Businessuite Digital August 2014

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e have come to accept that a wellrun organization is one with a clearly articulated vision to which employees subscribe. Employees know what is required of them, they are evaluated fairly and they are rewarded consistent with their performance.

Sounds great for a conventionally managed organization but it does not guarantee excellence, as is now the major goal of highly progressive organizations.

When excellence is the goal of the organization, it must deliberately set out to avoid mediocrity.

It is therefore not enough to accept the best performance from individual employees. To do so could be accommodating average performers who are peaking at the limit of their capacities.

Step number one therefore is to ensure that only employees with the capacity to deliver at the highest standard of excellence and who will only consistently produce high levels of output are recruited.

When an organization finds itself highly focused on problem solving it could very well be rewarding mediocrity. Managers must avoid empowering low performers by spending too much time solving their problems while ignoring high performers.

This approach, alienate high performers who invariable leave for organizations that are more likely to recognize and reward them for their above par performance.

Companies with a culture of excellence have expectations of high performance organizationwide. Employees are encouraged and supported to become masters in their role and area of expertise. High performers are challenged, nurtured, rewarded, mentored and recognized. Average performers are coached to move into the high performance category.

In such a culture, there is no place for low performers. They must either move up or move out.

In all likelihood, your organization is not now configured to deliver excellence. The challenge therefore is to transform what you have into one with a culture of excellence. It is not going to be an easy task as the entrenchment of mediocrity in organizations is consistent with the wider society’s acceptance of that level of performance. It stands to reason therefore that one should expect stiff resistance both from within and outside the organization to any attempt to reorient to a culture of excellence.

The critical path to achieving a culture of excellence is not to settle for mediocrity. Mediocre performance levels are highlighted and scornfully rejected. The negative consequences to the organization for delivering at mediocre levels are clearly communicated to all employees. This approach creates an environment that is intolerant of mediocrity and one that supports the efforts of high performers.

Challenging targets are set and employees are constantly driven to break records and achieve unprecedented results. This creates excitement among employees who naturally operates as a team that is focused on achieving a common goal.

What does a culture of excellence look like?

Employees are convinced that what they are working on is meaningful, significant and purposebased. This establishes a clear distinction between mediocre employees and those who operate at the required level of excellence. It hardly matters to a mediocre employee the purpose of the task he is asked to perform. On the other hand, employees that are inclined to excellence must be convinced that there is great purpose to their work.

Ronnie Sutherland is proven visionary and strategic thinker that successfully formulates and execute business strategies that yield targeted growth in market share and profits. An expert in enhancing profitability; developing employees motivational initiatives, and leading the development of new market segments.

Very knowledgeable of broadcasting regulations, manufacturing processes, distribution logistics and marketing operation. Dedicated to maintaining a reputation built on quality, service, and uncompromising ethics.

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ost Jamaican Entrepreneurs Are Hustlers!

the nation’s economic progress and, hence, must be carefully nurtured and supported.

Most Jamaican entrepreneurs hustle without a growth strategy, showed a recent academic study. Also, total entrepreneurial activity (TEA) in the country last year dipped by over one-third the level recorded five years earlier, when there was a recession, according to the latest Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) report.

“The MSMEs are the best vehicles for inclusive growth in the country, to create local demand and consumption. While creating employment generation activities, they will also form a significant part of the logistics-centred economy,” Hylton said.

”The results show that Jamaican entrepreneurs exhibit limited business growth aspirations,” said the report. “Established business entrepreneurs expected limited job growth in the next five years in comparison to the early-stage entrepreneurs who expected to hire more employees.”Overall, most businesses only expected to hire few employees over time. http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/business/ Most-entrepreneurs-are-hustlers--says-newreport_17025019

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1 Billion Loan Financing To Micro, Small, And Medium-Size Enterprises (MSME)

The Jamaican Government is seeking to provide some $1 billion in loan financing to Micro, Small, and Medium-size Enterprises (MSME), as part of plans to bolster the sector. Minister of Industry, Investment, and Commerce, Anthony Hylton, who made the disclosure at Wednesday’s (June 25) launch of the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) 2013 Jamaica Report, said the MSME sector is vital for

He added that the Ministry is working towards the restructuring of aspects of the MSME funding framework, as part of efforts to meet the needs of entrepreneurs.

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uestion: “Isn’t devaluation the strategy that has always been used — a way of victimising the victim?

So [the country] will be a stomping ground for suitcase investors like in the Asian Tigers and we end up with a country of migrant workers exploited by the metropolis. Is there an outcome different than that which you envisage from this round of devaluation or right-valuation as you call it?”

Rev. Garnett Roper, chairman Jamaica Urban Transit Company.

State-owned

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nswer: “You cannot bleed your reserves in order to support a currency that is overvalued.

The currency has to have the right value and the Jamaican dollar was overvalued. It is a credit of this Government, the finance minister and

governor of the central bank to have taken the bull by the horns because it is hard, as it impacts on consumers in the short term.

In the medium term and long term, if you manage to do that, plus the structural reforms to address excessive bureaucracy, reduce cost of energy, improve tax collection, if you do all of that, then you improve the competitiveness of your economy. Then foreign investors will look at Jamaica with different eyes. Investors will refinance... They won’t look at Jamaica with some contempt in the back of their mind, as if it is some country that cannot honour its commitments. So it is also an issue of dignity.”

Christine Lagarde Managing Director, International Monetary Fund (IMF).

