“Some regard private enterprise as if it were a predatory tiger to be shot. Others look upon it as a cow that they can milk. Only a handful see it for what it really is – the strong horse that pulls the whole cart.”Today, November 30, is the birthday of Winston Churchill. He was born 136 years ago in 1874 … and died almost 45 years ago … yet his talent and prodigious output remains striking to this day.
He has always been one of my favorite historical characters … and for many reasons. His oratorical wit, style and passion was without peer. He had a spine of steel … with discipline and resilience to match,
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Welcome to our continuing Fiction Friday series. We have a little time off I see … no wonder this post is getting longer … but we’re still spilling our guts here every week to help you find great reads in the mystery-suspense-thriller genre. I previewed this new series earlier, so I don’t need to repeat it … other than to remind you that I intend to stimulate your discovery of the good, the bad and the only genre where a ranch breakfast is a steel metal jacket dipped in cordite.
Mostly, we’re just taking a break to have a little fun. [All names in Bold Italic ... BLACK for authors, titles in GREEN, characters in ORANGE ... except URL references in RED. No affiliate links]
A couple of things worth noting this week. If you haven’t read Nelson DeMille, perhaps most famous for The Charm School, you’re missing a rock solid writer with a great sense of humor. If you haven’t already, you need to meet John Corey, his wise-cracking protagonist and one of the few laugh aloud characters in the genre. If you subscribe to DeMille’s newsletter, you’ll see where the rousing good humor comes from.
Amazon also just published their 2010 Top Ten in the mystery-thriller-suspense genre. Not sure what it says about my reading choices … or theirs …. but I’ve only read 1 of these books … Lee Child’s latest Jack Reacher thriller is on the “Still Savoring” list so that will become #2… and I have read books by only 2 more of these authors … and have only heard the names of some of the rest.
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It seems like everyone is ready for a little R&R these days … and there’s no better time than the Thanksgiving holiday for a respite with family and friends.
Thanksgiving kicks off the long holiday season … yet it’s devoid of the frantic gift-buying, holiday card creation and party circuit pageantry that surrounds Christmas. Don’t get me wrong. There’s a lot of fun in all of that … but don’t we often get to the end of the Christmas season … exhausted, drained and looking for another holiday to REALLY get a break?
So, savor these moments. Enjoy each others’ company, catch a little Detroit Lion football, watch Santa arrive in the Macy’s day parade … but don’t let the moment pass by without loving the ones you love and who love you … and enjoying and embracing the blessings that fulfill our lives.
Have a fabulous Thanksgiving holiday!
We’ve all been here, haven’t we? We’ve got a great idea to expand our business, we dive in head first so certain that it will work … only to find that we’ve squandered valuable resources that we wish we had to apply to an even better idea we didn’t think of the first time.
This happens to virtually every growing business because there are always more opportunities available than resources to support them. That’s why even a little planning can go a long way … why we need to kill all the strategy myths … and simply focus on prioritizing the opportunities that make the most sense to build our business. How do we do this? By applying consistent criteria to each of the opportunities before us.
In our previous podcasts, we discussed the first two criteria: your company’s core competencies and the competitive landscape. The 3rd factor needs to be the broader external forces that affect our businesses … industry trends, markets, demographics, technology changes and other external factors. What do those cards look like? How do we select the right opportunities and build our strategy to deploy our limited resources in the best possible way?
Are you spending quality time to understand industry trends? Do you know what’s happening in your markets?
If not, why not?
Too busy to clean the barn because all the horses are running loose? Our recent series featuring the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse was a grim reminder that regardless of how many people are lined up outside our door, how many calls we have to return, whether we’re in the top ten for inbox clutter – we’re not absolved of our duty to master our most precious resource: cash flow. That’s why Warren Buffett calls it the “lifeblood of business.” Whether you’re unable to make payroll, can’t finance growth, can’t raise money or find that your business value is a black hole, mastering this process is the centerpiece of excellence.
So, what do we do about it? Although I didn’t start out to create a long series about business finance, so many of you have asked about how to make these improvements that I’ve decided to create a path to help you get there.
The first step on every knight’s journey is to slay any dragons in his path … so we’re going to kill off a few misconceptions about business finance. The most important is that you can learn these basic principles. As I’ve said before, you don’t have to be an MBA, CFO or accounting major to understand these essential concepts. If you focus on the core principles, you can direct your team and be sure that everyone’s paying attention to the right things.
Another dragon in our path is EBITDA.
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Welcome to our first Fiction Friday. I’m excited to start spilling my guts about the great reads in the mystery-suspense-thriller genre. I previewed this new series earlier this week, so I don’t need to repeat it … other than to remind you that I intend to roust your senses, pillage your serenity and stimulate your discovery of the good, the bad and the only genre where a ranch breakfast is a steel metal jacket dipped in cordite. We’ll end up with a rogue’s gallery of unaccountable tough guys, a few cerebral types and some shameless sidekicks. Mostly, we’ll just take a break and have some fun.
