Most of you will agree that the statement Even World Class Metrics Are Worthless When You Do Not Use Them is reasonable, particularly if you do not feel you have world class metrics.
 
Before you let yourself off the hook so quickly, how do you rate your metrics and how well they are used on a scale of 1 to 100, with 70 being a passing mark? For those who at lest passed and hopeful got an A or a B grade, how well does your business use those selected metrics as an executive level management tool?
 
I have been surprised how many companies do not receive a very good report card on the metric business drivers for their business. Some of you may have benchmarking, flash reports, leading indicators, key performance indicators (kpis) or some version of risk management.
 
However, most companies do not have a practical usable 5 to 7 key metric driven one page flash report management tool for their business. When done correctly, this provides an invaluable management tool. When this can not be done with a reasonable level of effort, it provides the opportunity to identify what these reasons are and see what detrimental impact those bottlenecks or roadmap are causing elsewhere in the system.
 
After all, if your accounting and operational systems satisfy the auditors and accounting departments needs, but your managers feel they do not receive the information they need to run the business, what is the cost of that in your company? Inability to obtain the crucial data on a timely manner delivered to your front line employees may be more important than having those world class metrics that arrive after the fact.
 
Consider selecting a group of key users at least once a year to suggest how to make the system work for your company rather than your employees working for the system. Those of you who honestly gave yourself a B, C D or F on your metrics and how they are used should convene that group this week. Why start this week? Because those of you with the 95 and above rating plan to do this process to they can widen the gap with their less prepared competition.

Sometimes it is good to take some quiet time and search through that stack of notes, memo, and clippings you made of great information you would look at someday.  This is specially true if someday has been delayed several times and your stack has gotten bigger than you can ignore anymore.

When I sent through this process, I found something which young companies and entrepreneurs may appreciate. There are an interesting range of free forms and sample business plan examples at http://assist.entrepreneur.com

What I thought was interesting is that since many of these are very basic, it is hard to find copies somewhere when you need them for the first time.  So I trust you find something useful for yourself or a friend.

Gist of the article referenced below is that Congressional leaders again took the short term answer of forcing the accounting profession to water down reforms when pain was inflicted to solve a problem. Unfortunately there are a number of these type articles talking about watering down regulations from accounting and regulatory side by Congressional leadership. 

http://www.fiercesarbox.com/story/tide-turns-mark-market/2009-04-02

The article goes on to say that Arthur Levitt, former SEC chairman, has been pretty vocal in his opposition to the move.

Who knows what symptom we will see a few years from now.  Then we will surely see some Congressional leader blaming business for results, that are an indirect effect of this and some other Congressional pressure. Of course nothing will be mentioned about how politicians are part of the problem.

Whether you call in contemplation, quiet time or going to the top of the mountain to mediate upon the meaning of life, we all need a break.

I enjoy visiting the Roger Williams Park in Providence. You can pick a quiet area that appeals to you and walk, sit down on a convenient spot or go into one of the exhibits. I picked the entrance of the park with the classic statue of a dignitary – Roger Williams in this case, and the swan boats.

Wikipedia says the following about the Roger Williams Park Zoo of Providence.  Rhode Island, USA houses over 1000 animals representing 139 species, including bald eagles, snow leopards, Asian black bears, giraffes, and African elephants, in naturalistic settings. It is the nation's third oldest zoo. The park and zoo are named after the founder of Providence, Roger Williams, the 17th-century proponent of religious tolerance.

If you have not given yourself the gift of some quiet time lately, do it again.

The Friday WSJ 5-22 front page article “Recession Turns Malls Into Ghost Towns” tells how up to 100 malls will move into what is called a “dead mall” status. Charlotte’s Eastland mall has the dubious distinction of being prominently described in the article. The article says the downturn began when the area near Eastland fostered low income housing, and goes on to describe the 200 million dollar cost to convert the mall to a mix of housing, shops and parks.

Given time, someone will find a way to profitably recycle these malls. Having seen how abandoned and boarded up malls and real estate were recycled in the past, it will happen again.

Reading the article and thinking briefly about it suggested I look at what risks in my life I can turn into an opportunity and how will I do it. Let me know if something in this post helped your thought process.

People keep saying what happens in California is a frontrunner for what will happen elsewhere the next year.

Who would have thought this would happen in an area as mundane as buying gasoline for your car?  I was surprised to see a full service gas pump service in Los Angeles.  I mean an air how, windshield washer and someone to pump the gas.  I really do not put much value on someone else pumping my gas.  It is nice to have access to a windshield wiper and cleaning liquid.  Again, I can do that myself.

What I wanted was a way to get air in my tires when they are low.  And I got it.  In case you question my comments, I took the picture below of a return to the basics in one more area of our lives.

As part of releasing my book Stick Out Your Balance Sheet and Cough: Best Practices for Long-Term Business Health, friends suggested I attend a speaker workshop to let my passion on risk management shine through.

They specifically recommended the Larry Gilman led MASTERY of Self Expression workshop. After attending an event where Larry spoke, I signed up not knowing for sure what I was going to learn.

 The website http://www.themasteryworkshops.com general description did not really tell me what I was going to be doing. As an expert in accounting, finance and operations, I was not sure how this would work.  Since the workshop had been conducted in over 25 cities worldwide for more than 30,000 people from all walks of life, since 1976, I felt the process should cover all my needs.

The Los Angeles location looked like an entertainment industry should.

And Larry and the team met and exceeded my every expectation.  The workshop definitely exceeded the amount of constructive criticism that I had planned for, and it turns out I needed.  Something to the effect that enterprise risk management is not as interesting to non corporate people as it was to me.

Another bonus was the broader and more understandable presentation of risk management that Larry provided as part of the attached video.

 All of us understand the need to obtain and carry insurance on our home and its contents.  Move that same analogy to your business. In addition to the standard insurance coverage you obtain for your business, think of risk management as a form of coverage you really should have included in your business process. You select the extent of the coverage by the amount of effort you place in the risk management process, from none to an industrial strength version.  But you really should at least have some basic to mid range coverage.

Larry Gilman comments after the MASTERY of Self Expression workshop.