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e Need To Eat What We Grow And Grow What We Eat….again!

“The time has come when we need to eat what we grow and grow what we eat. Too often whenever we get hungry we reach for the imported fast foods and other non-Jamaican products instead of supporting the farmers by eating something Jamaican, which is more nutritious.

If we are really going to help our country, we have got to start buying into the mission of eating what we grow and growing what we eat. Millions of dollars are being spent annually on the importation of food that can be grown right here in Jamaica. We need to start helping ourselves and help our country by eating what is grown here,” Ewan Corrodus, Custos of St James Jamaica.

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he Future Of Mobile Networks Lies In Data

“Research has told us that more and more Jamaicans have a growing appetite for data services and this move will make it even easier for our customers to avail themselves of the power of mobile Internet while still being able to keep in touch with friends and family for

one low affordable rate.

The future of mobile networks lies in data and we are giving our customers an even greater incentive as they make the transition from voice as a primary service and begin adopting on-thego Web connectivity in their everyday lives,” Carlo Redwood, vice-president Marketing, LIME Jamaica.

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inancial Advisory Is A Key Growth Area For 2014 And Beyond

“We feel that financial advisory is a key growth

area for 2014 and beyond and we expect to be focusing more on these, to make more deals.

We feel this is an area of future opportunity for us. As for product offerings, we see that the market is demanding more US-type offerings.

We have been very active in working with clients to bring forward US dollar linked transactions and year to date we have done over US$6 million such transactions. We recognise that the stock market has been impacted by the current economic situation and as such many stocks are undervalued.

This provides a great opportunity for investors to make sound investments in strong companies and position themselves for the market rebound.”

Gary Peart, chief executive Mayberry Investments, at the annual general meeting held at the Knutsford Court Hotel.

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amaica Is The Most Important Tourism Destination In The Caribbean

“When we designed our strategic five-year growth plan, we listed several destinations as priorities, and Jamaica was at the top of that list.

We believe Jamaica is the most important tourism destination in the Caribbean, and we found Sunset Jamaica Grande to be the perfect opportunity for us to enter this market.”

Gibran Chapur, Executive Vice President Palace Resorts.

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anama Canal Presents Both Challenges And Opportunities For The Entire Region

“This increased capacity not only implies savings for world trade, but has the potential to increase trade between Latin America and the world. The impending expansion of the Panama Canal presents both challenges and

opportunities for the entire region.

This expansion has the potential to stimulate trade in the region and, as we know, has already spurred infrastructure development designed to increase port capacity for large vessels postPanama.”

Sherry Tross, executive secretary for integral development of the OAS, (More than 80 per cent of world trade is transported by sea and the redevelopment of the Panama Canal will increase traffic and maritime trade worldwide.)

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ignificant Expansions In The Media Landscape And There Are Many Radio Stations.

“We now have a market for talent that has significant listener appeal in the various formats. We are moving to a situation where the best on-air talent in the market will be able to command Cliff Hughes significant compensation and it is unlikely that any one station will be able to provide this level of remuneration.

As a result, talent will be able to operate in different markets and on different stations. The benefit, therefore, will be for those radio stations that embrace this new approach and of course for the talent - in terms of significantly increasing the talent’s earning power.

Without a doubt, Cliff Hughes is one of the supreme talents for our format and I have no doubt about the viable performance results to come on Cliff Hughes On-Line,” Newton James, managing director of Power 106 FM Jamaica

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hat is the meaning of “Strategic Alliance”?

A strategic alliance is any agreement between two or more businesses that leads to a mutually beneficial outcome. Businesses in a strategic alliance may share goods, services, discounts, or specialized knowledge to help each other in the market.

The joining of two businesses in a strategic alliance creates a unique corporate entity. The entity itself is greater than the sum of the organizations from which it evolved and each business derives greater advantages than it would have had operating alone.

Possible types of strategic alliances

“From more informal partnerships and joint ventures to shared goal planning and organisational structures, strategic alliances can be as diverse as the businesses engaged in them.”

Most people are familiar with the most extreme form of a strategic alliance, which is a business merger. In a merger, both businesses join together adopting the same business objectives. However, there are many different shades of strategic alliances that apply to a wider range of businesses. From more informal partnerships and joint ventures to shared goal planning and organisational structures, strategic alliances can be as diverse as the businesses engaged in them.

A less commonly recognized, but equally valid form of strategic alliance, is outsourcing. By outsourcing a project to another business that shares your general corporate philosophy, you can cut costs and gain expertise without taking on a full-time employee or creating a new department. Outsourcing is a particularly viable strategic alliance for small and medium-size businesses that don’t have the resources to manage certain creative or logistical projects on their own.

Benefits of strategic alliances for the growth and development of small- and medium-size businesses

By far one of the biggest obstacle standing between small businesses and market growth is financing. If you can secure the services your business require through trade and barter rather than paying for them out of pocket, your business can grow even faster. Strategic alliances take the luck of the draw out of small- and medium-size business financing and put that control back in the hands of the business owners.

scale strategic alliance is when a web development company refers clients to a partnered advertising agency. Clients who are inclined to purchase web services are more likely to also require social media help and advertising assistance.

Even if the web development firm doesn’t specialize in these services, they can keep customers from going to a comprehensive service that covers all those bases by referring potential customers to a trusted business ally.

