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Sep30
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We've talked on managersrealm before about the downside of too much success. The recent loss by Amaranth Advisors LLC reveals mistakes that are easy to see from the outside looking in, but the hardest to see when you're inside the circle.
The hedge fund recently lost $6 billion through terrible energy trades; as a result the fund is about to shut down.
The problem the fund encountered was that they were highly successful for a couple of years in the specific area they were investing in. The results made them drunk with success - it cost losses in the billions because of it.
One reason this in inexcusable is because anyone that stays tuned to the markets knew that the extraordinary success in the commodity markets couldn't be sustained without a correction. Many people have  been talking about that correction for some time now.
The last two years reveal that the hedge fund had $1.26 billion in profit in 2005 and $2.17 billion in 2006; the biggest amount of that being connected to energy. So they continued doing the same thing.
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Sep29
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When we talk about managers and leaders, at first glance it may seem just making a distinction can make it look like one is better than the other. In truth, they are both very important. In this post let's talk...
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Sep28
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The coming employee shortage isn't a scare tactic or hype; the statistics are real. One big hope for companies is the changing health and desires of mature workers. They are no longer looking at retirement in the way our parents...
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Sep26
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Change can be managed but not controlled From a managers perspective, change will always be a part of our lives in the workplace. The biggest thing we can do is to adopt change as a part of our business culture....
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Sep25
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Ray Allegrezza, writing for the Furniture Today online newspaper, talked about a recent lunch he had with Michael Foster, co-founder of J.T. Michael Designs. Starting the business last year, Foster said, "When we launched, we defined ourselves as importers, but...
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Sep24
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...Your revenues that is. Have you found yourself overwhelmed because your team has done such great customer service that word of mouth has created a monster of opportunity that you allowed to grow too much? In other words, have you...
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As managers or business owners we need to understand something concerning change that has a tremendous impact upon our decision-making processes. We need to realize that technology changes at tremendous rates of speed while people change a lot slower. It...
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Sep22
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One of the great truths concerning management is that what you do is followed much more than what you say. To put it another way; what you do is what you say. People don't just listen to words, but they...
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Sep21
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The continuing fragmentation of society and the various priorities that have come about from that fragmentation has been spilling over into the workplace for years. It is still extremely hard to make any decision without someone challenging or possibly resenting...
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Sep20
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Being a staunch Hockey fan, the start of the exhibition season reminded me of some excellent ways managers can offer encouragement and training for their employees. What is the purpose of any exhibition game in any sport? To get the...
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Sep19
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The entire U.S. auto industry has conducted business in the last several years as if there weren't high gas prices and the potential for disruptions in the supply. With companies that have been so long in the business and having...
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Sep18
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With a lot of talk concerning the American auto industry lately, there have been rumors that General Motors Corp. (GM) and Ford Motor Co. (F) have had talks about merging or some type of alliance that would help to cut...
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Sep17
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With a worker shortage projected of 8-10 million people by the year 2011, companies must do something to ensure that they have the type of work environment that workers don't want to leave. One way to look at it is...
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Sep16
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In a recent article concerning the growing mega-city and how people are scrambling to try to tame what is spontaneously happening within them, it made me think about what happens when things are unexpectedly more successful than we think and...
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Sep15
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The problems that exist at Ford Motor Co. (F), give a good example of how not to do things. For a number of years the market has been telling them what they must do and they have literally had no...
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Sep14
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The best way to deal with potential disasters that can ensure your business operates when the worse things happen is to have a plan and practical preparations in place. One company, Dayton Ritz & Osborne, does this: Their preparations include...
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Sep13
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With the announcement of two of the more powerful publishing companies in the world that they will be divesting of some of their major properties, it shows the impact of a number of factors upon business that we need to...
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Getting our customers into a dialogue with us has always been a top priority and tremendously effective in building customer loyalty. Another powerful aspect of consumer dialogue is the communities that can be built around having a similar connection to...
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Sep12
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When I talk to business owners and managers, I still come across quite a bit of confusion in understanding the difference between a business goal and business objectives. One way to understand it is to think of the term goal...
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Sep11
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While we have talked at managersrealm before about searching out mentors to help to fill in things that we lack in our manager or leadership development, there's another side of mentoring that can be just as beneficial to the workplace....
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Sep10
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The key thing to remember about change within your business is that it always relates to people. It doesn't matter if the change is in technology, vendors, competition, structure or focus. It is how it relates to your people that...
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Sep 9
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There is still a lot of confusion among business owners and managers into what the major motivators of employees are. While many understand that money isn't always the primary motivator, they are still in the dark many times; not only...
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Sep 8
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Now that the attention of the press is on the privacy side of the Hewlett Packard (HPQ) scandal, the other side of the story of George Keyworth, an HP board member who unethically released information revealed in the board meetings,...
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With the recent ignorance of Starbucks concerning their recalling of coupons that were said to go beyond their original intent, we're seeing a continuation of management blunders that somewhat boggle the mind. We at managersrealm don't bash people for simply...
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Sep 7
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BP (BP) has made a lot of mistakes in the Alaska pipeline fiasco. Why would a huge company like BP virtually ignore maintenance of one of the most important US domestic oil pipelines? The Prudhoe Bay field in Alaska accounts for...
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Many times when someone thinks of the consequences of long term thinking, they think that it will result in a loss of creativity and the pioneering spirit. On the contrary, it is short term thinking and focus that damages the...
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Sep 6
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Airports can no longer count on making profits and growth from the airline industry. As a result, across the world; especially in the areas of retailing, parking and catering, there has been a trend toward expanding opportunities in non-aviation sectors....
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In reference to Bill Ford stepping down as CEO of Ford Motor Company(F), one can say that it may have been too long in coming; yet least it came. There are numerous incidents in history where these type of tough...
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Outraged at the continuous leaks from board meetings, HP Chairwoman Patricia Dunn decided to hire investigators to find the source of the leaks. The investigation led to longtime board member George Keyworth. The process, to say the least, caused an...
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Sep 5
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After a successful 37 year sting at Boeing (BA), Alan Mulally has been named as the new CEO of Ford Motor Company (F). He will replace Ford family member Bill Ford, who is a grandson of the founder of the...
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Sep 4
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When I heard the comment a while ago concerning the reality that if we exchanged the word business with marketing, the meaning shouldn't change for those who understand the concept. In essence, business is marketing - period. As a matter...
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The Walt Disney Company (DIS), who has for a long time seemed to have lost its way, and has been drifting without purpose, now seems to be making some good decisions that could really propel it strongly into the future....
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Sep 3
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In somewhat of an understatement, chairman and chief executive Billy Ford, of the Ford Motor Co. said that the company needs a new business model. Quoting a report from the Financial Times, Reuters said that Ford "may turn to outside...
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As we've talked about a number of times here, one of the major problems that we encounter in the business world is when we are extremely successful. It is in that time of success that we are tempted to spend...
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A long time ago a friend of mine who was an artist, tried to help me to understand one of the passions he had when he was doing his painting. He told me that the secret to him was all...
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Sep 2
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In my thirty years in the business world, there's one thing that I've learned that has helped by bypass a lot of stupid things that would have got be off of my purpose for being in business. What was it...
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Sep 1
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I read a book recently by Barry Moltz called You Need to be a Little Crazy: The Truth about Starting and Growing your own Business. Having read in the hundreds of books on business and management through the years, I...
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Facing a continuing decline in market share, along with a 22 percent drop in share price this year, Intel Corp. Chief Executive Officer Paul Otellini is looking for ways to cut $1 billion in costs. He already got rid of...
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