CEO

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How Greece and the Stock Market are Conspiring Against You

If you’re a news person or you follow finance then you’re no doubt already aware of the situation in Greece. That country is a mess. It’s debt is astronomical; it has no capacity to repay; the political situation is volatile at best; there are mass protests, and nobody has any idea what to do. That’s my definition of a mess.

Let’s Help or Face the Mess Ourselves

In order to prevent some kind of catastrophic ruin that affects the governments and finances of the rest of Europe – after all, Greece is on the Euro and its economy is intimately tied to the rest of the continent – European leaders have been working on some kind of deal to manage Greece’s debt (a large part of which they’ll just dismiss or fund) and get its economy back on track.

And Greece isn’t the only European country riding this roller coaster. It’s just got it the worst right now and is in the lime light. Spain, Italy and others are also going through quite a bad spot.

With the state of the world’s economic intimacy, we’re all affected by the situations around the world. Hardly a country is free from the ripple effects dealt by other members of our global union. But what’s fascinated me recently is the degree to which that intimacy is more emotional than logical.

Up and Down and Up and Down

As I’ve watched the stock market plummet and rebound over the past month, I’ve seen that movement tied disturbingly to our reactions to Greece’s economic situation.

When news came that Greece was tanking and talks were stalled, the market dropped. Last week, as news landed that Europe had reached an agreement on how to bail Greece out, the market rallied 340 points. Yesterday, the market closed down nearly 300 points. Here’s how CNN explained it:

“New fears about the fate of the European rescue plan reverberated through stock markets in the United States and around the world Tuesday. Following European markets, U.S. stocks ended sharply lower across the board. Bank stocks were hit especially hard. The bad news was propelled by Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou’s surprise announcement that he would put his country’s participation in last week’s European debt plan to a voter referendum.”

Now, I understand that the stock market is not merely a bunch of mercurial people making decisions but an enormous number of trades made on the backs of incredibly complicated financial equations and algorithms, but when it swings so violently back and forth at news about Greece, I can’t help but think that things are getting a little ridiculous. And this is just news, mind you. Nothing is actually happening in any of these instances. A deal was reached but no money moved. A referendum was proposed but no vote actually taken. These may as well be rumors for the bearings they should have!

Don’t Be As Smart As the Last Person You Talked To

This reminds me of the business leaders I’ve dealt with who change their entire course of action every time they talk to someone. As I pointed out in my 5 Foolish Faux Pas of CEOs in Crisis, some CEOs are only as smart as the last person they spoke to. That’s what our economy feels like: as though it’s only as strong or relevant as the last thing it heard.

And I don’t want you to be this way!

Making plans and sticking to them is an important part of being a good leader and developing and growing a sustainable business. It’s especially important when you’re in a crisis. You can’t be flopping all over the place in rough times. Of course you change course when things are going wrong and you actually take the time to evaluate the situation, but if you’re changing plans after every conversation your people will lose faith in you and nothing will ever get done.

How do you keep focused when things around you get topsy turvy?

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5 Big Blunders CEO’s Make That Lead to Crises

My last white paper was about the faux pas of CEOs in crisis, but in writing that paper I started thinking about some of the biggest mistakes CEOs, presidents and business owners make that result in crises. Since you may not be facing a crisis right now – and I hope you never are – I wanted to share these blunders with you so that you could either avoid them or start rectifying them.

1. Growing a Business Without Proper Equity or the Right Financial Structure

It’s never wise to try to grow your business without enough money. I once carved an injected molding company in Toledo, OH like a Thanksgiving turkey because the president sunk $2.5 million into his pet project: making the perfect bottle-cap. He effectively leveraged the entire company by borrowing against it to pursue this dream. Not only did he bet the ranch, but he tried to grow and evolve his business without sufficient funding to keep it running. Let that be the first lesson: make sure you have enough capital before making any big moves.