Another less obvious benefit to strategic alliances with other businesses is that if the partnership is openly advertised, you benefit from your partner’s reputation. If customers are buying from your business, they trust you to provide the quality of service they have come to expect. The same goes for your competitors. If you’ve been waiting to tap into a certain market in which another business has already established itself , launching a strategic alliance can be the best way to break in. Rather than building your reputation from square one, a strategic alliance has the same effect as a colleague referral.

One-stop shops are one of the greatest detriments to smalland medium-sized businesses.

Customers tend to expect everything all in one place, which is something that most small businesses simply can’t provide.

Rather than losing customer to lower-quality, higher-volume superstores, you can keep more business and foster strong referral networks by sending customers to other merchants whose services you trust.

When businesses share clients, everyone wins. Not only do the customers get to benefit from wider range of services and joint promotions, but the businesses themselves can double their potential client networks. A cooperative strategic alliance can be as simple as referring business that you don’t have the capacity to handle within your own company. It may seem counterproductive to turn business away, but that decision can yield lucrative dividends for years to come.

A popular example of a small-

Challenges associated strategic alliances

with

In any strategic alliance, equity is often the biggest challenge you will face. In order to secure a strategic alliance that all parties are satisfied with, clearly outline and agree your requirements and expectations before any goods or services change hands.

This step can save you needless hassle, whether your alliance is as complex as a full-scale merger or as simple as a one-time barter agreement.

Another major issue in the world of strategic alliances is reputation.

While forming an alliance with another company that has a strong and positive reputation can boost your business standing in the community, the opposite

can also occur. From corporate scandal and illegal activities to bankruptcy and other financial failures, there are a variety of pitfalls that can take you down along with the business that was supposed to build you up.

To avoid these serious pitfalls, undertake detailed due diligence.

Only work with strategic partners that have an established and trusted reputation in your industry. No matter how lucrative the partnership may seem at first, customers will judge your business by the company you keep.

Putting it all together Strategic alliances are becoming a necessary way of doing business in the new economy. Establishing a mutually beneficial relationship with another business you trust will not only increase your client base but allow you to provide a much wider range of goods and services to your existing clients. Avoid the pitfalls of a bad strategic alliance by laying everything out in writing and seeking proper legal counsel before you enter into a formal arrangement.

Small and medium size businesses may not have the capacity of larger competitors, but what they lack in size they make up for in heart. The Caribbean is not only a lucrative business market but an ideal location for fostering business relationships and strategic alliances that can last a lifetime. Take care to follow these steps during the early stages of alliance building and your business will reap the rewards and growth in the long run. BM

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he ability to express and control our own emotions is important, but so is our ability to understand, interpret, and respond to the emotions of others. Imagine a world where you can’t understand when a friend is feeling sad or when a co-worker is angry. Psychologists refer to this ability as emotional intelligence, and some experts even suggest that it can be more important than IQ. In this article, you will learn more about exactly what emotional intelligence is, how it works, and how it is measured.

What is Intelligence?

Emotional

Emotional intelligence (EI) refers to the ability to perceive, control and evaluate emotions.

Some researchers suggest that emotional intelligence can be learned and strengthened, while others claim it is an inborn characteristic.

Since 1990, Peter Salovey

and John D. Mayer have been the leading researchers on emotional intelligence. In their influential article “Emotional Intelligence,” they defined emotional intelligence as, “the

“Psychologists refer to this ability as emotional intelligence, and some experts even suggest that it can be more important than IQ.”

subset of social intelligence that involves the ability to monitor one’s own and others’ feelings and emotions, to discriminate among them and to use this information to guide one’s thinking and actions” (1990).

Four Branches of Emotional Intelligence: Salovey and Mayer proposed a model that identified four characteristics of emotional intelligence: the perception of emotions, the ability to reason using emotion, the ability to understand emotions and the ability to manage emotion.

(Keep the “s” on all) Perceiving Emotions: The first step in understanding emotions is to accurately perceive them. In many cases, this might involve understanding nonverbal signals such as body language and facial expressions. (cont’d on pg. 17)

SMS: An Easy & Budget-Friendly Way To Market Your Business

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ired of trying to smash the glass ceiling many women have opted to go into business for themselves. In fact, women-owned businesses increase 59% since 1997, a new study from American Express reports.

There are 8.6 million women-owned firms and they are generating more than $1.3 trillion in revenue and employing nearly 7.8 million people, found AmEx’s 2013 State of Women-Owned Businesses Report.

So how can you help push your business forward? With the simple

tool of SMS. SMS is a great cost-effective way to market your business. “It’s an amazing tool since women out-index on mobile,” notes LeAnne Edwards, Business Development, Punch Media Group, a digital strategy and development agency that has worked with clients from Universal Music Group to Microsoft.

“Since women use social media more, SMS is a definite win.”

Use a promotion code in your SMS to lure in customers and clients with special offerings or discounts.

“I also think that we as women just have a more intimate way of communicating, in general, so we’re ideal for this because the platform is so intimate that it works best with messages that are really organic,” Edwards points out.

“Since women use social media more, SMS is a definite win.”

LeAnne Edwards, Business Development, Punch Media Group

It’s easy to set up an SMS marketing campaign.

First step, collect mobile numbers and set up a system so customers can unsubscribe if they want to be omitted from your database. You have to remove them immediately if requested as it is illegal not to do so. You can also employ a third-party service provider to help you set up a number and promotional codes and to also to track the success of the campaign. They can also embed an unsubscribed message and manage your SMS marketing database.

