Category Archives: Surrounding yourself with talent
Do you need an advisory board?
Have you ever thought of creating an advisory board? As you can guess, that would be an informal group with no legal responsibilities, but one able to be called upon to act as business, industry and scientific advisors to the … Continue reading
Do you even need a business coach?
Everyone, even seasoned CEO’s can use a good coach who knows how to bring out the best in a person, is knowledgeable about the business process, and who has an extended list of relationships to call upon to fill needs … Continue reading
Do employees value their options as ownership?
How about employees all the way down the line and through the corporation? How do we align them to the goals and strategies of the enterprise? Obviously for the appropriate individuals, a bonus program aligned to the department’s goals is … Continue reading
Stock options or more cash?
What if employee candidates ask for the moon? In 1981, Herb Cohen wrote and published “You Can Negotiate Anything”, an excellent guide to great negotiating. I’ve read and reread the book a number of times and find myself using the … Continue reading
Would you pay a high achiever more than yourself?
Here’s a case study for yourself: Recently I was asked to review an offer letter for a senior director of business development. The CEO was concerned that he was offering far too much in the form of incentive compensation, with … Continue reading
Be careful about equity and options!
Here is the warning: The execution of equity allocations and of a good incentive program using equity is often mismanaged, damaging the corporate capitalization structure and even affecting the outcome of subsequent investment into the company. … and here is … Continue reading
Why we should fire fast, not last!
Our first reaction to marginal performance. Here is one that takes a real leap for a younger manager or CEO to believe. After hiring someone with all the attendant enthusiasm followed by the training and learning curve, if an employee … Continue reading
Hire as if your survival depends upon it.
Aside from visionary management, this is your most important job. Many of us go through the motions of hiring to fill a position, trying to use our intuition and skills to find the best candidate for the job. Sometimes we … Continue reading
Are you still flexible enough to be coached?
Why should we ask this question? As an early-stage investor, the first test for me is whether “my” entrepreneur is flexible in both the plan and execution of their vision (since from experience almost everything about a business plan changes … Continue reading
About personal use of corporate assets
Here’s the IRS take on the issue: It is no secret that the IRS carefully looks below the surface for personal use of company assets (including cash) in its corporate income tax audits. This insight addresses more the impact of … Continue reading