2. Growing a Business Without a Sufficient or Competent Management Team

The corollary to having enough capital to grow your business is having the right management team to do so as well. I’ve run Ocean Pacific twice. The first time was because they were expanding overseas without the proper personnel who understood sourcing and distribution in international markets. Though they lost a ton of money before we arrived, we were able to scale back to domestic manufacturing and refocus the company on design and licensing.

Many years later we were brought back in for a similar reason. Not only had the company lost control of its brand, entered into poor licensing arrangements and become embroiled in trademark issues, but they had accumulated a ton of debt. Once again, the management team couldn’t handle its responsibilities. The company was restructured through bankruptcy, selling its licenses to a private equity firm. Learn from Ocean Pacific and don’t embark on new strategies for growth without acquiring the right management team first.

3. They Allow Idiot Family Members to Run Key Divisions of the Business

Putting family members in key positions of your business can be dangerous without written expectations and a timeline for control, advancement and responsibilities. It takes a unique father and CEO to balance the intersection of a family and a business. Problems arise in many places, but particularly as it comes to entitlements, compensation and selling the business.

I had a mechanical engineering company in New York that was in the middle of a restructure that included a large union shop. The father had died and put his wife in charge as CEO. The son, resentful of his diminutive role due to a lack of delineated expectations and a board-approved succession plan, and, in his eyes, inadequate compensation, was stealing a lot of money. When we confronted good ol’ Charlie, he took a kitchen knife to his mother. Fortunately, she lived, got a restraining order, and kicked him out of the company.

Mixing business and family is not easy. Be careful and have the sense to know when someone is incapable of doing the job he feels entitled to do, family or not. Always manage expectations by putting everything in writing.

4. They Skew the Facts to Boards, Creditors and Constituents to “Sell the Deal”

As I’ve discussed before, honesty really is the best policy. The CEO of a hard drive manufacturer in California desperately wanted a line of credit from his bank for $60 million, so he stuffed the channel in order to make his company appear worthy.

Stuffing the channel is when a manufacturer oversells product to put sales on the books, despite knowing that much of the merchandise will come back unsold; this inflates the books by overstating the top line, thereby improving the bottom line. This strategy led to the loan, but when the company repurchased the inventory on the channel within 60 days, it became out of compliance on the line of credit. Once the bank defaulted the company I was brought in to salvage what I could and to hopefully restructure the company. The company survived thanks to some hedge fund loans, but the CEO lost his job because he skewed the facts.

Not bending the facts is so important that it deserves a second story. Before the technology was so ubiquitous, lazer-tag equipment had a very high value, and a Texas-based company seeking a large loan claimed it had more inventory on its books than it did; the company added the inventory in its Ireland-based location to the US books. The US auditors never verified the inventory and granted the company a far larger loan than it could handle. When the company filed for Chapter 11, I was brought in as CEO; within weeks of my new position I discovered we were $75 million short in inventory. I immediately went to the judge to convert the case to a Chapter 7 rather than try to bring the company through the bankruptcy and be embarrassed by the fraud. The creditors ultimately sued the accounting firm and made millions of dollars from faulty accounting, once again highlighting the blunder of skewing facts.

5. The President/CEO/Owner Can’t Keep It in His Pants

I have more examples for this one than any other lesson I know, but I’ll highlight this case with two basic stories to indicate how easy it is to get caught and how ruinous it always is. The president of an apparel manufacturer had other interests: he wanted to design the perfect yacht. He certainly succeeded in making a great one, such that he ended up in a prestigious yachting magazine. However, when he and his innovative yacht were photographed for the cover shoot, he failed to ask his girlfriend to get off the yacht or at least cover up her delightfully revealing bikini. When his wife saw the cover of the magazine, she filed for divorce and he lost control of the company.

In another case I was brought in to resolve as president, the CEO and Chairman of the Board of a retail establishment was caught with his kids’ babysitter while his company was going through a Chapter 11 restructuring. Once the matter became public, he lost focus on the business and the employees and the creditors lost faith in him. Ultimately, the business was sold off in pieces.

