Exkalibur.com

Are you measuring productivity?

Today’s WSJ article touting the leap in productivity is a good reminder that metrics based on unit inputs/outputs is a very valuable tool. Make sure that you’re not just measuring revenue, margins and profits … but measuring them against “unit” metrics like headcount and hours worked. If you watch those trends, you’ll gain much greater…

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Small Business Confidence Drops

Small businesses have become more pessimistic about the chance for economic recovery in the next six months, according to a survey by the National Federation of Independent Business. The indicator fell 1.3 points in July to 86.5. “Now they are expected to finance the new experiments of Congress and the president such as health care…

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Vol. 47: Building a Business: Hey, I’m profitable; so why don’t I have cash?

The North Bay Business Journal, a publication of the New York Times, is a weekly business newspaper which covers the North Bay area of San Francisco – from the Golden Gate bridge north, including the Wine Country of Sonoma and Napa counties. This page provides the Print-Friendly Version of the article, as published. Any related…

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How to budget your time

The Wall St. Journal sponsored a series of video interviews with executives to probe some of their “leadership lessons”. The 90 second monologue by Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft about how he budgets his time is an interesting and unique approach to making sure that your meetings and tasks fit into an overall framework that…

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Leadership | The Fires You Want Are The Ones You Set

Create your own fires Fire has been around since before Prometheus stole it from Zeus and shared it with us mere mortals. We won’t revisit the penalty that Zeus bestowed but suffice it to say, Prometheus probably regretted his thievery. Are you spending your day putting out fires? It seems that most executives today are…

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More Help for Small Business?

The Obama Administration is considering additional assistance for struggling small businesses. A large part of the focus is on creating additional liquidity for small businesses. Among the ideas is a direct underwriting program to support loans to small business. You can read more about it here.

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Pay cuts increasing

Many of you have seen the drop in layoffs recently … but they’re increasingly accompanied by pay cuts. We’ve commented here before about the value of that approach for companies seeking to adjust to the Great Recession while doing everything possible to keep their best people. This Wall St. Journal article confirms this growing trend…

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Are banks encouraging bankruptcies?

Business Week’s recent article seems to think so. More than 100,000 companies—about one in every 270 American businesses—have landed in bankruptcy court since the downturn began 18 months ago, according to data compiled by Oklahoma City-based Jupiter eSources. One suggestion is that banks and creditors have little patience during this downturn for turnaround plans. Indeed,…

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ABOUT ME

I am a professional author and speaker as well as a leadership coach facilitating leadership groups among CEOs and senior business leaders in the SF Bay area.

I am the author or more than 125+ newspaper columns published by the SF Bay affiliate of the NY Times among the 550+ articles here. I have also written 3 ebooks about Leadership & Business Finance.

I have been married forever to a beautiful woman and have one spectacular daughter who has dedicated her life to helping children with life-threatening illnesses.

Read more ….

Testimonials

Lary was an important component in helping us raise our first (over-subscibed) fund at Harbour Group. His doggedness, professionalism, and friendly demeanor helped open doors for what, at the time, was an untested and reasonably new concept. He was a pleasure to work with and remains a friend to this day.~ Ralph Lobdell, Chairman, Tripos, Inc.

Within a three year period I had two different startups and one acquisition to deal with. Lary's involvement in the projects allowed me to raise substantial amounts of capital on all occasions. He makes even the most monumental task seem effortless. His tireless attention and focus on the project gets things done, done right, and under deadline. ~ Don Meahan, owner and operator of Alaska’s Naknek Anglers, LLC

Not only do you get honesty and integrity from Lary but you also get creativity, maturity and deep business acumen. Lary is the diamond in the rough for middle market companies in need of corporate advisory services and transaction services. ~ Kelly O. Kay, Partner, Center for Corporate Innovation

Lary is one of the brightest and most energetic professionals with whom I have ever worked. His skills in dealing with privately held firms and the aggressive and creative solutions made him a valuable asset to any business. ~ F. Bart Smith, President (retired)

Lary began advising our company when we were going through some difficult challenges, and now, two years later, we are in a completely different and significantly better place. His advice was specific, direct, and not always what we wanted to hear, and that was invaluable. Lary has been quick to cut through to the heart of an issue. His coaching, prodding, and tough questioning helped us to make changes that truly and measurably have helped both our top and bottom lines. ~ Paul Levitan, CEO

Lary has been a tremendous asset to our company. His experience and knowledge provides our young company with the type of financial and business guidance needed to facilitate our continued growth. In addition to Lary's efforts in raising capital for our company, he has assisted Multimedia Live in both extensive business planning, as well as continual ongoing monthly financial and strategy analysis of our business. I have found this to be an invaluable service. ~ Ken Burke, CEO, Multimedia Live, Inc.

I've known and worked with Lary for more than 15 years as a business partner, consulting colleague and adviser and have found that Lary's financial skills and creativity result in high quality results for his clients. I am certain that Lary's strong work ethic, client focus and successful track record bode well for future clients just as they have formed the foundation of a long-term and highly valued relationship for me. ~ Kevin J. Sharps, Director, Financial Services Consulting practice

Lary has a remarkable ability to provide a clear and thoughtful analysis of the business drivers and potential outcomes facing private companies at each stage of development. His insight has provided a powerful framework for decision-making in many challenging situations. ~ Noah J. Rosenkrantz, CEO

Lary brings to the table a wealth of real world wisdom and experience that is grounded in an impressive array of C-level and other executive leadership and operational management roles. Over the years I have found Lary's advise and counsel to be invaluable, I think in part because of his dedication and commitment to being of true value to his clients and colleagues. Lary has a well-honed ability to ask the right (and often difficult!) questions, to shed light on the most challenging aspects of your business, to share best practices and to guide you to valuable solutions to consider. I recommend Lary without hesitation. If you are a CEO or senior level executive, working with Lary will no doubt prove to be one of the smartest decisions you will make during your career.~ David Newlin, Managing Partner

We have a great management team that has built a very successful company. At an important crossroads, we needed more expertise on an expanded list of financial issues than we could provide ourselves. Lary brought that expertise, providing the depth of knowledge and experience that helped us develop and implement a practical solution.~ Gary Imm, CEO (retired)