For now, we’ll set aside any analysis of what is mystery … vs. suspense … vs. thriller. There are many who have tried to tease these apart … but for us … for now … it’s a distinction without a difference. Let’s just find some great stuff to read.
First, take a look at the bookshelf widget in the right banner, compliments of Shelfari. I’ll update it each week with books I’ve read, am reading or am savoring … I’ll tell you which each time … and you can mouse over each one to get a little more information about it. Cool, huh? This week it includes books I’ve recently read and you can’t go wrong with any of them. I’ve covered a few here but can only begin to make a dent in the list. (No affiliate links included.)
I finally got around to reading C.J. Box, Blue Heaven, the 2009 Edgar Award winner for Best Novel of the Year, awarded annually by the Mystery Writers of America. It’s a prestigious award in this genre, with a Hall of Fame cast.
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Get ready for this Friday … because we’re going rogue! I intend to roust your senses, pillage your serenity and stimulate your discovery of the good, the bad and the only fiction genre where a ranch breakfast is a steel metal jacket dipped in cordite. We’re going to mix it up … every FRiction FRiday … and talk about the books which fill the suspense – thriller – mystery genre. They sire rabid fans and beget a rogue’s gallery of unaccountable tough guys, a few cerebral types and shameless sidekicks. That’s going to be part of FRiction FRiday … every Friday … starting in just a few days!
Several years ago, I started a blog called Bookmarks about books I’ve read in the Mystery-Thriller-Suspense genre. I stopped after about 6 months … not because I don’t love those books and stopped reading them … not by a long shot … but because I got too distracted from my primary business pursuits. Lame, maybe, but there it is. I still get a regular urge to write a FanView piece (that’s a “fan review” in my parlance”) … not a literary review but what a fan of this genre would care about a particular character, story or author. Yes, the literary quality is important, but hey, this isn’t English class.
Good thing, too, because many English teachers, and most members of the noble literati, hold their nose when discussing our favorite genre. “They aren’t literary enough,” whatever that means … or “they’re too interesting or fun to be taken seriously”. Love that one.
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What is Cash Flow … Really?For many business executives, wrestling naked with alligators isn’t much different than wrestling with cash flow every day, particularly in the last 24 months. A lot of focus may be on the actual fighting just to stay alive … but a lot of it is trying to be sure you know where the alligator is … kind of like trying to “follow the money” as it ripples through your business. You’re certain the alligator went somewhere, but it’s kinda important to know where. Likewise, you’re very clear that there’s cash ON the balance sheet but how it flows THROUGH the balance sheet isn’t so clear.
With positive cash flow serving as THE CORNERSTONE OF BUSINESS SUCCESS, why don’t we take more time to understand it? When we look at financial statements, we spend about 85% of our time looking at the income statement. It’s easier to understand … revenues come in, expenses go out, profits are left over … but why those profits don’t convert to an equal amount of cash … and why so much of it disappears as it flows through the balance sheet … is an enigma wrapped in mystery tucked inside a conundrum for most business executives. Yet, without the balance sheet, it’s impossible to know where your cash is being invested or what levers to pull to get more of it.
That’s why I’m excited to be able to share this video with you … we call it Follow the Money … but it could easily be subtitled, What is Cash Flow … Really?
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Imagine that after the first Three Horsemen of the Apocalypse have stomped through your rose garden, you remember that there’s still one more untamed stallion just behind, the trailing companion of Pestilence, War and Famine that have already intercepted your plans for world domination.
As we’ve seen, the first Three Horsemen signify the destructive forces that can wreak havoc in our businesses from our failure to pay attention to the principles of business finance. Pestilence represents the sudden and unexpected lack of cash that often appears just before payroll is due. It is War when we struggle to grow because of a lack of financial resources. Famine lays waste to our plans when there is a lack of access to outside financing.
Yes, this is a dramatic re-enactment of the apocalyptic metaphor, but it will serve its purpose if it incites you to implement sound principles of business finance, the only effective weapon to defeat these forces. In future columns, we will consider very specific steps to achieve command and control over your financial performance so that these forces don’t get a foothold in your business.
The Pale Horse is the final member of the Four Horsemen and brings what may be the most destructive force of them all … the recognition that you haven’t created much value in your business after all. The Pale Horse appears when
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Welcome to Exkalibur. I’m Lary Kirchenbauer, President of Exkalibur Advisors, Inc. Please take advantage of our resources to help you build your business ... and let me know what more we can do to serve you.
Read my latest column from the NY Times affiliate, the North Bay Business Journal.
In my former position as a tax partner at KPMG, LLP, I worked closely with Lary on the tax aspects of the plethora of business issues that arise in the life cycle of a start up company. It was unusual to see a senior finance person demonstrate a seasoned business acumen in identifying issues and opportunities, grasping the technical issues, resolving obstacles and implementing change.
Jeffrey Bergmann, V.P. Worldwide Tax, VeriSign, Inc.