“After you have a number and the database is built, next you begin creating relationships, selling, etc.,” explains Edwards.

“Customers own the mobile database they create. Every business should have one.”

SMS marketing is a fast way to get clients in the door. “SMS allows you to reach the consumer instantly at any time,” says Edwards. “You can also use it to drive traffic to your company’s website and other social media networks, allowing you to cost-effectively re-market.”

Make sure to capture customer info so that you can contact those customers again and again.

Also make sure to have a call to action for your customers–asking them to do something.

“Have your customers do something, such as opt in for future promotions. This will give you more information about your customers. The more you learn about your clients, the better you can serve them,” says Edwards. And don’t just send a plain SMS message. Include video links and creative language to lure in potential customers, advises Edwards. Also don’t make the mistake of using the SMS to do a hard sell; instead add other info such as tips that can help your customers.

Dr. Anita Davis-Defoe Editor-In-Chief – SaS Magazine Author. Thought Leader. Social Entrepreneur Organization and Leadership Development Solutionists - http://sas4women.com

(cont’d from pg. 15) Reasoning With Emotions: The next step involves using emotions to promote thinking and cognitive activity. Emotions help prioritize what we pay attention and react to; we respond emotionally to things that capture our attention.

Understanding Emotions: The emotions that we perceive can carry a wide variety of meanings. If someone is expressing angry emotions, the observer must interpret the cause of their anger and what it might mean.

For example, if your boss is acting angry, it might mean that he is dissatisfied with your work; or it could be because he got a speeding ticket on his way to work that morning or that he’s been fighting with his wife.

Managing Emotions: The ability to manage emotions effectively is a key part of emotional intelligence. Regulating emotions, responding appropriately and responding to the emotions of others are all important aspect of emotional management.

According to Salovey and Mayer, the four branches of their model are, “arranged from more basic psychological processes to higher, more psychologically integrated processes. For example, the lowest level branch concerns the (relatively) simple abilities of perceiving and expressing emotion.

In contrast, the highest level branch concerns the conscious, reflective regulation of emotion” (1997).

Source: www.psychology.about.com

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rom the perspective of the general public this should be a relatively easy thing to do.

For the CEO, he or she would prefer that this be done away from the glare of the media and public attention and for the Board, quick, quiet, and cheap is the preferred mode. The shareholders would probably accept this route also but in this imperfect world, it rarely works the way it is planned.

According to E. Pendleton James, a former Personnel Director for the Reagan White House who ran an executive recruiting firm and served on several boards, “when a board evaluates a chief executive’s performance, there are no rights and no grays. A chief executive’s departure is like a divorce, evidence of a relationship gone terminally sour. What that relationship should be, varies from company to company, but there are certain givens.”

For J. Peter Grace, who ran W.R. Grace for 45 years, “It is a partnership in which each side is completely open with the other. No secrets and no fooling around. If you give any director the slightest feeling that you’re not telling the whole

story, that’s when trouble starts.’’

And the relative success of the CEO in leading the company through successive annual growth in profits and shareholder values are not factors likely to protect them either. The situation is even more complicated and often highly sensitive when the CEO is the founder and single largest shareholder of the company.

Over the years we have read about many famous cases of Boards of Directors attempting to fire the CEO. Locally, one that readily comes to mind is William “Bill” Clarke at the Bank of Nova Scotia Jamaica. Clarke went on early retirement in November 2008 after 40 years with the bank, the last 13 years of which were spent as President and Chief Executive Officer. He was not due for retirement until December 15, 2015 at age 65. The decision for him to go on early retirement followed a meeting in July 2008 at the bank’s headquarters in Canada. Unfounded allegations of misconduct were raised and Clarke was offered a retirement package which he rejected.

An offer of Can$3.7 million was later offered but

preventing us from asking those questions up to now.”

James said in his affidavit that he received a letter from the directors requiring him to answer charges with a view to remove him from the position of CEO.

William ‘Bill’ Clarke, Former CEO, Scotiabank Jamaica

that too was rejected. Clarke later took legal action — in what turned out to be a bitter court battle — in order to compel the bank to honour a previous agreement that the matter go to arbitration to determine a fair and equitable retirement package.

The most recent case of Access Financial Services’ Marcus James is now before the courts.

The board at Access Financial is currently locked in a legal battle to oust founder and CEO Marcus James, who also happens to be the company’s single largest shareholder. The dispute stems from among other things a JA$24M refurbishing of the company’s headquarters.

In a recent published comment, Christopher Berry, one of the directors and defendants named in the claim said, “Two Mayberry directors sit on the board of Access: me and Gary Peart.

We felt that the interest of the company was not well served based on the things we saw. We wanted to ask questions, but CEO Marcus James filed action

In one maneuver, the board of Access Financial, sought to have Marcus James’ authority over the day to day running of the company removed only to have that authority restored in the courts.

High Court Judge, Bryan Sykes, ruled that the company’s Board breached a court order not to remove him from the post. Mr. James had been stripped of his powers and one of the directors of the company, Alexander Johnson, appointed co-CEO. The court, in its ruling, said the appointment of Mr. Johnson on April 14 was in breach of an order made three days earlier. That order said that the Board of Directors of Access Financial should not remove

Mr. James from his post of CEO or alter, vary or modify his salary and emoluments before a judgement is made in the dispute he has with certain members of the Board.

