From Greg's Head

PKF Texas - Entrepreneur's Playbook®:Planning Ahead for the Blended Workforce

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 08:00:53 -0600

Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the PKF Texas - Entrepreneur's Playbook® page of the PKF Texas website.

In a recent study on the Blended Workforce, I noted some challenges that lay ahead. Information technology can help people and organizations bridge the divides of age, work style, distance and nationality. IT can also enable the blended workforce to add value through improved relationships with customers, partners, and talent pools to reduce costs by identifying new efficieniencies and adding value through innovation in processes, products, and services. In this study, Microsoft suggests that information technology plays a role in the following three important areas:

Knowledge management. Enabling the retention and transfer of explicit and tacit knowledge across generations, cultures and organizational boundaries.

Mobility and virtual workforce management. Extending the capabilities and protections of the enterprise and its data resources to people, anywhere, anytime.

Collaboration and coordination. Reducing virtual distances, thereby facilitating well-managed teamwork, and bringing partners into critical processes.

In this edition of the Playbook, I will focus on only one area, Knowledge Management. Older works have knowledge gained from years of on the job experience. But companies cannot afford to keep these senior personnel on staff with escalating salaries. The development of knowledge systems and knowledge networks will become a priority. Today we use Blogs, Wikis, RSS and other tools to stay up to date. Today, I see that Facebook is allowing me to stay in touch with over a dozen communities at a time. This tool and LinkedIn are just two support tools I use daily. And finally, you need to encourage all personnel of all ages to as we say “play well with others”, by encouraging and rewarding learning processes.

Off to Turkey for the Global Partner Power Conference

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 08:00:10 -0600

Next week I will be heading to Istanbul, Turkey for the global Partner Power Conference.

You’ll recall that PKF Texas joined the Partner Power network last year to expand our Microsoft Dynamics NAV services.

Like my trip to London last year, I will be blogging and tweeting my observations from the Conference.

They’ve got a great line up of speakers. I’m looking forward to hearing from Microsoft’s Doug Kennedy, VP, Microsoft Dynamics Partners and Jan Silleman, Microsoft Dynamics NAV Global Produce Management. Also Sonly Music Entertainment, who has been a NAV customer for many years, will present a case study about how they updated their solution to better serve their local offices in 20 countries.

I’ll be in Turkey from the 15th through the 21st, so comment on the blog or tweet @fromgregshead if you have any questions for me while I’m there!

Best CFO Nomination Deadline Extended to March 26th!

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 10:30:08 -0600

The Best CFOs of the Year Nomination period has been extended to March 26th! The Best CFOs of the Year is a part of the three day Celebrate!Enterprise event presented by the Houston Business Journal.

PKF Texas has been a proud sponsor of the Best CFOs of the Year award program since 2007.

The criteria to nominate an individual for Best CFO is below.

To nominate your own CFO or a friend of your firm, please see the criteria below, then
• Fill out the nomination form on the Houston Business Journal website

Best CFO Eligibility and Nomination Criteria

• Nominees must be chief financial officers or hold equivalent positions in the greater Houston area.
• The greater Houston area includes Brazoria, Chambers, Fort Bend, Galveston, Harris, Liberty, Montgomery, Waller, Austin and San Jacinto.
• Nominators should give detailed and specific answers about the nominee with reference to the questions below for the period between January 1, 2009 and December 31, 2009.
• Nominators must give company revenue information to accurately back up the category for which they are nominating a CFO. Revenue information will not be disclosed outside of the judging process.

CRITERIA

• In order to qualify, nominees should effectively show how they act as a corporate financial steward by:
• Successfully implementing a strategic plan
• * Achieving profitable growth
• * Creating stability in the firm
• * Restoring life to an ailing firm (restoring stakeholder confidence?)
• * Identifying and managing risks
• * Being a visionary leader
• * Being a team player
• * Focusing on company's strengths
• * Possess a strong philanthropic mentality

PKF Texas - Entrepreneur's Playbook®:The Blended Workforce

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 08:00:00 -0600

It’s a pretty fair assessment that the US population will be getting older. So when we talk about the Blended Workforce, we need to set a baseline of understanding:

Blended workforce. With the US population getting older, the Gen X and Millennials find that they have to work with the Boomers. And, (let’s keep this between us) they will be financial responsible for us. Now for a young man of 52, I find that quite interesting. I hope the young people are ready to take care of me and my fellow Boomers. At present, the ratio of US workers to pensioners is about 6:1. In Europe is 4:1. By 2025 Europe will be at 2:1.

Blended work styles. With young and old working together you will find challenges in the workplace whereby the younger generation will be multi-tasking, enjoying personal time and taking care of an ever growing older group of parents and relatives. Thus challenging them like they never expected.

Blended world. As the world shrinks more and more of us are ever dependent upon other workers from other parts of the world to complete our jobs. It’s pretty routine for me to have conversations with European or Asian counterparts on a regular basis about business here in Houston.

Recent studies estimate that there are 42 million independent workers in the US. This is about 31percent of the workforce.

So what does all this mean?