Gentlemen: keep it in your pants. Not doing so can be very expensive. For the record, I have similar stories about the other gender, but I’ll save them for another time.

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You’re Personally Guaranteed for How Much!?!? Let’s Do Something about That

Are you personally guaranteed on anything?

I bet you are. Do you have an American Express business card? Do you have a loan from a bank for your business? What agreements have you made for your business?

One thing I’ve noticed is that the older a business is, the more likely it is that the owner (who is also often the CEO or president) has personal guarantees that he’s forgotten about.

And now’s as good a time as any to review all of your paperwork, find out where you’re personally guaranteed and take steps to extricate yourself from those guarantees.

If your business is successful and profitable, not in debt and established enough to no longer need the personal guarantee of your assets, home and your wife’s car, then try to get out of it.

Why Get Out of Personal Guarantees

Personal guarantees are pretty much what they sound like. They say that if something goes south with your business, you will stake your personal assets on making sure those invested can recover their losses.

So, if you have a business that one day goes belly up – even though in my experience these aren’t “one day” situations but long periods of strong indicators that you need to turn things around – the bank or whomever you have a personal guarantee with, has a legal right to try to recover its losses by going after your personal assets. Depending on the personal guarantee that means your money, your home or whatever else you have or staked could be up for debate and taking.

And that stinks.

If your business goes under, you don’t want to lose everything you have in the meantime. I can’t tell you how many dozens of times I’ve had clients tell me that they aren’t personally guaranteed or that there’s nothing to worry about on that front. Inevitably, when we sit down with all of their paperwork and start going back to the beginning, we find personal guarantees they didn’t know they had or that they didn’t think were still in force. But they were wrong. And they were at risk.

You don’t want to be at risk personally, and that’s why you want to try to get out of your personal guarantees – and not sign them in the first place if you can help it.

In All Kinds of Places

Personal guarantees appear in all kinds of places – and in some that seem relatively innocuous. I recently had a client tell me that when he was setting up credit card processing for his business, the merchant bank wanted him to sign a personal guarantee that if he didn’t pay his bill monthly – a simple, low, regular, monthly bill, mind you – then he would personally guarantee them the recovery of what they believed was due them. And at that, the structure of the arrangement was one that already allowed the merchant bank to withdraw money at its leisure from my client’s bank account.

We’re not talking about being out a lot of money here, but if this contract had a personal guarantee then imagine what other contracts you’ve signed have them.

Personal guarantees do serve a purpose – if your business has no credit or history and is a total risk then it makes sense that someone loaning you large sums of money wants you to be responsible for that money somehow. But if your business has been around a while or we’re talking about a monthly bill or something to that effect, then you need to think long and hard before signing any personal guarantees and about getting out of ones you’re currently in.

Just imagine over the course of 25 years how many personal guarantees you could actually have signed if you weren’t paying attention or didn’t know what to look for.

Have questions about how to get out of personal guarantees? Ask me in the comments section below.

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Not Keeping It in Your Pants can be Very Expensive

Here’s something stupid that CEOs, presidents and business owners do: they fail to keep it in their pants.

The biggest case in recent memory concerned the dear old president of these United States, William Jefferson Clinton – or Ol’ Willy as the stories will one day be told.

His failure to keep it locked down had to do with so many issues: his ego, his self esteem, his power, and the simple urges of simple men – or for short, men. Interestingly enough, it’s these same forces – ego, esteem, power and manly urges – that drive men to start companies and become presidents in the first place (money could be added to the list, too), but that’s no reason to get led around by your lesser brain.

If for no other reason (and when I’m talking about neglecting reasons I include things like the sanctity of marriage, practical morality, metaphysical morality, putting your family or business first, etc.) than to avoid getting caught, do not cheat on your wife or spouse while running a company.

Don’t cheat on them anyway but especially if you’re running a company it’s a bad idea. You will get caught – especially if your company is facing a crisis.