The ruling also meant that Mr. Johnson would no longer be co-CEO. When Boards Try To Run The Company For CEOs around the world, these are days of living dangerously as the subject of how and when to get rid of a slumping or non performing Chief Executive Officer has gripped many boardrooms.

Directors are becoming more analytical, more sophisticated and more nervous about subpar performance. Hardly a week goes by without some corporate sequoia crashing to earth. The clamor over celebrated sackings heralds a broader reality.

What often times complicate the situation is when boards try to run the company and thus

(LR – Marcus James, Christopher Berry and Gary Peart)

blur the lines of accountability, forgetting that they hired the chief executive to do the job. Some may argue that this is more likely to take place when the CEO is weak and lacks significant power and influence on the board. A self-confident chief executive should tap the expertise of individual directors all the time. The board should be used‘’ as a long-range policy guide and short-range policymaker. The board should not be allowed to get involved in day-to-day operations.

The Directors Want Him Out A fifth and often times more detrimental and fatal to the CEO is failure to generate and foster support among influential board members.

This becomes evident when decisions to terminate are discussed at meetings.

The famous case of the Steve Jobs’ firing from Apple, the company he founded, is a celebrated and often quoted case. Jobs commanded enormous loyalty from the people who worked directly under him,

Four Major Reasons For Replacing The CEO As we have seen, dismissing a CEO is easier said than done.

Before a board decides how and when, it first has to decide why and that means reviewing its expectations of the potential victim. Dissatisfied boards have to ask: What did we expect of this executive; where did he/she fall short?

According to E. Pendleton James there are four major reasons for replacing a CEO: 1.

but for years he had neglected his board. Sculley who eventually replaced him did not make the same mistake. ‘’Steve simply had not built any equity with the directors,’’ says a computer industry veteran who observed the process at close hand. ‘’He was arrogant and inflexible and independent.”

Older board members are used to going into boardrooms and having some respect paid them. Instead they had this young, smart-ass kid who over the years had been shouting, screaming, throwing tantrums.

The Apple board didn’t particularly like Jobs. When it came to a point of either Jobs staying or leaving, the board was not in favor of him staying. Obviously Steve felt very hurt, but in truth, he did it to himself.’’

When moving to dismiss a CEO, directors tend to move slowly, first because they want to be seen as humane and second because they

Loss Of Earnings

Among the most obvious reasons for replacing a CEO,, but not always the most crucial, is poor earnings. This is often a symptom of other chronic corporate ailment. Measuring a decrease in returns or market share is pretty simple bookkeeping; figuring out why is the hard part. ‘’Directors are smart enough to know that usually there are no clear answers,’’ says one well respected university Professor.

He suggests scepticism when a company concentrates on losses in explaining why the boss is leaving.

2. Dishonesty Malfeasance

And

There have been reported cases of flamboyant behaviour by the CEO, though this is seldom a factor in changing a good performer. One, who left under fire, was accused in shareholder

suits of financing his lavish lifestyle with corporate funds, among other charges.

3.

Dissatisfaction Within The Company When dissatisfaction reaches such levels that the board has to get involved it’s usually time for the CEO to go. Employee unhappiness is an important factor in the stability of any company.

One corporate crisis no director can afford to ignore is revolt or dissension among subordinates.

In one company three vice presidents separately petitioned the board to do something about their . Such rebellion is a matter of high drama. Directors have to feel certain that a critic is not simply gunning for the CEO’s job.

Such critics must tread carefully because if subordinates go behind the boss’s back, but fail to convince the board of their complaint, they can find themselves cleaning out their own offices.

4.

Embarrassing Personal Or Social Behaviour This type of behaviour by the CEO that is embarrassing to the company and through it members of the board cannot be tolerated.

Cases of sexual harassment are a common example and are known to be the reason for many CEO;s departure. Conflicts of interest, especially where financial gain is derived, is another reason . CEO’s have been known to appear at company events and the office intoxicated creating sensitive and often times embarrassing situations for the company.

are acknowledging a mistake in their judgment. Group dynamics are at work.

haven’t done it, or have done it for a while and then the job outgrew them.’’

Peter Grace figured the average board is made up of some members who are ‘’super,’’ some who are ‘’influenceable,’’ and ‘‘one or two SOBs.’’ When a CEO’s troubles begin to mount and ‘’things start deteriorating,’’ Grace finds, ‘’the SOBs get the smell and start working on the others.’’ Grace says the situation reminds him of turkeys, of which he once owned 40,000. ‘’When one turkey starts to bleed, the other turkeys swarm all over him. It’s the same with people!”

Once the decision is made, or when dissident directors feel they have a majority, speed is recommended by everyone who has endured this melancholy event.

As Grace points out, dissatisfaction with a CEO usually originates with a few board members, maybe two or three; they discuss it with others, discreetly at first, then more boldly. Several directors may meet for dinner on the night before a board meeting, ostensibly for fellowship, actually to poll the jury on the death sentence.

Who Should Deliver The Bad News?

Usually the chairman and one or two directors closest to the chief deliver the news.

One venture capitalist who has been involved in many start-ups, in which management changes are frequent and abrupt, says he has fired 15 presidents over 20 years: ‘’It is traumatic and painful. Guys who get fired or are asked to resign are not bad guys. They are hard workers who have tried to the best of their ability to do a job and

One company chairman recounted how he once presented a doomed CEO with two press releases. ‘’The first

‘’Guys who get fired or are asked to resign are not bad guys.