In the US it means major changes for the young folks of the working world. And major changes are in store for business owners in the next 25 years. Shortages of talent, math/science personnel, technical personnel, accountants, etc. are coming and fast. Talent challenges will be the norm and where will you find the workers? Workers will become more virtual and they may indeed become part of outsourcing relationships due shortages in talent and expertise.

The best way to take advantage of such talent is by using technology to ensure collaboration, communication and support of virtual workers. If you are not looking at technologies that embrace this success, don’t be surprised if your competition leaves you behind. It’s time to adopt a strategy for the future and shore up those gaps.

Quote for March 4, 2010

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 08:17:31 -0600

A successful man is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks others have thrown at him. -- David Brinkley

PKF Texas - Entrepreneur's Playbook®:Build an Alumni Network

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 08:00:07 -0600

How do you keep in touch with your former employees, or “alumni”?

Corporate alumni groups are becoming increasingly important as the Baby Boomers retire and the Millennials job hop every two to three years.

There are many benefits to a company establishing a formal alumni group. They include:

• Extending your recruitment network. Just because an employee left your firm doesn’t mean they don’t know someone who would be a perfect fit for the company.
• Business development and quality referrals. Alumni who feel connected to your firm are likely to be some of your most vocal advocates in the marketplace.
• Extending your network into other industries.

There are several factors that you should take into account to ensure the success of your group:

• Enlist top-level support for the program
• Establish clear goals and objectives for the group to manage expectations both from the company side and the alumni side
• Be sure current employees are familiar with the program. They can promote it to their former colleagues.

Most often, the alumni are meeting on their own, why wouldn’t you want to be a part of the conversation?

For more on this topic, please read L.M. Sixel's article in the Feb. 3 issue of the Houston Chronicle.

Quote for February 25, 2010

Thu, 25 Feb 2010 08:47:27 -0600

It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed. -- Theodore Roosevelt

Law Schools Jump on Entrepreneurship

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 08:00:59 -0600

Read an interesting article on Inc.com. Duke University and the University of Colorado at Boulder’s law schools will be offering a LLM degree in entrepreneurship for the 2010-2011 academic year.

This is an interesting development. With the rise in entrepreneurial centers at universities across the country, it makes sense to extend this focus to law schools.

There is some debate as to whether or not a focus on such a broad discipline is necessary, but as someone who interacts with entrepreneurs on a daily basis, I think it can only benefit the business community. To have an attorney trained to think like an entrepreneur and be able to provide the kind of legal guidance entrepreneurial business owners need, I’m all for it!

I’ll be curious to see how or if Duke’s Fuqua School of Business Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation and CU Boulder’s Deming Center for Entrepreneurship interact with the law schools’ entrepreneurship programs.

Celebrate!Enterprise Updates

Mon, 22 Feb 2010 08:00:59 -0600

I have the latest news and updates on the 2010 Celebrate!Enterprise events. As you know, PKF Texas is a proud sponsor of the 40 Under 40 and the Best CFOs of the Year. Nominations for both are still open, along with Health Care Heroes. I encourage you to nominate your clients and the friends of your firm for all three award programs. Click the links below to access the nomination forms.

• 40 under 40 - nominations due Friday, February 26th
• Health Care Heroes - nominations due Friday, February 26th
• Best CFOs of the Year - nominations due Friday, March 5th

This year the 40 Under 40 and Battle of the Business Bands are moving to the House of Blues. Both will be held the evening of May 20th. Last year’s event was a huge success and I’m looking forward to hearing the bands play the House of Blues!

Also new this year for 40 Under 40 and the Battle of the Business bands, multiple ticket options. If you just want to attend 40 Under 40 you can purchase a 40 under 40 ticket for $50. If you want to just attend Battle of Business Bands you can purchase a Battle ticket for $50. Also available dual tickets if you would like to attend both events.

Though PKF Texas is not a sponsor, another great event under the Celebrate!Enterprise is the Houston Growth Summit. The Houston Business Journal has just announced that Arthur B. Laffer, the founder and chairman of Laffer Associates and Laffer Investments will be featured on the panel.

Dr. Laffer was a member of President Reagan’s Economic Policy Advisory Board for both of his two terms (1981-1989). He was a member of the Executive Committee of the Reagan/Bush Finance Committee in 1984 and was a founding member of the Reagan Executive Advisory Committee for the presidential race of 1980. Dr. Laffer has been widely acknowledged for his economic achievements. Recently he was noted in Time Magazine’s March 29, 1999, cover story “The Century’s Greatest Minds” for inventing the Laffer Curve, which is deemed one of “a few of the advances that powered this extraordinary century”.

Houston Growth Summit Panel will also include Dr. Stephen L. Klineberg, Professor of Sociology, Rice University.

This year you can receive mobile alert about the event. To sign up for Mobile Alerts on Celebrate!Enterprise - Text 41411 and enter in HBJ!

Celebrate Enterprise has expanded their presence on various social media sites this year. You can check them out on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter by clicking on the links below.