It always comes out . . . and not in the way to which you may have grown accustomed.

What’s worse is that these issues always have a way of arising when things are already headed south . . . and not in the way to which you may have grown accustomed.

I was dealing with a guy who was originally in the business of manufacturing apparel. He couldn’t keep focused on his core business, however, because he had a dream of designing the perfect yacht.

Lucky for him, he succeeded in making such a great yacht that he ended up on the cover of a major yachting magazine for his unbelievable hull design.

Unlucky for him, when he and his yacht were photographed for the cover shoot his scantily clad girlfriend, simply busting with joy and enthusiasm, ended up on the yacht in the background of the photo.

When his wife saw the cover of the magazine, she filed for divorce and took the company with her. After all, the business was started with her daddy’s money.

Another quickie, so to speak. The CEO and Chairman of the Board of a retail establishment – in the middle of his company’s bankruptcy – got caught with his kids’ babysitter. The messiness that ensued caused him to lose focus on the company’s issues, which ultimately had to be sold off in pieces.

Both of these men (and I’ve got 20 more of these stories) lost everything – businesses, money, families, and the lives they had built – because they couldn’t keep it in their pants.

Not keeping it in your pants can be very expensive.

Know anything about this and want to share a story?

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This is Dumb. Don’t Do It.

When I go into a failing business and discover a once running enterprise with an idiot at the helm, one of the first questions I ask myself is, “Is this guy family?”

Leaders have a real predilection for putting idiot family members in charge of key parts of their operations.

Napoleon installed his family members as heads of state across Europe, and monarchy for millennia have been based upon familial succession. But there’s a good reason that none of these monarchies still exists (and don’t feed me a line about the royal family of Britain or Monaco – this is just sustained wealth and fairytale fantasy): because at some point every family breeds idiots.

In the rare case that a son is as capable or more so than his father, that rarely lasts for a third or fourth generation. Sure, people can be groomed and educated, but at some point, the son will like other things, be an idiot or plain not care. And when that day comes, down goes the business.

If you want to build a business that is sustainable through the generations, don’t make your offspring a prerequisite of those generations. I’m not saying they can’t be involved, but you better make darn sure that they’re both capable and desirous of the position.

One place that problems tend to arise when fathers and sons do business together is in compensation, especially when selling the business.

I had a mechanical engineering company in New York where the son was stealing from his father’s business because he wasn’t getting a high enough salary. As a family member wouldn’t you believe that the son felt entitled to the business’s money, no matter how much or little he’d worked.

When we confronted good ol’ Charlie, who resented that upon his father’s passing his mom had been made CEO, he took a kitchen knife to his mother. We averted bloodshed and she got a restraining order, subsequently kicking him out of the company.

We were in the middle of trying to sell the company, and you better believe that this charade ruined the sale.

Do not put idiot family members in charge of your company or parts of your company. It takes a unique father and a unique CEO to balance both a family and a business. If you value your business and respect your family, think long and hard before mixing them at the leadership level.

Do you do business with your family? How does that work for you?

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5 Foolish Faux Pas of CEOs in Crisis

While preparing for my speech on “How Not to Hire a Guy Like Me: Lessons from Past CEOs’ Mistakes,” I realized that it was worth sharing a few of the biggest faux pas CEOs make along with a few of my more colorful anecdotes.

What follows are the 5 things CEOs in crisis do that you want to avoid as the leader of your company or organization.

1. They Act Like Deer in the Headlights

In crisis situations, it’s amazing how many CEOs and company leaders act like deer in the headlights. They just freeze up and wait for the impending SMACK!

I was working with a guy whose company had entered a crisis. In the midst of this crisis, his very time-sensitive catalog that directly generates 80% of his 65 million dollar annual revenue within 90 days had to go out. It was hours before the catalogs had to be postmarked and mailed, but in order for this to happen we had to have $10,000 – immediately. In a cash crisis, this guy, worth a few million, wouldn’t take $10,000 out of his own pocket to pay the postage. If anything went wrong, he was personally guaranteed on 40 million dollars. He would have been totally wiped out had he defaulted, and all he had to do was personally put up $10,000.