They are hard workers who have tried to the best of their ability to do a job and haven’t done it, or have done it for a while and then the job outgrew them.’’

said he quit, the second said he was fired. I told him we were going to hand out one of them the next day. He chose to quit.

I could honestly say, honestly in quotes, that the board had not asked him for his resignation.’’

Companies will frequently tax the ingenuity of their public relations staffs to come up with a plausible explanation for the boss’s disappearance. One PR expert believes these little fictions are necessary. ‘’There’s a certain courtesy in business,’’ he says, ‘’because when you fire somebody, a Vice President or the CEO, a bit of your own credibility goes out the door with him.’’

toughness and money, lots of it.

Whether it’s called a golden parachute, a golden handshake, or simply a termination agreement, the sometimes astonishingly generous payoff is, as Peter Grace puts it, ‘’to keep him happy and quiet.’’

At major corporations, these severance packages include salary, stock options, fees, insurance and medical policies.

When the numbers leak out or are revealed in the annual report, employees are shocked and stockholders dismayed (sometimes to the point of suing the board). Directors by and large take an Olympian view of these settlements.

The Golden Handshake No matter how disappointed, angry, or even humiliated a chief executive may be over losing his job, he almost without exception holds his tongue. No self- serving leaks, no TV interviews, even though his departure may be big news.

How come? Pride, character,

One director who calls them ‘’bribes to keep your mouth shut,’’ thinks that ‘’if a guy has done a hell of a job and the company has outgrown him, you’d be kind of brutal to throw him out into the street. You should try to take care of him and lubricate his passage to another job.’’

The bitter and highly publicized legal battles between William ‘Bill’ Clarke and the Canadabased Bank of Nova Scotia over his retirement package is a case in point.

According to a Jamaica Observer Newspaper source, both parties reached an agreement that saw Clarke taking ownership of the bank’s home in which he lived during his tenure as head of Scotia’s local operations. In addition, Clarke was allowed to keep the two high-end vehicles that were

assigned to him by the bank and also receive a monetary settlement of several million Canadian dollars.

Board members who are or have been chief executives themselves are unsurprisingly particularly empathetic with another member of the club. ‘’You have a certain lifestyle as a CEO. ‘You belong to clubs, you entertain, you have the big house, the lawn service, the pool service; you do things differently. The least a chief executive who gets fired should expect is two or three years to get his feet on the ground.”

“If a guy has done a hell of a job and the company has outgrown him, you’d be kind of brutal to throw him out into the street.

You should try to take care of him and lubricate his passage to another job.’’

Another argument for generosity is to avoid discouraging potential successors. ‘’If you rough up the CEO and kick him down the stairs, you can create a situation that scares the hell out of any possible candidate.

Headhunter Pen James admits that ‘’such candidates will question me very extensively.

Nobody wants to be another fallen hero.’’

Is There Life Executive Suite?

After

American Apparel Moves To Block Dov Charney From Retaking Control

The

As the ranks of vanished chief executives grow, the question inevitably rises: How do they make out after being fired?

Generalizations are difficult, but most ex- CEO’s can be described as financially comfortable and professionally miserable. They are usually on the prowl for other jobs at the top, sometimes with success, although two major headhunters, who don’t want to be named, say the victim of a noisy corporate upheaval last year is virtually unemployable at the moment. He is still being blamed for the serious troubles his company continues to suffer under the new management.

American Apparel Inc. has adopted a stockholder rights plan aimed at preventing ousted Chief Executive Dov Charney (Above) from seizing control of the company he founded.

Some of these casualties move out of management entirely.

A lot of them sadly, become consultants. BM _________________________

Charney, who owns 27% of the retailer’s stock, entered into an agreement with New York investment firm Standard General to boost his stake in the company, according to the filing. If Standard General acquires at least 10% of American Apparel’s outstanding shares, it will lend Charney the funds to buy the stock. That could boost Charney’s share to at least 37%.

Original source material taken from Richard B. Stolley and Marta F. Dorion (Fortune Magazine) August 31, 1987

A special committee of the Los Angeles retailer’s board made the move after Charney stated his “intent to acquire control or influence over the company” in a Friday filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, American Apparel said in a statement released Saturday.

“The rights plan is designed to limit the ability of any person or group, including Dov Charney, to seize control of the company without appropriately compensating all American Apparel shareholders,” the statement said. “It is intended to provide the board of directors and stockholders with time to make informed judgments.”

For more check this link http://www.latimes.com/business/ la-fi-american-apparel-fights-back-dov-charney-20140628story.html

A

n increasing number of business owners, professionals and company executives are staying connected to their offices, clients and customer with smartphones, tablets and laptops via Wi-Fi. This growing trend of choosing to conduct more and more of their business activities outside of their offices has made the availability of free Wi-Fi very important for businesses looking to attract their patronage.

“One of the key deciding factors for me in selecting a place to have lunch, breakfast or even dinner sometimes is the availability of free Wi-Fi service,” was how one Jamaican business executive remarked. Increasingly the availability of free Wi-Fi service is becoming an important factor in the selection of a restaurant or other business establishments which facilitate social interaction,

Chris Bird (shown above on the left in black shirt with a customer) owner and operator of the very popular and trendy OMG Restaurant and Coffee Bar in Mandeville Jamaica is one businessman who has long recognized the benefit of this service to his customers. The trendy eatery is a major meeting point for company executives from within the town and those passing through.

