 Straight
Talk on Tough Decisions
ATTENTION: BUSINESS OWNER
CEOs and MANAGING PARTNERS:
Since founding THE BOARD, I discovered
that the typical business owner CEO of most closely-held businesses faces
several
problems:
-
To whom can
I turn to when I need an honest and useful answer to a business problem? -
How can I do an even better job? -
How can I be more accountable, so that I will
stretch myself, use my time more productively, address the nagging major long
term problems that don't go away? -
How
can I earn the feeling that I'm running the company as well as I might?
There is no management seminar, no business guru who can give
you the "tough" answers. However, there is a solid proven technique that has helped
hundreds of CEOs find their own. The catch is that this technique requires a combination
of traits and attitudes that are not too common among the strong minded entrepreneurial
people who run closely held companies. You have to be willing to:
-
Admit that you don't know all of the answers.
-
Tell outsiders all the details of your business, including disclosure
of the two holies:
-
How
much the company really earned, and
-
How much did you take out of the company in all forms
-
Express your doubts and concerns without feeling that by so doing
you will be seen as an inadequate manager.
-
Realize that people from different business backgrounds do not
have to spend ten years in your industry, different as it truly is, to bring you
challenging new ideas.
-
Submit
to the discipline of regular accountability for your actions and the company's
results to a group whom you respect and don't want to disappoint.
-
Understand that helping you is a satisfactory and fun experience
to outsiders.
If you can give yourself a passing grade on most of these points or summon
the courage to stop being totally independent, then you are a serious candidate
for membership in THE BOARD. I trust you will read further and contact me to discover
ways in which THE BOARD can benefit you and your business.
Respectfully yours, 
John L. Foote
Founder of THE BOARD
THE FOUNDER
Founder of THE BOARD John L. Foote has over 40 years of experience in the management
and operation of large and small businesses. During the last 25 years, Mr. Foote
has been involved in small businesses as: Founder and operator
of a wholesale/retail food business in the Midwest.
A Presidential appointee
to the Overseas Private Investment Corp. (OPIC), a quasi-governmental agency dedicated
to the export of small business investment in third world countries.
A manager of lending relations for Maryland National Corp. (now Bankamerica) correspondent
bankers and their range of small business clients in the middle Atlantic region.
Founder of THE BOARD, INC. since 1988 and counseling hundreds of small
businesses CEOs in the Baltimore/Washington area. 
Welcome Message
Message from the Founder
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