I was brought in within hours of the deadline and convinced him to put up the cash. This was the first of many critical decisions amongst endemic problems, but thankfully, this incident established trust and a working relationship that led to a successful restructuring plan.

2. They’re Only as Smart as the Last person They Talked to

Many CEOs (and people for that matter) are only as smart as the last person they talked to – especially in a crisis. They cease being able to think for themselves, whether out of the hope of being able to pass the buck or because anything and everything sounds better than what they’re doing.

At a non-profit educational institution, the president was kicked out of office for various well-deserved reasons, resulting in a crisis of leadership, and the interim president kept changing the restructuring plan with every person to whom he spoke. He’d announce firings and closings almost daily, and then backtrack when someone objected, subsequently calling those he’d fired to tell them to disregard the two week notice they’d received. Back and forth he’d go like this, only spouting the last thing someone else said to him.

The only smart thing he did without changing his mind was hire me – and I fired him six weeks later. In restructuring, you generally get one plan to move forward with – it’s a house of cards and you don’t want it to fall from a lot of movement. Keep your plan conservative and reasonable, and don’t be as smart as the last guy you talked to.

3. They Can’t Check Their Egos at the Door to Admit Mistakes

The president at an electronics parts manufacturer found some cost accounting discrepancies that meant he was selling products under cost. Though he didn’t tell the bank, perhaps thinking that his Ivy League Ph.D.s would save him, the truth emerged a year later when his cash flow continued to deteriorate until the bank noticed. If he’d set his ego aside, spoken to the bank and brought in a professional early, he’d still be president, but the bank gave him the boot and brought me in. He lost everything because his ego got in the way.

Queue the Dragon Lady of El Paso: his wife and executive VP. Upon arrival, my first goal was to build loyalty and get buy in, and an opportunity dropped into my lap. The assistant immediately asked for twenty bucks to buy coffee and toilet paper. “Huh?” I asked. Apparently, in the interest of the budget, the company was rationing coffee and toilet paper. The Dragon Lady was losing millions on her left side while hoping to limit enough toilet paper and coffee for 60 people on her right side to balance out the equation. I gave the assistant $100 and told her to buy the biggest can of coffee and pack of toilet paper she could find, telling the other employees, “compliments of Lee.” From then on, they loved me. I had full buy-in, no one lost his job and we sold the company in full six months later.

4. They Don’t Depend on Their Key Subordinates

I hire people who are smarter than I am. I have no problem with people making more money than I do or being smarter. I view myself as a catalyst for positive change. However, I was brought into a company at which the CEO did not share this sentiment.

The CEO had created a generous sales commission structure, and the Sales Manager did a great job  for the company, meeting and exceeding goals. Resultantly, he made twice as much as the CEO in his first year on the job. When the board refused to give the CEO a raise to exceed the Sales Manager’s salary, the CEO attempted to lower the sales team’s commission structure, thereby dis-incentivizing them, even though they had been very successful on behalf of the company.

After the CEO forced a changed pay structure, the Sales Manager quit and went to work for a competitor. The board of directors found out and fired the CEO. While this echoes the sentiment of the ego problem, it also highlights the issue that CEOs fail to utilize good talent and rely on key subordinates.

5. They Don’t Get Buy-In

Buy-in is so important, and the CEO who isn’t getting it is looking for trouble because nothing goes forward for long without buy-in. At WYNCOM the CEO didn’t want any bad news, and he never wanted to hear what anybody had to say. He therefore didn’t have 100% of his team’s focus to make his wishes a reality. Subsequently, he lost 8 million dollars in 2 years.

As a CEO it’s important to know which way you want to go, and though a business is no voting democracy, you shouldn’t be handing down dictates from on high either. Have a conversation with your people, and let them tell you what they think. Even if they disagree and you still go the way you want to go, you can incorporate their feedback and by doing so, get their buy-in and support.