A growing number of independent freelance professionals also use the location as another “office space” using the free Wi-Fi service while supporting the restaurant.

Retailers of all kind need to take note of this growing trend . Internationally, retailers are increasingly understanding and embracing the fact that they must enhance in-store experience and make available free Wi-Fi to customers.

The owners and operators of the very popular Knutsford Express coach service which travels across

Jamaica, offers free Wi-Fi service on all buses and at their offices islandwide. This allows customers to work and stay connected while travelling in comfort.

MegaMart currently offers free Wi-Fi service to all customers and patrons , allowing customers across Jamaica to shop and even check out product information online further aiding their decision making.

According to international findings, “Wi-Fi can be used to enhance the in-store experience for mobile users and, according to new research released by digital marketing agency Acquity Group, consumers feel more confident making big purchases when in-store Wi-Fi is available.”

Research from Acquity Group, noted that, “consumers feel more confident making a major purchase when free in-store WiFi is available. In particular, half of the 1,500 Smartphone owners surveyed for the research said they would feel more confident making a major purchase with the ability to research in-store.

Three in 10 would be more likely to browse additional items not on their list if Wi-Fi was available and 20% would spend longer in-store.

In addition, 20% of respondents would, if free in-store Wi-Fi were available, download the store’s app and another 20% would visit the store’s mobile website or app for store navigation.”

Starbucks Stations

Instore

Charging

Helen Leggatt in her very popular online publication recently noted that “Some retailers are trying to ignore the growing trend of in-store mobile use by their customers. However, surveys have shown that this behavior is on the increase and the onus is on retailers to harness the trend and use it to their advantage.”

She went on to suggest that “Instore prompts such as QR Codes, (should you spell out QR?)mobile coupons or speedy mobile checkouts, all help to engage in-store customers, who are increasingly using mobile devices to compare prices, check out product reviews and search for detailed product information. By providing in-store Wi-Fi retailers ensure that mobile users aren’t frustrated by dodgy connections, and can fully interact with their devices.”

In its continuing quest to provide more than coffee, Starbucks will now also charge your phone in a selected number of stores.

Last year, 17 Starbucks shops in Boston USA placed Duracell Powermats on tables so customers could come in, plop their phones onto the mat— no wires required—and grab a drink while they waited for their devices to charge. The company announced it is now adding

Powermats to 10 or so stores in Silicon Valley. Other locations will be listed on Poweruphere.com as they come onboard, including those in other cities.

“This is the kind of improvement to the digital experience that our customers expect from Starbucks and the kind that we will deliver moving forward,” said Starbucks Chief Digital Officer Adam Brotman. Spokeswoman Linda Mills says using the mats is more energy-efficient than encouraging everyone to plug their phones into outlets.

For Powermat Technologies President, Daniel Schreiber the agreement gets his company’s product out into the public, and encourages folks to buy the necessary accessories for easy, on-the-go charging. For Starbucks, it’s one more way to persuade customers to come in, sit down, and have a little something to drink.

Chip Knicker, vice president of eCommerce at Acquity Group was quoted in an article as saying that “Retailers are looking for ways to increase in-store sales, while also pushing online spending in an age of show rooming, but several are eliminating some of the best opportunities to drive a greater amount of in-store revenue.

In-store Wi-Fi not only allows retailers to keep consumers in store longer, making them more likely to purchase, but also helps tie in the consistent user experience across channels that today’s consumers expect.”BM

Why Do Women Say Female Executives Are Harder To Work With?

W

omen. You can’t work with them. You can’t work for them. No, this isn’t a male complaint, but gripes coming from other women who say working with female counterparts in the corporate world can be challenging and, in some cases, unpleasant.

But is this a myth or reality? It seems a little bit of both for various reasons.

“Certainly, women can work together, but in my work this myth has sprouted from a bigger issue, and this goes beyond gender, this is a human condition that makes it difficult for people to work together in general,” notes organization and workforce development professional Dr. Anita Davis-DeFoe. “If an individual is suffering from personal insecurities, emotional or professional wounds, the absence of emotional intelligence and personal effectiveness characteristics, these challenges make it difficult for them to work well with others. This can apply to both men and women. However, since women are viewed as nurturers and relationship builders, when they do

not work well together, this is shocking to others and serves to fuel this myth.”

But how much of a myth is it when there are actual data to back up the complaints about women in the workplace? A report by the Workplace Bullying Institute cited in The New York Times found that 40 percent of workplace bullying comes from women and 70 percent of the time she has a female target. “This, too, fosters perceptions about conflict amongst women,” notes Davis-DeFoe. “Most of the vicious attacks, passive-aggressive behavior, and unkind remarks I’ve been subjected to in my life have been initiated by women,” said Karel Murray, co-author of Conquering the Witch Within in a press statement. “Women in business, with constant conflicting impulses, can be their own worst enemies.”

Women bosses have a lot going against them, including their own absence in a lot of places.

“Women as bosses are still rare when you look at the numbers, while growing; the numbers are still dismal across industries, as men are still viewed as the natural choice for a leadership role,” remarks Dr. Davis-DeFoe. “Socialization has caused both women and men to have misconceptions about leadership and managerial effectiveness traits.

When a woman demonstrates competencies that are celebrated in a male counterpart, she is criticized or labeled masculine.”

