Recession?

Posted by on May 17, 2016 · Leave a Comment 

Are we headed into a recession in 2016-2017? The decline in the key drivers of economic growth say yes: Business fixed investment has declined by an annualized 4% over the past two quarters. Business equipment and software declined 5%. Non-residential structures dropped almost 8%. Employee layoffs. “U.S.-based companies announced 65,141 job cuts last month (April), up 35 percent from March.” Boeing plans to layoff 8,000 employees – 10%... Read More

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Henry Paulson’s Book: “Dealing with China”

Posted by on August 5, 2015 · Leave a Comment 

Henry Paulson, Jr. has a new book titled “Dealing with China”. Is this a practical treatise on working with China? Seventeen of the book’s twenty chapters are detailed descriptions of Mr. Paulson’s own personal history while working with Goldman Sachs, as US Treasury Secretary and with the Paulson Institute. It is an interesting personal story. However, the autobiographical review is not truly helpful for dealings with China. A Wall Street... Read More

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What will the world look like in a decade?

Posted by on July 6, 2015 · Leave a Comment 

“Stratfor has 11 chilling predictions for what the world will look like a decade from now” by Armin Rosen, Business Insider, June 16, 2015 The private intelligence firm Strategic Forecasting, or Stratfor, recently published its Decade Forecast in which it projects the next 10 years of global political and economic developments. In many ways, Stratfor thinks the world of 10 years from now will be more dangerous place, with US power waning and other... Read More

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

Posted by on March 16, 2015 · Leave a Comment 

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 regime’s near-death experience in Tiananmen Square in 1989. Since then, several seasoned Sinologists... Read More

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Is China Facing a Growth and Debt Crisis?

Posted by on March 3, 2014 · Leave a Comment 

“Will China Shake the World Again?” is a recent article written by Robert Preston. Preston is the Business Editor for the BBC. The piece discusses China’s ability to sustain its growth, manage its heavy debt positions and avoid a disaster equal to or greater than the 2007-2008 financial crisis. Preston believes China has an “unbalanced economy whose recent sources of growth are not sustainable.” In 2007-2008 “…the Chinese government... Read More

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Chief Executive Officer

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

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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.