• Join Celebrate on Facebook
• Join Celebrate on Linked In
• Follow Celebrate on Twitter

PKF Texas - Entrepreneur's Playbook®:Balance Long Term Vision with Short Term Demands

Fri, 19 Feb 2010 08:00:42 -0600

These days, it can often be difficult to keep your business’ long term vision in sight as you balance the short term demands of this new economy. Maintaining this balance is more important than ever. Some things to keep in mind:

Make the time on a regular basis to think about and plan for the future. Have a regular meeting with your executive team or advisory board.
Marketing and business development are critical now to keep your pipeline full, which sets the stage to hit your long term growth goals.
Talk with your clients about what is going on in their business and really listen to what they tell you. Their growth and ability to continue to use your services directly impacts your long term goals. If their needs change dramatically will you still be or want to be their go-to resource?
Be flexible and ask yourself, “Are the long term goals we set for the company still relevant? And is that still the direction we want to go?”

Quote for February 17, 2009

Wed, 17 Feb 2010 08:00:45 -0600

“Success is the result of perfection, hard work, learning from failure, loyalty, and persistence.” Colin Powell.

Howdy Aggies! Aggie 100 Nominations Are Open

Mon, 15 Feb 2010 08:00:04 -0600

Could you be one of the 2010 Aggie 100?
The 2010 Aggie 100 program is looking for a few great companies! 100 to be exact! Are you one of the fastest growing Aggie-owned or Aggie-led businesses in the world? Read about this program and nominate your company.

About the Aggie 100
The Aggie 100 identifies, recognizes and celebrates the 100 fastest growing Aggie-owned or Aggie-led businesses in the world. The Aggie 100 not only celebrates their success, it also provides a forum to pass lessons to the next generation of Aggie entrepreneurs.

The Aggie 100 was created by Mays Business School's Center for New Ventures and Entrepreneurship. The Center provides encouragement, education, networking and assistance to entrepreneurially-minded students, faculty and Texas businesses.

Last November, the fifth anniversary of the Aggie 100 was celebrated. Aggie 100 honoree companies sent representatives to campus for ceremonies honoring their achievements. In 2009, 96 companies sent more than 180 representatives to campus for the two-day Aggie 100 affair. Recipients were welcomed with a reception at the newly remodeled Clayton W. Williams Jr. Alumni Center and then were individually recognized at a luncheon on the second day. Nearly 650 people joined in the celebration at the Zone Club as trophies were presented to each company to commemorate their membership in the Aggie 100. The energy in the room was amazing as current students, members of the Board of Regents, the chancellor, the university president and other members of A&M’s leadership team turned out to honor these successful former students.

Your company may be eligible for the 2010 Aggie 100. Please visit www.aggie100.com to read about the program, the criteria, and see last year’s Aggie 100 Honorees.

If interested, please nominate your company for the 2010 Aggie 100!

PKF Texas - Entrepreneur's Playbook®:Using the Book of Lists as a Resource

Fri, 12 Feb 2010 08:00:38 -0600

How often do you use the Houston Business Journal Book of Lists as a resource for your business?

From the FastTech 50 to the Largest Houston-Area Venture Capital firms and Houston’s top golf courses, the Book of Lists contains demographic and economic data for the top companies in Houston’s diverse market-space.

Organized by industry or service, it is the perfect tool to use for business research, job searches, indentifying potential clients and competitive intelligence.

Is your business looking to expand your community outreach efforts? There is a list of charitable non-profit organizations. The list of Green Architects can help you find the right company to design your new LEED certified office space.

The Book of Lists can be your connection to the key businesses, organizations and individuals in Houston poised to help you take your business to the next level.

LSU Stephenson Entrepreneurship Institute

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 08:00:40 -0600

I've got some exciting news! I've been named to the Louisiana State University Stephenson Entrepreneurship Institute (SEI) Advisory Board.

I'm honored to join 18 others on the board, including former Louisiana Governor Buddy Roemer. The board works to meet the goal of challenging SEI to pursue emerging entrepreneurship opportunities.

“Greg Price is a welcome addition to our advisory board,” said SEI Director Bob Justis. “Like our other members, he has a passion for LSU and wishes to see economic growth, innovation, creativity and entrepreneurial development in Louisiana.”

As you know, I am passionate about fostering entrepreneurship at the university level. I sit on the advisory boards for the Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship Roundtable, and the Texas A&M Center for New Ventures and Entrepreneurship and am the accountant for the Rice Alliance Business Plan Competition.

PKF Texas - Entrepreneur's Playbook®:Mentorship Program

Fri, 05 Feb 2010 10:56:53 -0600

How does your firm handle mentoring junior team members? Do you have an established program or are your mentor relationships more informal?

There are several things to consider when establishing a mentoring program:

• Allow team members to self-select their mentor/mentee, being careful to avoid favoritism. This encourages a more effective relationship
• What kind of communication training should be provided to participants?
• The mentor and mentee should meet on a regular basis and set clear milestone goals

A mentorship program focuses on developing a relationship through self-disclosure, building trust, listening for understanding and providing feedback.

The benefits of a more formal program can include:

• Provide the tools to assist with succession planning
• A reduction in turnover and
• The development of team members leadership skills