Branding and marketing specialist Theresa O’Neal, of Bee Season Consulting, also says women bosses fear appearing vulnerable. “As women in the workforce, we are sometimes concerned about

displaying our vulnerabilities for fear that we may not be seen as capable as our male counterparts. If subordinates fail, we are also seen as failing.

Unfortunately, we are not allowed to pass the buck or ‘dumb out’ like some (not all!) of our male counterparts do,” she adds. That insecurity can breed actions and behavior that make women seem like bad bosses, adds Davis-DeFoe. Black female bosses on the other hand are often perceived as better bosses.

Researchers from Duke’s and Northwestern’s business schools found that while employees “disliked aggressive woman” notion, it doesn’t apply when the women are black, reports TheJaneDough. com. “When most people think of ‘race,’ they think of a black male. When most people think of ‘women,’ they think a white female. Because black women essentially fly under both of those radars, they’re examined differently with the notion that they’re practically impervious to negative evaluations,” writes the site. But when black women are working for other black women, similar complaints about women bosses crop up again.

One is that black female bosses tend to overcompensate by being tougher.

Climbing the corporate ladder to the top is difficult in general but magnified for women. The Glass Hammer recently asked “Hard Questions: Why won’t we work for women?” And it

discovered various answers.

positions.

“A gender schema is an unconscious cultural assumption we hold about men and women.

One schema is that women are first assumed incompetent and therefore not leaders, whereas for men it’s the opposite – that they are first assumed competent until proven otherwise,” Dr. Birute Regine, a developmental psychologist and author of Iron Butterflies: Women Transforming Themselves and the World, told the site.

“And while it should inspire us to continue to work towards a truly level playing (and paying) field, it instead has done something quite different,” reports Molly Cain in Forbes.

“40% of workplace bullying comes from women and 70% of the time she has a female target.’’

Report by the Workplace Bullying Institute.

Stress management expert Debbie Mandel told Glass Hammer there is another reason why women prefer to work for men. “Women tend to compete – especially with other women,” she said. Because of the competition, women tend to be aggressive when they see a position they want.

Women compete in the workplace for many reasons. Because of the continuing gender wage gap, women compete harder against one another for the higher-paying

“While we oftentimes do look at the man next to us and say, ‘Hey, I want to make what he makes,’ more often, we look at the woman next to us and think, ‘She’s such a suck-up, she doesn’t deserve the salary/ bonus/promotion/etc.’”

Another reason for the competition between women is the lack of top jobs available for women executives. “There are only 15 female CEO’s in Fortune 500 companies today, that’s only three percent…and we now make up 46.8% of workforce today,” notes Cain in Forbes.

Women in the corporate world also fear missing a beat, so compete harder. “Because of historical and present mistreatment of women in the workforce, I do believe that we may be more scrutinized than our male counterparts, but yet again, it has to do with a competitive, troubled economic climate and continuing cries for workforce equality,” explains O’Neal. “If a woman becomes pregnant or has a disproportionate amount of responsibility associated with caring for a child or a loved one, she may be seen as less productive and as a possible drain on corporate resources.”

But women can change the way they are perceived.

“While we all should be pursuing continuous growth, if a woman is a transformational leader and brings her spiritual intelligence (servant hood consciousness) mental intelligence (vision); emotional intelligence (passion); and physical intelligence (focused time management) to work she will be comfortable completing not competing with other women,” notes Davis-DeFoe. And sometimes tempered toughness is a good thing. “I have had my fair share of tough female bosses, but on a positive note, I think it was my bosses’ true desire to make me a better executive,” says O’Neal. “I had one female boss who felt that I should mirror her excellence and she was way tougher on me, her female staffer than her male staffers. At times she would severely chastise or reprimand us, in an effort to protect us from our own naivety.”

So how can women change the way working women are viewed?

Stop gossiping: “From childhood, most females are taught to ‘play nice,’”,” says Davis-DeFoe. ”Anything else is considered ill-mannered.

Because women know that they’re supposed to appear nice, their behaviors toward one another go underground. When they’re feeling

competitive they will often backbite or gossip about a co-worker, subtly trying to undermine the competitor’s position.”

Stop sabotaging relationships: “When unsophisticated thinking meets desperation, all hell breaks loose,” notes O’Neal. “That’s why it is important for women to constantly keep the big picture in mind. Opportunities abound for the resourceful thinker who maintains her decorum and leaves childish games in the schoolyard. ” Stop judging: “It has long been said that women dress for other women. That is because women tend to notice how other women are being perceived in a group,” explains Dr. DavisDeFoe. “As a woman in a place of business, the best bet is to get to know the women you work with before assuming anything.”

Stop living up to the myth: Flip the script instead. “I embrace the misconceptions and use them to my advantage. If they expect me to be unapproachable and catty, I find a way to compliment them immediately. If they expect me to be emotional, sometimes I become more human, which invites others to be more human as well,” O’Neal shares.

Stop making it personal: “Just as little boys can have a fist fight at one moment and be best buddies the next, men tend to shake off negative personal comments more quickly than women,” says Davis-DeFoe. “When a manager tells a woman that she’s doing something wrong, it can be difficult for her to remember that it’s just business and has nothing to do with how the manager feels about her.”

Have you worked for women bosses? What was your experience?

- See more at: http://madamenoire.com/279529/ the-mean-girl-syndrome-are-women-reallyharder-to-work-with/2/#sthash.WtaZ2aOB. dpuf

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