All I did when I became CEO of WYNCOM was act as a catalyst and seek others’ input, Thus, we went from an EBITDA of negative four million to positive four million in 12 months. In fact, we saved a half million dollars in postage just because I listened to someone.

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Making Your Own Puzzle Pieces: Saving a Company in Crisis, Part II

If you want to check out Part 1 of this series in order to get up to date on the situation and lessons thus far, I’ll be happy to wait for you. Just come back when you’re ready.

Cooperation is Key

In order to effectively implement proactive growth strategies, your company needs a management team that cooperates and openly communicates internally and externally. As CEO, think broadly about your team, which may include management, the Board of Directors, your bank or vendors and your team of turnaround professionals.

In the case of our bankrupt restaurant, the Board of Directors and the CEO were not pulling together effectively to expedite what should have been their common goal: helping the company survive. There needed to be buy-in earlier from these key stakeholders, but instead they were tearing each other and their company apart.

This proved challenging for our GGG team, whose first job is always to get everyone aligned. No matter how good we are at workouts, it’s tough to succeed when your C-Level executives and your board disagree and refuse to set a common goal. In crisis situations, more so than any other time, people need to focus on the higher level goal of the company.

As a result of this discord, we had to assist the company in a ‘363’ auction sale of pieces of the business rather than do a traditional restructuring.

Solve Puzzles Creatively

This was a complex and interesting case to work on due to the variety of challenges we faced, one of which was the frequency with which we were required to come up with creative solutions on the spot.

The puzzle pieces of our restaurant were all scattered, some of them on the table before us and others on the floor (and the dog probably ate a couple). As a workout guy my task is to put these pieces together, but recognizing that the pieces don’t always fit properly and that there isn’t time to put everything in its proper place is important to prioritizing problems – and their solutions.

When solving problems in this fashion, you have to cut the pieces to make them fit and make game-time calls. This approach allowed us to keep up with the pace of a rapidly changing crisis.

One example that comes to mind is the memorabilia. They have memorabilia all over these places, and I found myself sitting in the corporate offices admiring what was on the walls and wondering how I could sell off these valuables in order to create cash to fund the business. As I looked around, I noticed that the “t” in a lot of the signatures looked weirdly similar. I’m no handwriting expert, but I couldn’t shake this weird feeling.

Acting on my feet, I made a phone call and got someone to assess the value of the memorabilia, all of which was purchased from one of the board members for a quarter million dollars. Turns out it was all fake. Though we didn’t have the money to sue this board member we took certain actions to coerce him into refunding our money.

We also had to act on our feet when we noticed the board self-dealing. The board had to be reminded of the change in its fiduciary responsibility once the company had become insolvent. Their interests were legally required to change from themselves to their creditors. We had to protect the board members legally by making sure they kept their fiduciary responsibility in mind and quickly curbing actions that went against this premise.

Taking Smart Risks

At GGG we always think long-term. We don’t want our clients just to survive; we strive to implement strategies that will make them successful in the long-run. And we don’t make compromises on this point.

Part of long-term success involves risk taking. But never bet the ranch – take smart risks. On this project, we were challenged by the disparate goals of the Board of Directors, yet we consistently managed to get their approval in order to take smart risks and solve major problems.

Our risk was evaluating and cutting unprofitable locations fast enough to allow the rest of the company to survive with a core group of profitable bars. The subsequent auction of the company resulted in several competing bids and the completion of the ‘363’ auction sale. Today, a few years after the bankruptcy and in a much tougher economic climate, the client continues to operate several locations profitably.

Join me next time for Part 3 to discuss why it’s important not to make rash decisions about the fate of your company and the tools you can use to make better decisions.

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De Nile – A River in Egypt or a CEO’s Final Resting Place?

As managing partner of GGG and the Turnaround Authority, I get the pleasure of providing guest posts by our other partners. The following post is by our newest Partner, Vic Taglia.

