home furnishings retailer, we leveraged our ability to cost-effectively promote out-of-date merchandise through our hyper-growth Blair.com business to increase gross margins and eliminate a costly and unproductive offline liquidation channel. A multichannel retailer with a more significant brick and mortar presence—such as Best Buy, for example—should integrate its systems so that customers can order online and pick up their selections in a local store. In both examples, metrics such as ROI, profitability improvement, and customer loyalty will validate success.

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May 6, 2013
Walter Simson

Chase Alum Shares Credit Training Lesson With His Son

Walter Simson | CEO, CFO, Turnaround

The other day I met my son Will for a burger in Madison. Where to go but the Nitty Gritty, the bar and grill famous for its free birthday drinks (and for its longtime owner and chief greeter, Marsh Shapiro, who died late last year)? I arrived first, ordered a diet drink, and found that Will was still a few minutes away. So I hatched a plan that depended on a quick consultation with a conspirator.

Will arrived to find my diet drink had a balloon tied to it, and my name was on the greeter board.

Walter Simson-21!

(This is the board that the bartenders normally use to proclaim a lucky child’s entree into the adult world. I had arranged for a five-minute interval of youth.)

Will looks at the balloon, the board, and me. “What’s going on?” he asks. It’s a question I anticipated, and I gave the only possible answer.

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April 30, 2013

Restructuring in Paradise: Turnaround Specialist Taps Employees to Save a Troubled Company

Belgium-based interim executive Patrick Geysen, a turnaround specialist, has been in the interim field for more than 8 years, and he has a story to tell. It’s a story about the power of bringing in an “outsider” to view a problem objectively and implement change.

Brilliant sunshine, a beautiful blue sky and a sandy beach surround an underperforming Caribbean telecom business. Yet, with 4 out of 5 operational managers recently leaving the company within a span of several weeks, it was not paradise for the European mother company that was on the verge of divesting the troubled division.

Enter Patrick Geysen, a Belgium-based turnaround specialist. His interim assignment was to save the business for the short-term, improve the numbers, and then sell it. Geysen prepared a restructuring plan for the 6 islands based on increasing sales in the short-term, letting non-performers go, and showing considerable results in the space of 12 months. The board accepted his plan in May 2009 and by May 2010, sales had risen significantly and the company cancelled the divestment.

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April 25, 2013

Does Your Company Need a Chief Learning Officer (CLO)?

By: Neil Grant
CLO

“The right people, at the right time, and in the right place” makes a big difference.

Most of us are aware of the massive losses incurred by BP following the Gulf of Mexico oil spill – running into the billions. And we can probably refer to fabulous entrepreneurs who have generated billions in corporate value. But on a more day-today basis, individual mangers can motivate great levels of performance from employees, and those employees can choose to build value through their commitment to high productivity. The opposite is of course also true, where organizations lack high calibre leadership, don’t invest in the development of their management, and underestimate employee engagement.

Getting the “people” bit of any organization right is essential for immediate and long term gain.

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April 18, 2013

The Top 3 Fakes in the Interim Marketplace and How To Spot Them

While interim execs have come into their own as a highly skilled professional calling, individuals sometimes apply to the Association without valid credentials.

Just like any other specialty, great professionals tend to produce great results. And unskilled labor could easily, well, mess things up. We’re big believers in Michael Collins’ principle from Good to Great: first get the right people on the bus.

Here are the three problematic mindsets in the marketplace and that we seek to avoid for membership:

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April 18, 2013
Gary Brooks

When Crisis Demands an Interim Executive

Gary Brooks | CEO, COO, Turnaround

More than 250,000 middle market businesses are in trouble. Their survival may depend upon how quickly and how vigorously a course which will generate financial and human capital is pursued. But, usually, by the time this warning is sounded, performance has deteriorated sufficiently to jeopardize lending relationships, customer contracts, credit ratings and employee confidence. An antacid may relieve the symptomatic heartburn but fail to find and treat the cause(s).

As times become critical, managers may react to improve liquidity. But the drain in working capital continues unless a tourniquet is applied to stop the bleeding. Even then, without a valid prescription, the corporate organism continues its natural daily battle with competing forces. The problems can be resolved only through changes in the manner by which the enterprise is managed.

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April 8, 2013
John Collard

Six Ways Outside Directors Benefit Business Growth

John Collard | CEO, COO, Turnaround

An outside director is a member of the board of directors or advisors who is not part of the executive management team. These professionals are sometimes referred to as independent or non-executive directors. They are not employees of the company and are differentiated from inside directors, who do serve as executive managers and/or corporate officers.

Outside directors are advantageous because they rarely have conflict of interest and they often see the big picture differently than insiders. While corporate governance standards of public companies require a certain number or percentage of outside directors because they are more likely to provide unbiased opinions, private companies are normally left alone — but, I highly recommend that unbiased advice.

In today’s business environment, smart organizations frequently seek outside expertise. Traditionally, companies invited advisors to join their board of directors. There is now, however, more risk to these directors based upon recent legislation (Sarbanes-Oxley). While there is formality (shareholder reporting, responsibility, risk, liability) and more expense (D&O insurance, etc.) to a board of directors, there is a budget friendly alternative in the form of a ‘board of advisors’ who is beholden to management. The main difference is in where the fiduciary duty lies: to the shareholders or to management.  Regardless of which vehicle you use, there is great value to be obtained by hiring an outside director.

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