In these troubled economic times it may be difficult to obtain an offer of employment.  There are lots of skilled people competing for a small number of jobs.

Be bold, stand up for yourself, and don’t take no for an answer!

Dear Employer,

Thank you for your letter rejecting my application for employment with
your firm.

I have received rejections from an unusually large number of well
qualified organisations. With such a varied and promising spectrum of
rejections from which to select, it is impossible for me to consider
them all. After careful deliberation, then, and because a number of
firms have found me more unsuitable, I regret to inform you that I am
unable to accept your rejection.

Despite your company’s outstanding qualifications and previous
experience in rejecting applicants, I find that your rejection does
not meet with my requirements at this time. As a result, I will be
starting employment with your firm on the first of the month.

Circumstances change and one can never know when new demands for
rejection arise. Accordingly, I will keep your letter on file in case
my requirements for rejection change.

Please do not regard this letter as a criticism of your qualifications
in attempting to refuse me employment. I wish you the best of luck in
rejecting future candidates.

Sincerely,

Tom Spencer

(Source unknown)

Madoff’s $65 billion investment fraud has been referred to as a gigantic Ponzi scheme “dating at least as far back as the 1980s” (The Economist).

A Ponzi scheme is any kind of fraudulent investment operation that pays returns to investors from their own money or money paid by subsequent investors rather than from any profits earned. The scheme is named after Charles Ponzi who used the technique in 1920 to attract so much money that his operation became infamous throughout America.

Given the enormity of Madoff’s investment fraud, perhaps we should start referring to this kind of fraudulent operation as a “Madoff scheme”.

The ability to find and retain talented employees is vital to sustained business success.

Attractive remuneration, stock options plans, medical benefits, and other incentives are attractive enticements for any employee. But what factors are important in attracting, focusing and retaining the most productive and talented workers?

Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman, in their international bestselling book “First Break all the Rules”, present the fascinating results from two Gallup studies conducted over a 25 year period. The studies searched for those questions that would elicit positive responses from only the most loyal and talented employees.

As it turns out, the key factors for attracting and retaining the most talented workers can be captured by getting your employees to answer 12 simple questions:

1. Do I know what is expected of me at work?
2. Do I have the materials and equipment I need to do my work right?
3. At work, do I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day?
4. In the last seven days, have I received recognition or praise for good work?
5. Does my supervisor, or someone at work, seem to care about me as a person?
6. Is there someone at work who encourages my development?
7. At work, do my opinions seem to count?
8. Does the mission/purpose of my company make me feel like my work is important?
9. Are my co-workers committed to doing quality work?
10. Do I have a best friend at work?
11. In the last six months, have I talked with someone about my progress?
12. At work, have I had opportunities to learn and grow?

Mutualism, a concept from biology, refers to a relationship between two species or organisms in which both benefit from the association.

Following on from the ideas put forward in a recent talk by Robert Full, we can apply this idea to the world of business by considering the idea of “Business Mutualism”.

We might think of Business Mutualism as an association between two separate enterprises, or fields of activity, where:

1. each enterprise benefits the other, and
2. collective discoveries emerge beyond those of any single field.

One example of Business Mutualism would be the interaction between the IT and design industries. Information technology has provided designers with a new creative outlet, encouraged innovation through the use of design software and mass collaboration, and allowed designers to reach wider as well as more niche audiences. On the flip side, designers have improved the value of information technology and the internet by improving the aesthetics and usability of programs and websites. The combined efforts of these two industries have created world changing websites, such as TED.

Here are a number of other examples where collaboration between different fields of activity have produced impressive results:

1. the formerly non-existent web-search industry and the traditional system of academic citation have combined to create Google;
2. electronics and automotive industries have combined to make carbon neutral transportation a possibility;
3. aviation and computing have combined to produce unmanned aircraft; and
4. biology and robotics have combined to perfect walking robots.

Implications of Business Mutualism

One of the key implications of Business Mutualism is that we should look to other industries and fields of activity for inspiration. If we want to create market leading companies, we need to constantly innovate and search for alternatives. Keeping our eyes open to the possibilities presented by Business Mutualism is likely to help us sustain a competitive advantage over our rivals.

There are many good ideas already in existence. The question is, how can we combine these ideas with our current expertise to create something revolutionary? How can we change the world?

I have just completed the CFA Level 1 exam (and I promise to stop talking about it just as soon as I find out that I pass).

One of the take away lessons from the CFA curriculum is that the conventional method of valuing an investment is to determine the present value of expected future cashflows.  One way of doing this would be to use the constant growth dividend discount model, which estimates the value of a stock by assuming that dividends grow at a constant rate … forever.  If the present value of expected cash inflows exceeds the cost of the investment, then we should invest.

I hope this model of investment valuation concerns you. It certainly concerns me. It basically tells us that we should make an investment decision based on the most likely expected future.

If we are happy to agree that (1) it is not possible to predict the future and (2) past performance does not guarantee future performance, then this colour by numbers method of investment valuation leaves much to be desired. 

The businesses that will prosper in the Global Financial Crisis are the ones that have flexible business plans. These are the businesses that looked into the future and saw uncertainty. These businesses understood that the state of the world in ten or even one years time is not only uncertain, but unknowable, and planned accordingly. 

One company that comes to mind is Microsoft, which has a cash stockpile of some US$25 billion.  In the past, Microsoft has received considerable criticism for failing to either invest its vast cash reserves, or distribute them to shareholders.  Microsoft’s “conservative” approach now puts it in a strong position to acquire competitors who “strategically invested” their cash reserves in more prosperous times.

 To quote the McKinsey Quarterly:

Corporate leaders might consider [using] robust business models incorporating some slack and flexibility instead of the models most common today, which aim to optimise value in the most likely future scenario and thus leave companies exposed when conditions change dramatically.