In my post a few weeks ago about how to treat your bankers, creditors and vendors, I advocated telling the truth. As important as it is to tell all of these people the truth, it is even more important to tell yourself the truth.

I recently came across a company whose bankers have expressed some discomfort in their situation (no names here obviously). The loan balance has declined, and the bank wants to continue to reduce its exposure. In recent memory, the company has not satisfied its debt service coverage covenants, but the loan document has been extended on a short term basis. Since the principal owner describes his industry as “declining” the only growth will be through consolidation. Moreover, the company has exhausted its balance sheet reserves, even to the extent of taking some tax positions that will improve its book equity, but cost it millions of dollars in CASH over the next several years.

See the warning signs?

  1. Declining industry
  2. Nervous bank
  3. Bad operating performance
  4. No focus on Cash, which we all know is king

The principal owner/CEO stated that he had made some significant spending cuts, and that this year will be better than last. His projections show a slight decline in revenue with increasing EBITDA, but still not enough to cover its interest expense.

When I looked through the financial statements I noticed that payroll in some operating areas had indeed fallen by about the amount revenues had fallen, but payroll in the sales and executive departments had increased. I also noticed a monthly payment for a luxury sports car’s financing company that matched the make in the CEO’s reserved parking spot. The CEO said he had a new, more expensive model on order for summer delivery. The CEO said everything was fine; he had his business under control, and he had a wonderful, long-term relationship with his lender, even though his new loan officer needed some more time to understand his business.

I contend that the CEO is in denial about the true state of his business. As my favorite coffee mug is fond of saying, “De Nile is Not Just a River in Egypt.”

Without significant changes in his mindset and the business’s operations, the bank will continue to ratchet down its exposure. There will be fewer operating accommodations, more reporting requirements, more onerous covenants and certainly no financing for acquisitions. He will be the acquiree, not the acquirer. It’s quite likely that he will find himself out of the business and out of a job within 18 months.

While it is important to maintain a positive attitude for your family, employees, vendors and creditors – after all, hope is extremely important – it is also important to face your reality, especially when the chips are down.

You can talk to your trusted advisors — lawyer, accountant, even a banker — to share your concerns and fears and more importantly to chart a course of action to rehabilitate your business. But when your advisors can’t help, call us, and face the harsh reality rather than board De Nial River Boat Cruise to self-destruction.

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Rest and Reflection Breed Solutions

 

When in crisis mode, it’s very easy to neglect any kind of rest and reflection – there simply isn’t time for them.

But if your company is doing well, I encourage you to take days like Memorial Day, when many places close and workers are given breaks, to take a little rest yourself. I know what it is to be an entrepreneur, a CEO, a businessman, etc. and to feel like the cessation of movement is the cessation of life. But it’s not.

What Was It Again

When you take time to rest a little, turning your mind off or at least slowing the chatter, your mind opens to a host of new ideas, thoughts and solutions.

Think about it like this. Have you ever been talking to someone and found yourself desperately trying to come up with a particular word or the name of an actor in a movie or the name of some author you enjoyed a while back, but you just couldn’t place it? I have to believe this universally common experience has happened to all of us many times. No matter how hard you try and wrack your brain, you just can’t remember that darn word or name.

Fine, you acquiesce, as you continue along the conversation, insuring your interlocutor that the perfect word or some person really does exist. And then, 30 seconds later like a flash of lightening – BHAM! – the word comes right into your head and out your mouth before you can finish the sentence you’re on.

Ah! What a relief. You remembered the word and your previous thought could be completed – your problem solved.

Application to Business

This works a lot for me with work. My wife and I enjoy vacationing in Hilton Head, an island off the coast of South Carolina. The beaches are deep and wide, the ocean calm and hypnotic, and there are tons of trails on which to bike and enjoy nature.

And as I settle down in a beach chair and stare out at the ocean, letting my mind wonder rather than staring at a computer screen in deep contemplation, the challenges I’d been having seem to break down and coalesce back into solutions. It’s wonderful, and it only works because I sit back and stop trying so hard to think of solutions.

