My Leadership Excellence magazine article “Seven lessons from a turnaround CEO”

  • Book Published:  “Learn to Whisper” by Robert F. Amter

    Organized into 101 successful management lessons and separated into 17 subjects, “Learn to Whisper” is everything a CEO needs to know not just to manage, but how to write and execute the turnaround plan to fix distressed manufacturing companies. “Learn to Whisper” is available on this Amazon link: https://tinyurl.com/ya3sttmk Tweet

  • Work at Home or in the Office?

    There are obvious benefits to the employee of working from home. However the negatives to the company are too significant to ignore. In every turnaround of a distressed company I have fixed, the absence of face-to-face cross-functional communication was glaringly absent. Cross-functional communication is defined as employees from every function meeting as a group on […]

  • What’s wrong with General Motors?

    It seems that #GeneralMotors has deteriorated and is in trouble yet again with: GM posted a decline in net income of 141% in 2018. GM registered a $4 billion net loss in 2017. GM recently announced the closure of 6 manufacturing plants. Meanwhile, Toyota actually increased net income almost 40% in 2018, and earned a net […]

  • Was GE correct in replacing its CEO?

    A nagging thought kept running through my mind when I read #GeneralElectric had replaced Mr. John Flannery as Chief Executive Officer after just 14 months on the job: Was he given enough time to fix this huge severely distressed $120 billion company? My answer is no… It would take at least 3 years to fix a […]

  • China’s Debt Crisis

    #China may be forced to continue to increase its debt position. Their cash flow future looks grim. China’s debt is largely held by corporations. The problem is a fair number of their small and large companies are poorly managed. Their inefficient equipment and systems results in high-cost, money-losing operating companies. This results in deficit cash […]

Bob Amter

Since 1991, Bob Amter has operated as a
Chief Executive Officer and Advisor to distressed and profitable manufacturing and service companies.

Prior to 1991, he was a 15-year veteran of
$20 billion Emerson Electric Co. as a division president.

Is China Headed for a Breakup Just Like The Soviet Union’s?

The Wall Street Journal article “The Coming Chinese Crackup” by Dr. David Shambaugh, a leading expert on China, forecasts that China may be heading towards the same political breakup the Soviet Union experienced in 1991 under Mikhail Gorbachev. “China-watchers have been on high alert for telltale signs of regime decay and decline ever since the […]

An Avoidable Manufacturing Failure?

Google announced in May that it has decided to close its Motorola Moto X smartphone plant. The Texas plant has been in operation for one year. Its smartphones will be manufactured in China and Brazil. One goal for this plant was to “…challenge conventional wisdom that manufacturing in the U.S. is too expensive.” But unit […]

Fixing General Motors

Even well-run manufacturing companies periodically have product quality problems. The lifeblood of a manufacturing company is controlling its costs. Quality problems increase costs and ultimately reduce sales. As such, successful chief executive officers pay attention to product quality costs and causes which are readily available in monthly financial and operating reports. Reports that the General […]

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Chief Executive Officer

Executive Chairman

Turnarounds & Operational Restructurings

Adviser to creditors, board of directors or owners

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Develop strategic and operating plans - including Court required plans of reorganization

Acquisition advice and negotiations

Serve as Member Board of Directors

Testify in Federal and State Court

Reason I wrote my book “Learn to Whisper”

Click on this link for a more complete description of “Learn to Whisper”

The reason I wrote “Learn to Whisper”:

My conclusion after operating as a Turnaround Chief Executive Officer for more than twenty-five years is that the majority of this country’s top management is far from first-rate. In fact top management, particularly at the chief executive officer level, is at best average with a large number that can be rated mediocre. This lack of management competence has seen this country’s market leaders lose sizeable market share to foreign manufacturers able to export better quality and lower cost products to the USA. It has seen manufacturing and service operations unnecessarily moved to foreign countries. All of which has negatively affected the economy, severely damaged former blue-chip corporations and seen quality jobs lost.

It is quite common to discover that companies struggling with this inability to compete with foreign companies have been simply mismanaged. The once successful business deteriorated because of an incompetent chief executive officer and weak senior management

Why doesn’t this nation have first-rate management? Inadequate training. Chief executive officers and vice presidents learn “on the job”. A number get promoted based on personality, political connections and drive – not merit. They are not carefully screened for the potential to become successful at managing. For some all that is needed is a well-written resume, the right interviewing style and the inability of a new employer to accurately assess skills, performance and potential.

Compare this to the process doctors go through. From medical school to internship to residency to a senior role after years of education, experience and continuous training their progress and capabilities are constantly monitored even after they become senior in the profession. Generals and Admirals go through a similar protocol. They must prove themselves in low-level assignments before they are judged qualified for senior positions. Unqualified applicants in both professions are culled out. What can be done to improve management competence? Education, on-the-job training and job performance monitoring. My book will educate people on the subject of managing. Its 101 management lessons are separated into the 17 subjects managers need to know.