That’s what it’s like when we stop concentrating on things for a little while and take a, say, Memorial Day rest. I don’t expect you to just go splash around mindlessly in the pool for 8 hours, but I do encourage you to do whatever it is that takes your mind off of the central issues in your life and business so that you can become more open to the solutions that do exist.

Consider These Options:

  • Go for a long drive
  • Go to the driving range
  • Sit somewhere with a nice view (restaurant overlooking a park, balcony near a beach, etc.)
  • Get out of the whatever city you’re in, even if just for a few hours
  • Go on a nice walk or bike ride, preferably in or around nature
  • Go swim some laps
  • If you’re a runner/jogger, go for a run/jog

Notice, too, how many of these activities involve movement, which is a great way to turn your mind to something else entirely, get your blood pumping (which stimulates your brain, by the way) and get the rest from work you need to become better able to do your job.

Those who regularly incorporate these elements or something similar into their lives often find more solutions, in my experience.

What do you like to do to take a break and turn your mind down a bit?

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Life’s Lessons and Surprises: 18 Months at Life University

Life is full of surprises, and as a business leader, you can’t let those surprises turn your business upside down. If you learn to manage them as part of your business, expecting that they will be there and creating contingencies for them like emergency cash, a fully stocked resume and interview line should you need some fast hires, good networking, a solid relationship with your banker and so on, then you will likely survive when they surprise.

In 2003/4, I did a turnaround for Life University, the award-winning chiropractic institution in Atlanta, GA. Life had a lot of lessons about the power of surprises.

Life’s Problem

After achieving an all-time high enrollment rate and setting the standard of excellence in contemporary health for its chiropractic undergraduate and masters degree programs, Life University was challenged with a loss of accreditation and defaulted on $35 million in secured bond debt.

Our Solution

Upon becoming the Director of Refinancing and CFO, we redid the budget based on declining attendance and negotiated a forbearance agreement with the Trustee and Bondholders. We also sold assets and refinanced others while the board searched for a new president.

The Outcome?

Within 18 months Life University’s cash flow was stabilized, accreditation was granted and the bond debt was refinanced. As part of the long-term plan, the school retained a President and Chief Financial Officer from a competing school. Victory was ours, and we won the Non-profit Turnaround of the Year Award in 2004 from the Atlanta Chapter of the Turnaround Management Association (TMA).

What I Learned from Life?

Professionals need to hire consultants and advisors who have different skill sets than their own. When professionals go outside their sweet spots they often make mistakes or don’t consider all the issues. Business is not the forte of all professionals – and it doesn’t have to be. Bring in business people to do business.

Life Always Has Surprises!

There are always surprises and things you didn’t account for. At Life, the CFO had a heart attack and bypass surgery, and without him we couldn’t find all of the documentation or understand the cash flow budget.

This created issues with the bondholders because a key member of the management team had been changed. Then, six months in, the president was gone, too.

A new president and a new CFO do not breed confidence to lenders.

What You Can Learn from Life

Be prepared for unfortunate events: heart attacks, death, personal tragedy, community strife. These things are part of life, and as a business leader, you have to have contingency plans in place to know how you would operate should the unthinkable occur.

Ultimately, in this case – and many others – communication solved these problems. Through extensive meetings, we got support in a forbearance agreement, which gave us time to hire a new president and to show results from fund-raising efforts.

Always have open communication.

The spirit of the chiropractic staff was great. They were committed to their university and seeing it survive. Anything I needed from them I got. Being part of a team that believes in the cause is a great thing, and in a crisis it’s very important to return to core values and purpose and to be able to lean on them.

Parting Words of Wisdom

This was a wonderful, award-winning turnaround. In turnaround management – as in business – there are always surprises. It’s your job not to let those surprises undermine your goals, but to deal with them as part of a business day.

What surprises have you encountered in business? How did you deal with them?